The Worse for It

The World War One Letters and Artifacts of Private First Class Robert E. Schalles

On Mother’s Day in 1918 Robert E. Schalles wrote:

“I have learned a good deal more than I expected since crossing the great pond, but am more the worse for it.”

There are 45 letters in The Worse for It. They begin on September 30, 1917 while Schalles is being trained in Texas and end on August 10, 1919 after his return.

The letters he wrote to his mother on Mother’s Day in 1918 and 1919, and one to his sister on June 10, 1918 have some very poignant, explicit passages in them. In other letters there are times when one needs to “read between the lines” as the letters back home had to go through a censor. In a postcard to his older brother, Arthur, dated June 16, 1918, he wrote:

“Will write a line to let you know I am still O.K. Things are lovely? on this side of the Pond. It is the fourth of July everyday here judging by the noise.”

It is interesting to read the postcard that he sent to his parents on the same day.

But it is all in these letters: the new recruit, living in a foreign land for the first time, experiencing the horrors of combat, enduring the boredom of military life and longing to go home.

The book includes photographs, documents and artifacts. Also included: Schalles’ biography, table of contents, cross references, maps and an index.

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