“Detained indefinitely. Well. Love.”

Guard duty and souvenir hunting...

Friday, May 9, 1919:

[The] 647 took the guard this P.M. at 4 o’clock for 24 hours. McCrackin is Sgt. I’m Corp. of the 2nd shift. Dev., Fratz, Kirk and Jim are my men. We went on at 6 this evening and continue on a schedule of 2 on and four off.

Cabled Dot yesterday: “Detained indefinitely. Well. Love.”

There is not much new dope. Lieut. Smith was ordered to Paris for reasons unknown. Left last night and expects to return tomorrow A.M.

A Sgt. under our transportation officer now teaching math in every school told Kirkpatrick and Johnnie that the 90th Div. was expected down here soon which will force us out. Whether it will force us on to the boat or not is still a question.

Went downtown yesterday with the idea of buying souvenirs for the family and Dot, but came back empty handed. There are many nice things over here for women as well as men and my head is chuck full of ideas, but all so impractical. Laces and silks are very beautiful and not too expensive, but there is no place to carry such things except in duffel bags where they would surely spoil under present treatment. I had some shell cases dressed and decorated while we were up in Verdun for Mother. I’ve bought a number of souvenir spoons for Sis and Dot. I would like to get them more if I could find something practical. Johnnie, Tib and Dad are problems. If they only smoked I could think of a million little handy souvenirs. Something may turn up yet.