Milligan College, Tenn.

                                                                        Oct 29, 1918

Dear Mama:

            The soldiers life is a hard life. I had my life insured to day for $10,000 in your favor, it costs me $6.40 a month. I had to put $5 a month on a Lib. bond[1] so that makes $18.60 coming to me per mo. out of this comes laundry $1 a week and when you get right down to tacks darn little is left out of $30. How is grandma? Give her my love. Mama, I’m in desperate straights. If papa doesn’t send me my money I don’t know what I shall do we won’t get any pay until the first of Dec and that’s a long ways off. I may leave for an Officers Training Camp (O.T.C) most any time. wish I knew Ford’s address. If grandma gets seriously ill an dies get a Doctor to send me a telligram.

            My Army Serial number is 4,760,735[2] remember that, and if I am blown to pieces all but my serial number I can be identified. You know those two Army coats Ford left there wish you would send them to me.

            What are you all doing on the farm? Was sorry to hear about Cris. I am so tired of a night when I come into quarters that I can hardly keep my eyes open so will have to close

Love to all

                        Lovingly your son

                        Chas. D. Lucas

 

​

[1] A Liberty bond was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financial securities to many citizens for the first time

[2] Serial numbers were first created in 1918 as a result of the United States Army becoming involved in World War I and the need for a record tracking system capable of indexing the millions of soldiers. Prior to this time, the only way to index lists of soldiers was by use of rosters and muster rolls.