From Camp Lee to the Great War: Episode 57 [September 6, 1918]

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott & Charles Riggle

"Somewhere in France..." In his thirty-ninth letter home to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, says he sees Charles [Riggle] every day. He received a card from Walter Toland, who is in England. They've had some frost in France. Lester has rubber boots and warm clothes for winter. He hopes Minnie has received his Liberty Bonds. He's sending Minnie and Jim half his allotment [$20] and he hopes they will use it. Elsewhere on the same day, the German army remained in full retreat from the Somme, American troops reached the south bank of the Aisne river, and "The Stars and Stripes" (an American Expeditionary Forces soldiers' newspaper published in Paris) announced that an "All Star Nine in Olive Drab" would tour to play club teams and hospital staff teams to entertain the A.E.F. troops. The all-stars would feature Major League baseball players including pitchers "Dots" Miller of the Pittsburgh Pirates and future Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, who played for the Chicago Cubs at the time. Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his thirty-ninth letter home, dated 100 years ago today, September 6, 1918. Digital scans and a transcript of Lester Scott's September 6, 1918 letter can be viewed at: http://www.archivingwheeling.org/blog/from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-september-6-1918-podcast Credits: "From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle" is brought to you by http://archivingwheeling.org in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library (http://www.ohiocountylibrary.org) and the WALS Foundation (http://walswheeling.com). Jeremy Richter is the voice of Lester Scott. The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle were transcribed by Jon-Erik Gilot. This podcast was edited and written by Sean Duffy, audio edited by Erin Rothenbuehler. Music: "Hot Time in the Old Town," Metz, Theo (composer), Victor Military Band (performer), 1917, courtesy Library of Congress: www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010764/ Many thanks to Marjorie Richey for sharing family letters and the stories of her uncles, Lester Scott and Charles “Dutch” Riggle, WWI soldiers from West Virginia.