Two of the "boys" were in the war this time.
Albert and Tommie were in the army, but Charlie didn't have to go because he was working for American Can Company out in Portland, Oregon, in 1917-1918. They got all their workers deffered to 4F. At that time it was unheard-of for women to work in factories, so the Company said that if they drafted their workers, there would be no one to can the food that they were sending overseas for the soldiers to eat. Remember, this was 1917 and 1918, and you didn't have all the different means of preserving the food then. When Charlie wrote home and asked Albert and Tommie, who were already in the army, if he should volunteer anyway, they quickly wrote back and told him to stay where he was.
Actually, neither Albert nor Tommie saw any fighting, because they were on the troop ships on their way to France when the Armistice was signed. They no sooner landed than they were sent back home. Neither of them regretted it.