| The photo on the left is the one Herbert is referring to in the last letter he wrote, dated May 6th, 1918. This portrait cutout, which I thought was a paper doll when I first saw it, is in the letters his mother saved...so many mementos of a thoughtful young man who loved his family, served his country, and made the ultimate sacrifice. |
| Herbert called his girlfriend "my lady Ruth." In his last letter he wonders why she has not written for five weeks and he is "beginning to wonder if it must be for good."He immediately becomes optimistic and states, "Oh no, it isn't." He is sure that "she will come through it all with a basket full of letters one of these wet days." He encourages his sister to visit with Ruth and find out why she hasn't written. His "lady Ruth" is Ruth Baldwin. After his death, she remained single for years, marrying later in life when she was too old to have children. |
| Herbert has a small memorial on "Find a Grave." If you'd like, you can click here to visit and leave a message of thanks. Herbert's Bio Back to the Home Page at www.redbluffismytown.com |
| A Family Story as told by my grandfather... In 1918, the influenza epidemic spread through the United States. Our family was not immune to its devastation. My grandfather's father, Roy Beem, was Herbert's half-brother and he contracted the virus shortly after the war. He told my grandfather that he wanted to just stay in bed and die but that Herbert's uniform was hanging on his closet door. He knew that if his mother came into the room and saw it, she would feel intense pain at the sight of it. It took all of his effort, but he managed to get out of bed and put the uniform in the closet. He said that the moment seemed to be a turning point for him. He felt that if he had stayed in bed, he would have died. Getting up seemed to do him good and clear his breathing after a major coughing spell. He felt he would have drowned had he not gotten up. This epidemic impacted both sides of my family... my grandmother told me that her mother recalled playing outside with her friends into the evening, just like any other day. When none of them showed up the next day to play, she went looking for them, only to discover that all of them had died during the night before. For many people, the pain of losing loved ones during the war was followed closely by another kind of tragedy; there wasn't a reprieve from fear or loss. |
| There are so many more letters I could include... it was difficult to choose which ones should represent his life. Reading through the letters as well as all of the documentation that had been saved, I felt a strong connection when I realized that he had been promoted despite having not passed a required math test. He wrote a very persuasive letter requesting that his strong English skills be taken into consideration and he reminded the person who was making the decision that good communication skills were more useful in the position he would hold. He included a letter from his commanding officer who recommended he be promoted immediately, "We need men of Herbert Boyer's character and dedication." I imagine that if he had lived, he would have written of his experiences in battle. His letters are a rich history and while they give a glimpse into who he was, there is still the sense that his life ended too soon and his pen could have told us so much more. |
| This poem, cut out from a newspaper, was in Herbert's letters. It is moving in that it shows some of the values that have been lost...Herbert certainly learned and lived them. |