From Camp Lee to the Great War: Episode 19 [December 20, 1917]

From Camp Lee to the Great War: The Letters of Lester Scott & Charles Riggle

"The doctor asked me what I was before I came to the army a preacher or a prize fighter... I told him I was nothing but a common farmer. I weigh 188 now so you know I would look like a preacher..." In his Fourteenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, to his sister Minnie Riggle, US Army Wagoner (mule team driver) Lester Scott, a World War I soldier from Wheeling, West Virginia, writes that he will not be home for Christmas but expects to visit for five days after New Year's. Christmas furloughs are being determined by a random drawing, but after New Year's they will be granted alphabetically. When Les and the other troops were examined for tuberculosis, the doctor asked if he was a preacher or a prizefighter. He thinks he'll be driving a truck instead of driving mules. He says Dutch [our second letter writer, PFC Charles "Dutch" Riggle] was also driving mules that day. Les had luck hunting opossum, until some were stolen. Elsewhere on the same day, the Battle of Jaffa (Palestine) would begin, with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and a few Scottish brigades of the British Empire on one side and the Yildirim Army Group of the Ottoman Empire and German Empire on the other. A daring nighttime river crossing by the Scottish brigades during a heavy downpour secured victory for the British. Lester Scott was drafted in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, where so many Wheeling soldiers were trained. And, like so many of his Ohio Valley comrades, he served in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, Battery “A,” 80th (Blue Ridge) Division in France. This is his twelfth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, December 20, 1917. Digital scans and a transcript of Lester Scott's September 24, 1917 letter can be viewed at: http://www.archivingwheeling.org/blog/from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-december-20-1917-podcast Credits: "From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle" is brought to you by http://archivingwheeling.org in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library (http://www.ohiocountylibrary.org) and the WALS Foundation (http://walswheeling.com). Jeremy Richter is the voice of Lester Scott. 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. Music: "Castle Walk," Meacham, F. W. (composer); Dabney, [Ford] (composer); Prince's Band, 1914, courtesy Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010714/ 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.