Balkans War Belies Hope in Soldier’s 1917 Letter

As the 20th century winds down with bombs falling in the Balkans, the 10-page letter addressed to “Dear Father” seems all the more poignant.

It was written by a soldier far away from home, in a war that started in these same Balkans, and who no doubt hoped that his efforts would help bring lasting peace.

We can only assume he’d be sad to learn they did nothing of the kind.

Esther Eyman lives in Huntington Beach and has kept the letter in a closet box for years. The stationery is remarkably well-preserved to be carrying this dateline:

Somewhere in France

Nov. 11, 1917

The letter writer was Erwin Newton, but Eyman came to know him as Uncle Erwin, her father’s brother. He was a 34-year-old soldier in 1917, sent to Europe from his hometown of St. Albans, Vt., after America entered World War I that year.

A toddler when her uncle went to war, Eyman says she remembers him talking about it years later. The letter from France, with its 2-cent stamp, stayed with her parents down through the years, until her mother eventually left it in her care. “I was thrilled when I got it,” she says. “It’s really something to treasure.”

Her uncle would not have been in Europe that long when he wrote:

“Sunday once more with you, but not with me, as every available man is as busy as can be,” his letter began.

“We can hear the big trucks barking all the night long and many a weary driver cursing about the rainy season in France. But everyone begins to show the old ginger that will put the Germans out of business sooner or later.”

I don’t know if that’s what every soldier thinks--that their sacrifices will matter. I do know we dishonor every soldier when the peace for which they risked their lives is squandered by future war makers.

So it is in the Balkans today. Ethnic strife flares just as it did at century’s beginning, eventually stoking World War I when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was shot in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

And just as World War I engulfed Europe, some military analysts worry the same thing could happen today.

“One never knows what to expect in the Army,” Erwin Newton wrote, “but may God bless men who are trying to do their duty as they see it. How I do wish you could see us all at it. If America would only show a little more enthusiasm, it would encourage us greatly.”

I ask Eyman if it troubles her that her uncle’s wartime efforts didn’t create a lasting peace. Does it make his sacrifices seem not worth it?

“The Bible tells us there are wars and there will always be wars, and it’s really true,” she says.

Her uncle, who died in 1960, lived long enough to see that prophecy come true in World War II.

But on that November day in 1917 (with the end of the war just a year away), he wrote, “The sun is shining beautifully now (2 p.m.) but no doubt it will rain torrents before dark. But no one stops for that and everyone seems to have a joke for you everywhere you go, except the officers, most of whom do the worrying and do not feel like joking at all.

“I find myself swearing one minute and laughing the next, but always working for Old Glory and Uncle Sam. I am fully convinced they are on the right side and would like you to see all I have seen and then hear your opinion.”

He then mentions the Thanksgiving that is just around the corner in America and, in gallows humor, adds, “We know no holidays until we put on our wooden overcoats (pine box).

“Are we downhearted? Never. Hope all the folks will take time to write as it seems so good to hear from away beyond the sea, where all is peace and quiet and men die natural deaths.”

*

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com