Letter #1 – July 7, 1918 — In this first letter, Alfred is in the U.S. School of Military Aeronautics in Ithaca, New York. He wants to buy a uniform so he doesn’t look like a “rookie” when he makes his first trip home. He hits up his brother for a loan of $30. Hamilton is only 16, but he has a job in the movie industry making $15.00 a week. Alfred is pulling in $26.40 a week and teases Hamilton that he may soon “do him out” (out earn him). Alfred has already ordered the uniform and he needs the $30 quickly before he picks it up. Cash only & registered, no money orders or checks!
Alfred asks Hamilton if he has been to the movies “since C. of P.R.” This has to refer to “Cecilia of the Pink Roses” starring Marion Davies which was released in 1918.
Alfred starts the letter with “Dear Ham”, but ends it with “Bye Bye Jaz”. Jaz and Jazlio were two of his nicknames for his younger brother.
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Letter #2 August 5, 1918 – Alfred discloses his test scores. He’s doing well except for Military Law. He has 3 weeks to go if he doesn’t “flunk out”. “They can throw you out even at the last minute.”
Alfred hints that Hamilton maybe moving in on his “affairs” and thinks he will have to “employ a spy to watch him.” He jests a bit about how much money Hamilton is making at his job at the studio and wonders if he needs a Treasurer or Financial Secretary.
He asks his kid brother to remember him to everybody — “Aunt Lena, Uncle Will, & Dorothy”. This would be his Uncle William James Mannon (George’s younger brother) who also works as a railroad conductor and lives in the Bronx. Lena Berndt Mannon is Will’s wife and Dorothy is their daughter, age 7.
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Letter #3: September 12, 1918 – The top of the first page has a P.S. giving Alfred’s new address at Camp Dick in Dallas, Texas.
Alfred tells Hamilton that today is “Registration Day” and asks if Hamilton is going to register with several question marks. September 12, 1918 was indeed called National Registration Day and billed as one of the “Greatest Patriotic Holidays.” The rule was that “all male persons must register who shall have attained their eighteenth birthday and shall not have attained their forty-sixth birthday before this day”. Hamilton was only 16½ on this date and not required to register. This must have been a tease.
There had been a parade in Dallas this day to “stir people up”. Alfred had to walk 5 miles without a stop. He notes the friendliness of the people in Dallas.
He gives his kid brother some new lyrics to the tune “Over There”.
Alfred asks Hamilton to look in on Marion at least once a week, because she is lonesome. Belle (sister Clara Belle) is lonesome too and can come along. Marion doesn’t expect an expensive treat.
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Letter #4: October ___, 1918
Alfred has arrived at Camp Pike near Little Rock, Arkansas. This is where he is going to get his flight training. There are 2 nice websites which describe Camp Pike here and here. At the time Alfred was in camp, there were 100,000 soldiers there in training.
This letter describes Alfred’s first flight in an airplane. He says “Well, at last my aim has been accomplished” and “the realization was far greater than the anticipation.” Don’t you bet that his “aim” in joining the Air Service was to ride in an airplane?
Unfortunately, these four letters are all we have. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Hamilton’s letters to Alfred? Or Marion’s and Belle’s. It does appear that the two had a close, affectionate relationship – which seems to be borne out in their working together in their early years.
One observation that I made is that Alfred asks after Marion, Clara Belle, and Uncle Will, Aunt Lena, and Dorothy. He doesn’t ask about his father, George, or mention him at all — at least in these letters that we have.
Alfred’s time in the Army Air Service was brief. The last overseas departures from Camp Pike occurred in September 1918, just before Alfred arrived. He was given his Honorable Discharge on November 25, 1918.
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