April 23, 1918 – Full diary entry:

“Burned my clothes in the fire. Will have to get another suit.

On K.P.

I hate to go and leave my dear Elinore.

Received Special Delivery letter from Elinore also $5.00.”

So now he has no suit, no bed, no gear… and he’s still not leaving camp today. At least he has five bucks.

Special Delivery was an option made available by the US Post Office from 1885 to 1997. For an extra postage fee, the service allowed letters to be sent and, once received at the destination post office, delivered that same day instead of waiting overnight for the next day’s mail routes.

As it turns out, it was a good thing Elinore sent that Special Delivery letter when she did, because Robert is finally leaving tomorrow.

Where was Robert today? See the timeline.