“I am sending home cards for Christmas. I hope you and James will have a joyous Christmas. And the children will be sure to come home that day – our 3 boys and families will spend the day here – we have 15 grandchildren; the oldest is 15 years.
“Love to you, dear cousins.â€
Then, in what appears to be a postscript, “We have two boys that registered but did not enlist. Both have wives and two little girls each. But they may have to go. But we all hope the war may end soon.
“From Tammieâ€
So, we have both a picture of a tranquil home with a score children and grandchildren caught against a backdrop of worry about the men.
When this card was written, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was already more than a million men strong in Europe, but none had seen significant combat. War was only eight months old for America (the Europeans had been fighting for three years already), but the Department of War was mobilizing men as fast as they could find training grounds and equipment. And conscription was both fact and in play (conscription only came into play towards the middle of the Civil War; the Spanish American War was fought by volunteers and extant state units, and was over almost before it started) in this war.
Interestingly, most of the cards I’ve seen written by young men of the period show men eager to join the fray or jealous that older brothers were already serving. Here we see the mother���s point of view.
For another First World War post card, see, http://juicyheads.com/jh/articleSearch2.php?i=40&l=19197894.11460.2462275.539760.8831778&j=Y.
For a card highlighting the mobilization process, this time for the Second World War, see http://juicyheads.com/link.php?PLOFIBOO.
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