This is the tenth in a series of excerpts from letters that my grandfather, Garfield V. Cox, wrote home from France during his service with the American Friends Service Committee during and immediately following the end of World War I. For the first half of his time in France he was stationed in Ornans near the Swiss border. The first diary in this series is from the first letter he wrote after transferring to Aubreville near Verdun in the war zone. The second describes a hike he took along the battle lines in the Argonne Forest and the third is from a letter to his mother and father in which he recounts that same hike but also describes some of his work and the conditions he and his crew were working under. The fourth described his climb up Mt. D'or in which he gained a panoramic view of the Swiss Alps. The fifth discusses the travails of German POW's at the hands of the French. The sixth included discussions he had with a Quaker leader on the possibility of revolution in America and the beginning of a Mission planning conference he was attending. The seventh continued discussion of the conference and the problem of employing German POW labor. The eighth returns mostly to the subject of the work they are doing along with German opinions of a few capitalists being the cause of the war. The ninth combined 3 letters discussing a bicycle trip to Sedan and Belgium that also briefly discussed the on-going Paris Peace Conference.
This post shall combine parts of two letters, one to his wife ranging April 28 to May 1, 1919 and another dated May 2 to his parents, that mostly cover the same subjects. These letters are packed so I’m going to make two or three posts out of them.
April 28, 1919 (Aubreville)
8:35 P.M.Dear little wife:
You mustn’t be hurt when you see the enclosed money order which I am returning. The birthday letter and the will behind the $20.00 present make me very happy. I am not returning it because I don’t want the money. I shall probably need it badly as you will have learned through my request for a $20.00 and a $10.00 personal check, which I hope are on the way to me now.