Document Type
Diary Entry
Files
Download Full Text (520 KB)
Date
1917
Keywords
World War I, Red Cross, military service, honor, reputation, Huntington Wilson
Description
A handwritten, personal note from 1917. Huntington-Wilson writes of ways he feels he can help in the war effort and how he wishes to be of service to the United States.
Corresponds to:
Folder 3-10, Document 2
City
New York City, New York
Transcription
1917
Purpose: -To be and do what is most worthy of my name - and thus to honor my family, my friends, and my country, and to disappoint my dearest enemy and my other enemies.
(1) To keep down ___and____. To diminish____. To be kind, to think of the other fellow. To be cheerful. To be patient. To be maturely quietly wise. To keep occupied and overcome inertia. To be courageous. To be economical.
(2) To do the best I can for my country at war. How shall I do this?
(a) Age, physical limitations (heat, over-work, nervous strain, eye-sight make me unsuited for the trenches, - unless the time comes when we are short of man-power. Also, my greatest use is intellectual. [Can’t afford gratuitous service, like Red Cross].
(b) This Administration denies me service in the ways I am qualified to be of special use.
(c) There remain staff duty or journalism or war industry executive work, or a business of national benefit.
BUT, one must pay heed to prejudice as well as to truth. To be useful, one must be heeded and respected. After the war, one’s standing, as a means to do any good, will depend upon the public view of one, - and that well be measured, above all, by the popular prejudiced judgment of what one did during the war. By that judgment, to get into uniform anyhow, and to go across if possible, will be the best thing.
Language
English
Rights Statement
Please contact the Myrin Library Special Collections Department for permissions to use this document. https://www.ursinus.edu/library/archives-special-collections/
Recommended Citation
Huntington-Wilson, Francis Mairs, "Personal Note on War Effort, 1917" (1917). World War I Era Documents, 1914-1918. 20.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/fmhw_firstworldwar_documents/20
Comments
This note is hand-written on Hotel Belmont stationery.