“We han’t allowed to write any military information anymore, and you see a fellow hasn’t got much to write…”
In his fifteenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated May 19, 1918, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James “Abe” Riggle that he’s still in Battery F but doesn’t know for how much longer. He’s drilling a great deal but he can’t talk about the military anymore. He had his picture taken and he’ll send one home. That’s about it!
Elsewhere on the same day, German planes raided London and bombed British hospitals outside the war zone, killing or wounding hundreds. Airman Gervais Raoul Victor Lufbery, who served in both the French Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Service, was killed in aerial combat. Meanwhile on the home front, the Washington Senators Walter Johnson pitched a grueling 18 innings to beat the Cleveland Indians (whose pitcher also went the distance) 1-0.
Charles “Dutch” Riggle was drafted into the US Army in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, where so many Wheeling draftees and volunteers—including his sister-in-law Minnie Riggle’s brother, Lester Scott—were trained. Dutch Riggle was a Private First Class in Battery F of the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, in France. Riggle was a farm boy with little formal education who grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He spelled many of his words phonetically. His letters have been transcribed exactly as they were written. This is his fifteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, May 19, 1918.
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May 19, 1918 Letter Home – Charles Riggle to his brother James Riggle
May 19 1918
Camp lee
Hello abe an boss
Dear Brother
Received your letter a few days ago all rite an i thought i would draw you a few lines in ancer to it. these few lines leaves me all O.K. an still in bat F. i dont know long i will be in it. well abe we surly having some hot weather here now. we are drilling a good deal now. i got my picture tacking last night but i wont get them till Tuesday an i send them home an you can get one of them. well abe i recond you are done with your spring work by this time. i am in a hury this morning an cant think of any thing to rite. news is awful scarce. We hanta low to right any military information any more an you see a fellow hasent got much to rite.
dont you rite me any more till you get a nother letter from me
i try an rite more the next time so thats all for this time. I am as ever your brother
CE Riggle to james Riggle
Good by to you both
Tell West Marquis i said hello to him.
Listen to Episode 50 of “From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle”
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From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle” is brought to you by Archiving Wheeling in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library (Wheeling, WV) and the Wheeling Academy of Law & Science (WALS) Foundation.
Vince Marshall is the voice of Charles Riggle. 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 with music courtesy the Library of Congress.
[Music in May 19, 1918 episode: “Castle’s half and half,” James Reese(composer), 1916, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010646/]
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.
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