Post card home of Harold A. Stivers, 311th Infantry, 78th Division. Stivers refers to his dress, which he regarded as a little rough. It is interesting. He's wearing the by then standard overseas cap and a leather jerkin. American troops wore the jerkin much less often than the British, with whom it had become standard late in the war. He notes that his puttees aren't wrapped correctly. Puttees, used by the British and the French during the war, were adopted by the Americans but they didn't completely replace leggings. After the war, the American Army quickly went back to leggings.
The contrasting photograph of Gen. Leroy S. Upton, commander of the 57th Bde, 29th Division, who presents a much more polished appearance. Gen. Upton is wearing private purchase lace up, and thick soled, riding boots with speed laces. . . a much preferable piece of footgear for actual field conditions than the standard field boots of the time.
One of the Cheyenne newspapers was declaring that Wyoming would support drafting Pershing for a 1920 Presidential run, or otherwise supporting him in that effort.
No doubt, the news was not in error. Pershing was the son in law of Francis E. Warren, Wyoming's Senator, and very well remembered there.
And the tax on automobiles was coming off.
The other Cheyenne paper was reporting about the looming war between Chile and Peru, and on the horror of ethnic genocide in Lvov. And there was fighting, of a different type, in the streets of New York City.
No comments:
Post a Comment