The pen (darker) writing is original.

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>"Dear Avis,
>
>Have not heard from your mother for long time, hope she is not sick.
>
>Do you recognize the gentleman in head of the line on Memorial Day."

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Upside down writing, from the day it was mailed.

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>"This is the glorious 4th. Very quiet here."

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An undated portrait of Sewell Quimby. https://i.imgur.com/TAk6gJP.jpg

Great image. I've seen a lot of CW images from Maine, but have never seen this one before, I imagine it's quite rare.

That might be a 1913 Gettysburg reunion ribbon he's wearing.

Oh, you sound like you know things.

Here, I had scanned it at mega size. I did a quick edit for contrast. (Edit: oh wait, looks like when I combined the front and back I did that edit too)

https://i.imgur.com/oWLP5u4.jpg

What's on the hat?

I love the handwriting. My grandmother wrote like that. Nice piece of history there. Thank you so much for sharing! I've been going through my dad's old photo albums and found his navy discharge papers and some pictures of him as a little kid in Portland in the late 40s early 50s.

I think I read 'Reunion' on the ribbon. CW vets were very keen on reunions and veteran associations like the GAR, so it could be anything. I said the 1913 Gettysburg reunion because it was quite an event, the 50th anniversary of the battle, and over 50 thousand vets attended.

Here's the hat badge :LINK

And here's a link to more photos and mentions of your ancestor: LINK

Very cool, thanks.

I thought I was reading 'CAR', but 'GAR' makes more sense. ;)