This letter collection contains correspondence to and from Army Captain Estill I. Green during his time in the service in World War I. The materials date from 1908 to 1968 with the bulk of the letters dating from 1917-1919. Green recounts what life was like on the front lines, serving some time as an Army Intelligence Officer. He describes war-torn France and Belgium and what the people there are like.

Estill Ibbotson Green was born on November 24, 1895 in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Westminster College in Missouri, studied at the University of Chicago, then received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Harvard College after the war. Before he left for Europe, he married Sarah Saxie Valinda Grant on January 5, 1918. He served as an intelligence officer with the 177th Infantry Brigade, 89th Division during World War I, eventually being promoted to Captain, serving in both Germany and France. After the war, he worked as a transmission engineer for most of his life. He and his wife had one daughter, Wanda Sykes Green. Estill Green died on June 24, 1974 in Livingston, New Jersey.

The bulk of the letters come from Estill Green’s time in the service, writing many letters to his mother, Eleanor, in particular, but also to his father, John, and his wife, Sarah. The materials date from 1908 to 1968 with the bulk of the letters dating from 1917-1919. He expresses his anger towards the Germans for ruining so much of France and Belgium, while Germany itself was hardly touched. He speaks of the local soldiers and how welcoming, hard-working, and kind the French were to the Americans. He describes what trenches were like, the fear that comes with shelling and bombardments, and the constant worrying about gas attacks.

The folders are grouped first by letters that Estill Green sent to others, then by letters that Estill Green himself received from others.