Wife Keeps Diary While Husband Goes to War

Millie Pearl Hodges Walker of Gold Hill, Ore., had only been married two years when her husband, L.O., went off to war in 1918. Entries in her diary chronicle his war experience:
May 31: “L.O. under quarantine for measles 14 days. My boy left here a month ago today.”
June 26: “L.O. transferred to the 91st Division Thursday evening and they were all ready to leave.”
July 9: A letter from L. O. from N.J. “They were being supplied with clothes for overseas. Saw New York, also Statue of Liberty.”
July 25: “L.O. says the ship on which … he … sailed has arrived safely overseas.”
Nov. 16: “My sweetheart reports he had been in one battle. Was in the hospital -- sick, like he was at the orchard.”
Dec. 28: “Another wonderful letter from my sweetheart. He was gassed and shells knocked him over.”
March 13, 1919: “L.O. expects to be home soon but (has) been transferred back to his company—feeling fine.”
April 25: “L.O. came last night—so brown and good.”
Source: Diary of Millie Hodges Walker for 1918-1919, in the collection of the Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Ore.