The following is an excerpt from my dad’s narrative. Interesting perspective about getting a bunch of bananas for a quarter and the meds given for those suffering from the 1918 flu.
“World War I came along about this time. I was always having to move from one family to another and while they were good to me, I never felt that I really belonged anywhere so decided I wanted to get in the army. Luther Powell and I saved enough money to buy a ticket to ride the Abilene Southern to Abilene and then the Texas Pacific to Ft. Worth.
When we went to enlist, they took Luther right away, but turned me down because I had flat feet. I tried the Navy and the Marines but had no luck. I went back to Abilene and tried there without success. I was really discouraged. Then I saw an ad in the paper from the El Paso recruiting station. I applied by mail – got a sheet of paper, inked my foot and put my footprint on the paper and sent it in. In return I was sent papers and the fare to El Paso. When I got there and went for my physical, they almost turned me down again because of my feet but decided against it since they had already invested money in me.
I was assigned to the 17th Cavalry at El Paso and had my rookie training there. Pancho Villa was active across the border and it was rumored he was going to invade El Paso, so we were called in and issued rifles even though we were not qualified. Nothing came of this, however.
Also met a fellow named Snodgrass. He and I were shipped to Ft. Barrancas, Florida (Pensacola), the Coast Artillery Training Center. We stopped off in New Orleans and wandered down to the waterfront where we saw a girl selling bananas. Well, we’d never had all the bananas
we wanted to eat so decided to spend a quarter. When she kept putting bananas and more bananas Snodgrass finally said, “Hell, that’s enough.”
The barracks were about a hundred yards from the beach. They were old, built of’ stone and very cold. I was often on guard duty at night Sometimes it rained so hard you couldn’t see more than a hundred yards or so. If’ a guard fell asleep or wandered off he was court-martialed.
Shortly afterwards my unit was ordered overseas. I was ill in the hospital with the flu. The flu was deadly that winter of 1918. There were so many cases we were put to bed on army cots with a blanket to cover with. The only attention we received was a visit once or twice a day from a doctor or an aide who administered a dose of iron, quinine and strychnine. Bodies were hauled away from the hospital in trucks. From the window I watched my unit march to the waterfront and board ship. Cries of “Armistice, Armistice” rang throughout the hospital in a few days.”
J Lonnie Thomas
