"P.S. Boss don't you worry while me and Less is gone, for we will be back in about a year from now. Ha Ha!"

In his fourteenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated May 6, 1918, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James “Abe” Riggle that he's as well as ever and having a good time eight miles from Camp Lee on military police duty. They are guarding an electrical power plant, a waterworks, and a bridge across the Appomattox River. It's a dandy place to fish. The plant supplies electricity and water for Camp Lee. It's "90 degrees in the shade," but they have a swing to jump in the river. He says Les [Lester Scott] is "driving mules every day." If Charles Gettings is sent to Camp Lee, Dutch wants him to look him up. He's still with Tub Meriner, a "dandy good fellow." Dutch supposes Walter Toland is showing his courage now in France. He thinks we've got a good Army of a million men in France and even though they are not fighting much now, the Germans will get licked soon.

Just a few days prior on May 2, 1918, British and French military leaders argued at a meeting in Abbeville over the entry of U.S. troops into the conflict. American soldiers were arriving at the rate of 120,000 per month, but as Charles Riggle noted in his letter, very few were yet involved in fighting despite the ongoing German Spring Offensive. General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), resisted giving the Allies power to command his troops. Pershing reached a compromise, allowing one third of U.S. troops to join the effort by July. The remainder would benefit from more training. These decisions would have important repercussions for Wheeling PFCs Charles Riggle and Lester Scott and their comrades in arms.

Charles “Dutch” Riggle was drafted into the US Army in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, where so many Wheeling draftees and volunteers—including his sister-in-law Minnie Riggle’s brother, Lester Scott—were trained. Dutch Riggle was a Private First Class in Battery F of the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, in France. Riggle was a farm boy with little formal education who grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He spelled many of his words phonetically. His letters have been transcribed exactly as they were written. This is his fourteenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, May 6, 1918.

Digital scans and a transcript of Charles Riggle's May 6, 1918 letter can be viewed at: www.archivingwheeling.org/blog/from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-may-6-1918-podcast

Credits: "From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle" is brought to you by archivingwheeling.org in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library (www.ohiocountylibrary.org) and the WALS Foundation (walswheeling.com).

Vince Marshall is the voice of Charles Riggle. 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: "Junk Man Rag," Roberts, [Luckyeth] (composer), Victor Military Band (performer), 1913, courtesy Library of Congress: www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010646/

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.