Headquarters
Kelly Field No 1
San Antonio, Texas
Feb 9, 1918
Mr. John C. Newcomer
Harpers Ferry W. VA.
Dear Sir:
With great regrets I write you this letter expressing my heartfelt sympathy for you and your family.
On some the burden of sacrifice falls more heavily than on others. All realize that he who offers the sacrifice of his own self for his country’s sake is praised, honored and remembered just the same as those who fall in the line of battle.
Although I became but slightly acquainted with your son Daniel, he impressed me as a very deserving and trustworthy young man.
I wish to inform you that a few days before the end came he signed an application for ten thousand government insurance, the premium of which has been paid out of his money due from the government as his pay for an enlisted man. This insurance cost $6.40 but it will pay you something over $57 a month for a period of twenty years. You should receive this sum every month beginning within a short time.
I knowing of the low condition of several men from our organization, 224 Aero Squadron, went to the Base Hospital and secured their signatures for the insurance.
If you should fail to receive the monthly sum after a period of two or three months I wish you would let me know and I will give you any assistance that you need, provided I am yet in the United States. I am no longer assistant in command of the 224 Aero Squadron but will be at Kelly Field for some time.
You must remember that there are many homes which are also making great sacrifices and it looks like the worst has not yet come but let us hope that the end is not far away when the horrors and sorrows of war are over. My parents now have three sons in the army and the fourth and last one probably will enlist before long.
Again expressing my sympathy I am,
Very Truly Yours,
Guy O. Neal
2nd Lieutenant Sig. R.C.A.S.
$57 per month in 1918 is the equivalent of $1069 today. As I have mentioned elsewhere in this story, my great-grandparents were teachers, and earned very little money. I don’t know, but I hope, that this money helped them to pay for the expenses of Dan’s funeral and with the expenses of educating their younger sons.
This is such a poignant letter. I won’t tell you why it is especially meaningful to me as it might be a Spoiler for a
an event in my book.
A precious letter indeed, and reminds us of the perils of illness from a century ago that we are now facing again. I’m assuming this is from the measles epidemic you wrote me about.