--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - “Mormon” Soldier Boy collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 21 number: 2 published: 1917-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: '“Mormon” Soldier Boy, "You Folks at Home," *Improvement Era* 21, no. 2 (December 1917): 158.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2102unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2102unse start_page: 158 end_page: 158 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2102unse publication_year: 1917 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # You Folks at Home You Folks at Home "From a Camp of the United States Army," Oct. 2, 1917. Dear Folks: You people who are at home cannot imagine the strange feelings which come over an army of soldiers when the commander, after reading a dis- patch delivered to him by a war messenger, assembles his troops and gives an order to prepare for an immediate move. Every soldier knows where that move will be. It is then that the realization comes over him perhaps for the first time, that he is in the army to fight and that he must now go to Europe and face the cannon. A day or two ago just such an order was given to us by our com- mander. It had the same effect upon every man. Though some smiled and laughed, yet their laugh lacked the ordinary ring of a soldier's laugh. Un- derneath that smile was a sadness and sorrow which came from the heart. — — Young men almost boys who, having been influenced by a spirited oration, enlisted on the impulse of the moment, and who hoped and even prayed that they would never see foreign service, received their first feel- ing of fear. Here and there one could see a middle-aged man, who left his wife and children to fight for his country, "because duty called him," won- dering about his loved ones, and saddened at the thoughts of what might happen. I have seen grown men weep and young men wander about among the tents in the small hours of the night praying and longing for that which — they knew they could not have a parting kiss from a mother, a word of ad- vice from a father, or a last farewell from a sweetheart. In one of the tents of our company, on the particular evening of which I write, a group of soldiers were talking about the move. One young man, with a forced smile upon his face, said: "Well, boys, I hope that we sail from New York, and that they let us off for a day or two before we sail. I want to see my mother once more,and say good-bye to my sweetheart for the last time, for I never hope to come back alive." He expressed the feelings of most of the men in the camp. They are American soldiers, and they are going to fight for America, but they are going with the spirit that they will never return, or live through the war; that when they leave American shores they look upon them for the last time, and expect never to see them again. No wonder they are sad when the order to move comes. In that same tent were a few "Mormon" soldiers. One of them spoke up and said: "I would like to see my mother and sweetheart before I go, but if I did, it would not be for the last time. I intend to return to them after this war; in fact, I know that I shall return. I am going over to fight for America, and I will fight, but I am just as sure that I shall return home after the war as I am that I am going to Europe." He expressed the feelings of every "Mormon" soldier in the tent. We are going to fight for America not only because we love it, but because it is the land of promise. It is the land which God has chosen as the home of Israel and the birthplace of liberty. But in our fighting we cannot forget that we are members of His Church The principles of faith which were taught to us in our childhood come back to us now. We have taken care of our bodies, and prayed to and trusted in our heavenly Father all of our lives, and now that we are going into danger we are just as sure that our Father will protect us, and preserve our lives as David was when he went against Goliath and said, "I come against you in the name of the God