Name/Title
Spalsbury: #24 Letters Home July 21, 1943Entry/Object ID
2021.2.268A-FScope and Content
Letter Home from Pvt. Robert C. Spalsbury, STAR Unit 3906, 1905 Lincoln Avenue, Pasadena, California to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh Street, Saint Joseph, Missouri. Post Marked JUL 21 1943, 2 PM, Pasadena, Calif., 6 cent Air Mail stamp.
Robert has moved from basic training at Camp Callen, CA to ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program).Context
Tuesday - July 20, 1943
Dear Mom and Pop,
I'm at the STAR Unit now. Four busses of us ASTPers from Camp Callan left early this morning and arrived here about 11a.m., in plenty of time for a good lunch. We did nothing much this afternoon except get our bed clothing, after we were assigned to our bunks. I got a nice lower bunk in a former classroom. There are about 20 or 30 boys altogether in the room. Five of us were in the same platoon at Callan.
Guess what! Paul Leibowitz who was in A-57, also shipped up here today, so there's another St. Joseph boy in the crowd. He was a junior at M.U. when called into the E.R.C., and he and Bob Raidt knew each other pretty well. Bob Raidt hasn't shipped out yet. Most of the busted OCS men are still there.
Tomorrow morning we'll begin taking tests, I guess. Most of them are Math. tests, from what we hear. We'll also be given the American Council Psychological Exam, usually given to new college freshmen. It's the one I scored 158 on at Junior College. I hope I have my wits about me and do as well on it here. If you are interested in language, you'll also be given the Language Aptitude Test. I hope I do good enough on that to be put in Languages instead of Engineering.
Although the discipline isn't too tough here, there are still plenty of restrictions. We can't go out on pass, except from 4 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday, and must stay within the school grounds all the rest of the time. Mail call is just once a day - in the late afternoon. Which reminds me - I haven't heard from you folks for about five days now. The last letter from you, Mom, is postmarked July 13th.
A lot of the boys here have athlete's foot, and they sit out on the lawn - the football field - and daub some kind of red disinfectant on the infected parts. We've already been instructed to stand 30 minutes in the foot bath solution before and after taking a shower or going swimming in the tile pool they have here.
The P.X. here is just a small outdoor stand. They sell candy bars, gum, cigarettes, ice cream, soda pop, a few toilet articles, etc.
Right now I'm up in the Library in the Administration Building. I've been reading in a book by Bertha Damon - "Grandma Called It Carnal." It's rather funny. Daniel Van Soelen, who's been here for eleven days now, and who's from our Battery at Callan, is sitting here getting his lessons for tomorrow. They consist of Basic Mathematics, the Slide Rule, Chemistry and Physics. Refresher courses such as these are given here to get you into the swing of studying again, and to kill time while waiting to be shipped to your College or University. Van Soelen says, in general, he leads a pretty soft life here.
Well, that's all for now.
Love, XXXXX BobLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
LetterNomenclature Primary Object Term
CorrespondenceNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsArchive Items Details
Title
Letter Home from Pvt. Robert C. Spalsbury, STAR Unit 3906, 1915 Lincoln Avenue, Pasadena, California to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh Street, Saint Joseph, Missouri. Post Marked JUL 21 1943, 2 PM, Pasadena, Calif., 6 cent Air Mail stamp. Robert has moved from basic training at Camp Callen, CA to ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program).Description
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 Callen, California and is serving in a STAR Unit for ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) soldiers in Pasadena, CA.
The letter is two pages, both front & back written in blue ink pen on plain stationery. The letter was mailed in an regular envelope with a 6 cent Air Mail stamp. The stationary is smaller than the envelope and folded in thirds.Condition
Overall Condition
Very GoodRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Robert C. Spalsbury
