A Collection of Letters from Pvt. Glenn H. Jones, a WWI Naval Plane Repairman

Glenn H. Jones

Published by Juniata, PA, 1918

About this Item

A collection of eight (8) letters written by Pvt. Glenn H. Jones (1890-1921) to his mother, Ida, and sisters Jennie and Amelia "May", who were living in Juniata, PA. The letters date from February 1918 to November 1918. During the first few letters he is training in Pensacola, FL at the US Navy Aeronautics Station to become a Naval Plane Repairman. As the year progresses, Jones ships off overseas to an unnamed location in France. His letters to his mother and sisters focus on responding to what news he hears from home and the family's financial struggles. He provides only brief updates about what he is doing, most likely both due to wartime censorship and an attempt to not worry his family back home. The majority of the letters are written on 'YMCA With the Colors' or 'YMCA On Active Service with the U.S. Naval Forces in Operating European Waters' letterheads and have their corresponding envelopes with them. Below are a few excerpts from the letters: "Glad you got the under clothes, you can fix them up, I might need them sometime but I don't need any now. I think I will have enough to go on after they take out the 15.00 and you can use that to buy coal and wood and things but as I said before I left buy coal with it first. And if you have any left and want to save it for me it will be OK but none come out of my check yet and I don't know when you will get it but maybe anytime now. Yes I am allowed to smoke cigars and cigarettes but I don't chew tobacco anymore because I just chewed up at home to keep spitting up the dust and dirt that was in the shops." -Excerpt February 24, 1918, Pensacola FL "Sorry but cannot tell you what I am working at, as you ask me in the last letter but I am getting along good in the work I am doing." - Excerpt from June 22, 1918, France "Well May is making rather good wages now and hope she keeps that job for a while. Thank you for putting the money away and taking care of it for me. I see Charley got in a pretty bad mix up by the papers you sent me. We are getting lots of rainy weather here too, it rains every day. Well Mother it will soon be Thanksgiving and then it will soon be Christmas but you will not have me at home for either dinner but you can take some of my money if you want to and buy a nice big turkey for your Christmas dinner as that is the best Xmas present I can think of for you just now because I have nothing to send. How will that be for you? Then you will have some dinner." - Excerpt from October 15, 1918, Bordeaux Region, France "Have a little time just now and will try and scribble you a few lines. I got three letters from Elsie yesterday when the mail come in but I did not get any from you but hope I will the next time it comes. Elsie says her sister is getting better. You know her sister had the Spanish flu as they call it. Well Mother I can feel that the war is drawing near to an end and I guess you can to [sic], from hearing the bells ringing and the whistles blowing and thinking of me, but for me I can think of the good times I used to have there and can almost imagine I am at home now, but maybe when I do get home things will so change that I will know I have been away from home but for me I don't want to get back until the war is over. I have not saw home for nearly a year but I want to stick as long as I can and do my most." - Excerpt from November 6, 1918 To view the collection, please click on the following link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TpP2f4Xq2QVdW2yK6. Glenn Harrison Jones was born on April 19, 1890 to William Jones (1855-1907) and Ida K. Diehl (1883-1939) in Juniata, PA. He had three siblings: Jane "Jennie" E. Jones Kelm (1882-?), Franklin John Jones (1884-?), Amelia May Jones Foutz (1893-1958). Glenn enlisted in the Navy on December 15, 1917, and trained in Pensacola, FL at the US Navy Aeronautics Station. He became a Naval Plane Repairman and served overseas in France, until his discharge on March 1, 1919. He died on February 20, 1921 at the age of thirty, from p. Seller Inventory # 29012737

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Collection of Letters from Pvt. Glenn H. ...

Publisher: Juniata, PA

Publication Date: 1918