BeckwithWWI
"CHARLES BECKWITH COLLECTION
Watkinson Library, Trinity College

The Watkinson Library has recently purchased 50 letters written by Charles Beckwith, a young Pennsylvanian who served in the United States army during World War I. These letters, written to his sisters back home, document Beckwith’s stint at Fort Monroe, Virginia, his departure overseas, and his year in France. Beckwith was an ordinary soldier, whose responsibilities included repairing guns and tractors. His letters are full of homesickness (“every time I think of home I get hungry”), plans for wrangling leave and supplying himself with cigarettes, remarks about the weather, and his struggles with the French language (“donnez ma amour du ma petit soeur”). He also describes the army’s inscrutable inefficiency (“I sure hope they do something as I am getting tired of not knowing what I am going to do next”) and the destruction wrought by war (“All the towns we go into are all blown to pieces & we can hardly find a place to sleep except the ground & there is plenty of room there”). Charles Beckwith’s letters home are a significant addition to the Watkinson’s collection of World War I materials, affording a glimpse of catastrophic events through one soldier’s eyes. "