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A LETTER TO MOM 1918
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


At Last Dear Mother, this Nightmare Will Cease
In a Few Short Hours There Will Be Lasting Peace
A  Full Armistice Will Go into Effect at Eleven
I Loathe These Soiled Fields, Gutted and Barren
First Thing I’ll Do Is Shave and Enjoy a Warm Bath
Pray and Thank God I Survived this Time of Wrath
I’m Now Thinking about How Soon I’ll Be Home 
About Marrying Erin, Stop Dreaming Alone

I Want to Buy the 20 Acres Behind Martin’s Orchard
My Mustering out Pay: and the Money I Hoarded
I Have Nearly 1300 Dollars to Start on My Scheme
I Want to Marry Erin, She’s My Constant Dream
She and I Planned this since the Seventh Grade
Our Lives Together Will No Longer Be Delayed
We Want Father O’brien to Perform the Rites
Then off to Niagara Falls to Enjoy the Sights

I Want to Fix up the Abandoned House next to You
A Few Nails, a Bit of Paint, Windows, it Will Look New 
We Need to Decide What Money Crops We Can Seed
Tobacco, Grapes Whichever Will Cover Our Needs
There Is Another Crop That We Won’t Overlook
With Erin’s Flaming Red Hair and My Good Looks 
We Will Present You with Beautiful Grand Children
All of Us Together Again, on Our Own Piece Heaven

There’s Some Commotion and a Call to Fall in
Missing a Call to Assemble, an Unpardonable Sin
“Listen Up” “We’ll Make the Hun Pay up His Debts”
Check Your Equipment and Fix Bayonets
Fix Bayonets? The War Is Over, Are We Insane?
One Last Chance for Some Officers to Gain Fame
The Final Charge at Ten Minutes to Eleven
Going Through Hell. A Hard Way to Find Heaven

I’ll Finish this Letter When I Get Back. 
   
 


A Letter to Mom 1918 (2)


Dear Mother:

I Found this Letter Tucked in Your Sons Shirt
Don’t Know the Words to Write: That Won’t Hurt
A Few Minutes Before the Truce, Orders Came Through
To Recapture a Hill, We’ll Go over the Top on Cue
I Looked Across the Plain 300 Yards of Open Space
Enemy Machine Gunners, a Murderous Task to Face
Your Son Was a Soldier, on Cue, He Went over the Top
I Too Went over the Top, I Found a Crater, Did a Flop

Chatter Started Immediately Going on Non-stop
Men Scattered but to No Avail, Saw So Many Drop
Bone Chilling Chatter, Stopped at the Blare of a Horn
War Has Ended, Foes Embraced, Danced. Less Those Torn
War Ended for Many Long Before Truce Commenced
Fighting the Last Ten Minutes, Doesn’t Make Sense
I Found Your Son, My Friend on the Open Plain
He Died a True Soldier for Reasons I Can’t Explain

The armistice was signed by 5 am and was to be efective at 11 am several field officers decided the could become famous if they fought the last battle. More than ten thousand casualties and 2000 dead in the last 6 hours from 5am to 1am November 11,1918
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