June  21, 1919.

​

Dear Mama, -

​

            We are still at sea at present we are in sight of the first land I have seen for seven days; On one side of us we can make out the island Cawo and on the other Flores island[1] is projecting her rigid sides up in the sky to a light of about 1000 thousand feet. They are some of the azore group of island[2], and although in a higher altitude then New York, they are tropical in Climate, due to the Gulf stream which flows past them.

            Gee is wish that I were back home now instead of going in the opposite direction, and not knowing where we are headed an how long we are to be gone. One about losses heart and feels like jumping overboard, here I have been in the Navy for over two years, and today it seems as if I am further away from getting out them ever.

             Suppose by not Henry Smith is back at home and on the job again. Most everyone I suppose are back on, and have forgotten about the war, while we are still doing the same old nothing.  

              Suppose I had better write to Burlogh and tell him not to save that place for me at V.P.I. next year, come I will never be able to get back to accept it.

              Well I must close for this time, will mail this to-morrow when we arrive a Ponta Degala[3]. Write to me post mark New York

​

                      the same as ever

                                   Ford.

 

[1] is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which are a group of Islands in the eastern half of Indonesia.

[2] A group of autonomous islands located off the coast of Portugal. The Azores is an archipelago in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean. 

[3] Ponta Delgada, Ford misspells the name, is the capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal; located on Sao Miguel Island, the largest in the archipelago.