William Earl Relf (1887-1964) served in World War I. He left for France with his company in June 1918 on the HMS Karmala.
May 26, 1918
“It was a cosmopolitan company which boarded the troop train… with Lieutenant Charles F. Dienst as company commander, and started on that “long, long trail.”
The men traveled in Pullman sleepers for 5 days en route to a camp in Hoboken, enjoying a “luxurious ride”
June 4th, 1918
“The boys bade farewell to the homeland and sailed for Europe.”
They crossed the ocean in fourteen days in what was described as “Dante’s Inferno with the submarine ague.
HMS Karmala | kansasww1.org
Relf’s name is misspelled as Ralph
Quotes are pulled from the Complete History of Company G 353rd Infantry, 89th Division, A.E.F. — Missouri Digital History
Finding the Yellow Bricks 