Name/Title
Spalsbury: #113 Letters Home January 18, 1945Entry/Object ID
2021.2.357A-BScope and Content
Letter Home from Pfc. Robert C. Spalsbury, 17135556, Co A - 216 Armd Engr Bn, A.P.O. 412, Cp Chaffee, Ark. to his parents Mr. and Mrs. George C. Spalsbury, 806 South 11th St., St. Joseph 10, Missouri.
The envelope is torn where the postage and post mark usually reside. A hand written marking, partially intact, indicates the letter was sent Air Mail.Context
18 January 1944
[NOTE: Despite the date of the letter indicating January 18, 1944, it is actually 1945. This is confirmed by the return address indicating Robert's rank of Private First Class which he did not obtain until the end of 1944 as well as the fact that it is being sent from Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. In January of 1944, Robert was still stationed at Camp Haan, California]
Dear Folks -
I'm sitting here on my bunk writing this, passing the time before chow. It's raining outside, and there are a bunch of fellows in the barracks. There's no retreat, due to the rain.
We haven't been doing an awful lot lately, mostly just doing odd jobs, sitting around seeing films, having inspections, and so on.
Did you hear from Duane lately? I wrote him a letter the other day, also Laura Lee, thanking them for the swell khaki sweater they sent for Christmas.
I'm wondering if you've received the letter I wrote Sunday. I sent it "Free" instead of Air Mail.
Well, folks, there's not an awful lot to say, so I'll close for now.
Sorry I couldn't have written more, but maybe next time I'll think of something.
All my love,
BobLexicon
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Category 08: Communication ObjectsArchive Items Details
Title
Letter Home from Pfc. Robert C. Spalsbury, 17135556, Co A - 216 Armd Engr Bn, A.P.O. 412, Cp Chaffee, Ark. to his parents Mr. and Mrs. George C. Spalsbury, 806 South 11th St., St. Joseph 10, Missouri. The envelope is torn where the postage and post mark usually reside. A hand written marking, partially intact, indicates the letter was sent Air Mail.Description
Handwritten letter home to his parents back in St. Joseph after being called up to serve in the US Army during WWII. Pfc. 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. Then Robert was stationed at Camp Haan in southern California, a U.S. Army training camp for Coast Artillery Anti Aircraft gunners. During his time at Camp Haan, Robert was transferred from Battery B to Battery A and began working as an office Clerk in Battery A.
At the time this was written, Robert is serving at Camp Chaffee at Fort Smith, Arkansas. He had been working as a Clerk-Typist in the HQ Company then transferred to Line Company A. He now has the job serving as Mail Clerk for the Company.
In the past several letters, Robert has made reference to the unit preparing for deployment without any specifics of dates or locations.
This letter is a single-sided, one page, written in blue ink on plain stationery. The letter was sent in a matching plain envelope. The page is folded in thirds.Dimensions
Height
10-1/2 inWidth
7-1/4 inCondition
Overall Condition
Very GoodRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Robert C. Spalsbury
