On May 20, 1919, Oliver Jackson wrote to his brother, Arthur, back home in Cloquet, Minnesota. Oliver is in a hospital in Coblenz, Germany, and writes about the possibility of coming home, Germany's reluctance to sign a peace treaty, and his determination that the "Yanks" are still a strong presence in Europe. Oliver was part of the 54th Pioneer Infantry. "Pioneers," in military terms, are soldiers who do engineering or construction work, such as improve roads and build bridges.

Oliver was born in 1896 in Superior, Wisconsin. In 1910, he was living in Cloquet with his stepfather, mother, brother Arthur, and sister Martha. When he registered for the draft in 1917, he was working at a box factory in Cloquet. He married Margaret in 1927 and worked a variety of different jobs, including as a filer at a lumber mill and a painter.