Very fine letter from Wagoneer Charles H. Bolster of the AEF's T.A. Replacement Battery. The letter is in ink, is censored (with a wonderful, hand-written censor's signature) and is in good condition. I don't have an envelope matching it.

Bolster spends the first two and a half pages going on about gifts he has sent home for various ladies. He asks Harriet, the recipient of the letter, how she likes the collars he sent home. The author goes on to bemoan the silliness of other soldiers who send home silk pillow covers with "Souvenir of France" written on them. Bolster discusses pay, how French mud is like "Portland cement" and other typical newsy tidbits. But then he writes...

"...we will not be over here more than a couple of years longer. Tis rumored about to-day that the Germans have accepted President Wilson's proposals and will evacuate all occupied territory immediately. How much truth there is in the rumor remains to be seen but by the time this reaches you, it will be known whether it is true or not. However, they will have to get out any way sooner or later and I think they are beginning to realize that fact. According to last night's paper, the Kaiser is much depressed and is going to abdicate in favor of his second son."

And then, our doughboy is censored! He writes, "My old battery is xxxxxxxxx somewhere, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx so some of the boys have written." How fascinating! With the Armistice just a couple of weeks away, I wonder if Bolster was giving away their position? There were some pretty intense artillery barrages in the final weeks of the Great War. I suspect his old mates were in the thick of it.

The letter is fully signed and, as I indicated at the outset, there is a beautiful, handwritten censor's signature on the last page.