Hezekiah Scovil Porter WW I Diary Transcription continued
The following is the next installment of the transcription of Hezekiah Scovil Porter’s diary of his time in the army until his death at Chateau Thierry on July 22, 1918. Again there is one from the beginning of the book and one from 100 years ago today.
Original is in black, annotations in red, horizontal lines indicate page breaks.
(At sea, then England)
Tuesday Oct 23rd
Saw land for first time since left this A.M.
Left two or three freighters at Glascow (sic) I guess. Going around northern coast of Ireland. Can see Irish coast very plainly this P.M. Going faster. Arrived in Liverpool about 6 P.M. Off the boat & right onto the train. On train all night. Queer trains. Small, jerky. Didn’t sleep much. 8 of us in one [24th Oct.] compartment. Arrived at Borden about 5:30 A.M. About 2 mile hike to camp with packs. Got straightened out this A.M. Pretty cold. Fine country. Large encampments here. Lots of other Americans. Rain & blowing. Mud.
(France)
Saturday Feb 23rd
Same old stunt. No excitement.
Previous posts: Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14
This entry makes me so sad. "No excitement". In five months, he would be dead. ):
Do you have scanned pictures of the pages? I'd like to see his handwriting. (Just one would be enough.)
We have photos of the pages, and I will include a sample and/or links to them all in the final post, in which I will put everything together.
War is so wasteful. He was by all accounts intelligent, personable, responsible, and should have been headed for a good career had he not been derailed his second year in college. Choate, Yale ... what did John F. Kennedy (who also went to Choate, then Princeton) have that Hezekiah Porter did not? Well, besides money and a family with vast political ambitions, that is. Yet even if he had survived the war, how wasteful to be fiddling with cars, peeling potatoes, slogging through mud, and waiting, waiting, waiting instead of learning.
Excerpt: Hezekiah Scovil Porter WW I Diary Transcription continued The following is the next installment of the transcription of Hezekiah Scovil Porter’s diary of his time in the army until his death at Chateau Thierry on July 22, 1918. Again there ...
Weblog: Lift Up Your Hearts!
Date: February 24, 2018, 5:58 am
