Name/Title
Spalsbury: #69 Letters Home January 17, 1944Entry/Object ID
2021.2.313A-IScope and Content
Letter Home from Pvt. R. C. Spalsbury, ASN 17135556, Btry B - 778th AAA Bn, Camp Haan, Calif. to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Spalsbury, 806 South 11th, St. Joseph (10), Missouri. Post Marked JAN 17, 1944, 11:30 AM, Camp Haan, Calif., 6 cents Air Mail stampContext
Sunday Afternoon -
16 January 1944
Dear Mom and Pop -
I'm surprised I haven't heard from you since last Monday, but I guess I can't expect letters when I'm so slow in answering yours. Gee, it's been six days! Last one I wrote you was last Monday night. I may get one from you this afternoon at Mail Call. Pop, last Sunday's paper came Friday - thanks for mailing it. I always enjoy reading 'em.
Mom, I hope and pray that my last letter reached you in time to detain you from buying or ordering a fountain pen with the five bucks I sent a while back. Just let me know in your next letter. Send back my five, if you haven't, and I'll send you the green Shaeffer "Lifetime," which is a ten-dollar pen but which only cost me $7.50 at the General Store. By the way, I went down again the other night and looked 'em over again, and exchanged the fine point for the same pen, only with a medium point. I thought a medium point would be better suited to your writing, Mom. So far I've been writing this letter with my Parker Vacuumatic. Starting with the next paragraph and for the remainder of the letter I'll write with the Shaeffer.
Heard from my Big Bud-Duane- about two weeks ago. Although I haven't found time yet to write a letter, I did send him a card a while back. I'm starting to look around for a birthday present for him - have you any suggestions? I guess I told you what I sent K. Morrow - I believe her birthday is tomorrow - the 17th, or possibly the 19th. At Vera West's Little Gift Shop on Hollywood Boulevard last Sunday I bought, to be wrapped as a gift and mailed from there on Monday, a quaint little brass flower vase, made in India, and with a pretty design on the outside. It hit my eye, and I picked it right out from all the other bric-a-brac. I think the lady sorta hated to part with it. She said she'd bought quite a bit of the Indian stuff when she was in England.
I hope both of you folks are well and happy. I certainly am. I feel fine, and am developing some muscle. Weighed 166 the other night in the General Store. How are your headaches, Mom? And your teeth, Pop? Does Pat still smell as bad as he did when I was on furlough?
Last Sunday Leanna said you were thinking about living out here after the War. I think that's a splendid idea. I know I'd love to live here - or possibly back East - after this whole thing's over. The Middle West has no more appeal for me.
I'll be sending a lot of souvenir booklets and picture folders home before long. Be sure to put 'em with all the rest of the stuff. I think the little booklet "Sinning in Hollywood," is particularly "cute." It's possible that I've sent a few of the folders home before. Pop, did you receive the little box with the "long" letter about California in it? I thought it was pretty cute. Sent it to you at The General Petroleum Co. instead of home.
Pvt. Charlie Gross (from Pa.) and I went to the Protestant Service at Topside Chapel No. 2 this morning. The sermon was quite dull. I've enclosed the program.
Haglund's in the hospital with some contagious disease; at least he's in a restricted ward, and can have no visitors. He was going to get a furlough a few days after he was admitted to the hospital. I hope he still gets one, because I think he's sorta homesick. I saw John Stuart, the little red-haired graduate of Rockhurst College in K.C., at the General Store Friday night. You recall I introduced you to him at Ft. Leavenworth, and he was in my little group of thirteen who went out to Callan together last April. John's still a Pvt. - an Intelligence Observor - in Headquarters Battery of the 468th. Haglund's in C Battery of the 468th. Well, anyway, John said that the 468th was leaving in a week or so - this Wednesday, I believe - for Needles, California. They're attached to an Armored Division, and will have desert maneuvers and live in their own "tent city," which, he told me, they'd build themselves. The 468th was activated (formed, and began training) in October, '42, on the 40-mm. Gun. They were one of the first outfits at Haan to be switched to halftracks. My outfit was activated the first of April, '43, and trained for six or seven weeks on the 40-mm., then was switched to halftracks.
I'm gonna pause now and prepare for Guard Mount - at 5:30 p.m. I have to shine my shoes, put on my leggins, and draw a rifle and bayonet from the Supply Room. Some of the other fellows and I haven't been issued rifles and bayonets yet. I'm glad, because you have to clean and oil 'em almost every day, and you're always in danger of being "gigged" if they're not in tip-top shape.
I've come to the conclusion that the 778th isn't such a bad outfit after all, as some of the fellows in Baker Battery like to believe. At a showing of a Sex Hygiene film a couple weeks ago, Capt. Fleischer, medical officer of the 778th, said that the 778th is the only Battalion in Haan which has not had a single case of venereal disease since it was activated. He didn't count "the crabs," however. Of course "crabs" isn't a venereal disease, but a form of bugs or lice. ---Brig. Gen. Handwerk, Camp Commander, stopped one of our Guards for not walking properly several weeks ago. Said he to the Guard, "I'm very surprised. The 778th is supposed to be a very superior outfit." He probably tells all the outfits that, however.
When I went down to Battalion Personnel to change my bond deduction a couple weeks ago (I told ya about this in my last letter) I saw some very interesting things in my Service Record, and learned some interesting things from Cpl. Charlie Bement, our Battery Clerk. When Charlie saw my AGCT score of 135, he said it was the highest in our Battery - B. He further said there were only ten fellows in the whole Battalion (about 1,000 men) who were in Class I on their AGCT Score. -Class I is a score of 130 or above. The other night when I checked in from my weekend pass I saw a chart on the wall of the Battery Office which gave, among other things, the AGCT Score of every man in the battery. They ranged all the way from 50 to 131, the average being about 85 or 90. Even the 1st Sgt., highest non-com in the Battery, only scored 104. Staff Sgts. Deardorff and Tunison, the two fellows who advised me to take my furlough, had 128 and 125, respectively. Well, all this must be very boring to you, but it was extremely interesting to me. I realize these scores aren't everything, however. This is all strictly confidential, so I must be careful about blabbing my mouth off.
Another thing I'm very thankful I saw was my Service Record, especially my Basic Training Report. Here I am summed up by one or more of my non-coms at Camp Callan: Character - "Excellent"; Habits - "Good",; Aptitude (for being a soldier - as displayed in Basic Training) - "Unsatisfactory"; Leadership - "Poor"; Brief General Estimate - "Lacks self-control - a poor soldier." Now, seeing this didn't hurt me a bit. I'm ever so thankful to have seen myself through the eyes of someone else. Now I'll know what to work on, and how to go about rounding out my personality, etc. I honestly feel I'm improving much more here in the Army than I would have back in the A.S.T.P. So many of the guys in the A.S.T.P. are such young, immature brats and quite ignorant, really, even though their AGCT Score must be 115 or better. - Gee, this letter is absolutely full of "me," isn't it?, -but I s'pose folks are interested in their kids, etc.
Say, when are you going to send those chocolate nut cookies, Marie? I'm looking forward to 'em.
Do me a favor, Mom. Call up June Daisy Johnson's mother (I believe they live out on the East Savannah Road now), find out how she is, and get her address for me. She's in the Women's Marine Corps, you know. I'd love to hear from her, so will write her if I have her address. She's such a bright, "aware" girl, and quite attractive - much more so than she was in High School. --I had a very interesting letter from Pauline Mangelsdorf, at the Univ. of Iowa again this year. I feel sorry for the girl. She's very brilliant, but so introverted and one-sided. ---I haven't heard from Warren in ages.
Our Battalion leaves January 24th, a week from tomorrow, for 10 or 12 days at Camp Irwin. There we'll fire with our halftracks at "sleeves" towed by airplanes. I'm in the 2nd Squad of the 1st Section (1st Platoon), and the fellows are pretty nice. I'll probably be vertical or lateral gun pointer, or possible right or left cannoneer, in our Squad. - We've had more fun the past week, practicing Gun Drill and learning the nomenclature of the 37-millimeter Automatic Anti Aircraft Gun, with which our new halftracks are mounted, together with twin (two) .50-caliber Machine Guns. I'm getting so I sorta like the study of the Guns, I was never a bit mechanical, ya know, and I really get a huge "kick" out of mastering "em.
Gee, but this is some letter, isn't it? -I've enjoyed writing it, probably cause it's mostly about -
Yours truly, Spals [little sketch] xxxxx
P.S. - I've got my old part back - my hair's getting long again. [little sketch]
[Note: written along the left hand side of the back of page 4] P.S. 2 - I turned in a roll of film at the P.X. today. I'll send the prints when I get 'em back - maybe two or three weeks.Collection
Marshall WhiteLexicon
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Letter Home from Pvt. R. C. Spalsbury, ASN 17135556, Btry B - 778th AAA Bn, Camp Haan, Calif. to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Spalsbury, 806 South 11th, St. Joseph (10), Missouri. Post Marked JAN 17, 1944, 11:30 AM, Camp Haan, Calif., 6 cents Air Mail stampDescription
Handwritten letter home to parents back in St. Joseph after being called up to serve in the US Army during WWII. Pvt. Spalsbury, at the time of this letter, has completed Basic Training at Camp Callan, California, was stationed for a short time with a STAR Unit for ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) soldiers in Pasadena, CA then moved to engineering training at Loyola University in Los Angeles, CA. After flunking out of the ASTP program, Robert was briefly stationed at Camp Roberts, located in central California assigned to the Infantry Replacement Training Center. At the time of this letter, Robert is stationed at Camp Haan in southern California, a U.S. Army training camp for Coast Artillery Anti Aircraft gunners.
This letter is four pages, front and back, written in blue ink on very thin, plain stationery. The pages are folded in half and then thirds. The letter was mailed in an Air Mail envelope with red and blue hash marks along the outside edge.Dimensions
Height
10-1/2 inWidth
7-1/4 inCondition
Overall Condition
Very GoodRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Robert C. Spalsbury
