Name/Title
Spalsbury: #3 Letters Home May 3, 1943Entry/Object ID
2021.2.234A-HScope and Content
Letter Home from US Army Pvt. Robert C. Spalsbury, Battery C-57th A.A. Trng. Bn., 4th Platoon, Camp Callan, California to his parents, Mr. & Mrs. George C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh Street, St. Joseph, Missouri - Postmarked May 3, 1943, 11AM San Diego, CA Air Mail, 6 cent Air Mail stampContext
(note in upper left hand corner of page 1: "Enclosed are 2 clippings from the camp paper." These clippings were not included in the envelope)
May 2, 1943
Dear Kidses,
It's getting close to nine o'clock Sunday evening. Here I sit on the foot locker in my barracks writing the first letter I've written since the last one I wrote you folks. My goodness - will I ever get the 15 or 20 letters answered that I owe? I'll be losing all my old friends. I could have pushed myself into writing one or two letters this afternoon, but it feels so nice to relax on Sunday - besides, there were little things I had to look after.
I rode the camp bus down to the 52nd Battalion today after lunch. I found Bob Raidt. He and another boy were walking around their Battalion Quadrangle with full field packs and rifles and belts on them. It seems they were in San Diego last night and didn't get in till 1:15 a.m. Deadline last night was at 12:30 a.m. The buses were so terribly crowded, and they didn't get a ride till late. They'd been walking their post for about 2 hours, and had 2 more hours to go. This Camp is noted for its discipline. ---Bob doesn't seem to like it here. He didn't say so, but it seemed to me he didn't seem to like it like I do. I guess he misses the social life, fraternities, etc., back at Missouri University. He said he recognized me that first day I say him. He arrived 3 days before I did but his 13-week training cycle began the same time as mine. I wonder why he's not in Bn. 53 or 57 (the 2 school Battalions) - maybe he didn't do so well on his A. G. C. T., and then maybe the school battalions were already too crowded.
Last night Robert Peterson and I - he's a Minneapolis boy who was attending the U. of Minnesota when he was called - got passes about 6:30 and walked down to La Jolla, that beautiful little seaside resort town I went to 2 Sundays ago. We walked along the west road - on the hills above the sea - and it's really beautiful. The west road is much less traveled than Highway 101 - farther inland - but it's prettier. La Jolla is about 6 miles from our barracks - quite a walk - but the sad part of the story is - we had to walk back!!! We couldn't get a ride - taxi, bus, or hitchike. Luckily, we got in at 12:25 a.m., so weren't counted A.W.O.L. We went to the U.S.O., where we ate, danced a bit, and sat around; to a Recreation Hall sponsored by the La Jolla St. James' Episcopal Church, where we had free coffee and cookies - and cigarettes - if we wanted them. We strolled around the business district. I bought a good pair of sun glasses at a jeweler's store for $1.75. I broke one of the lenses in my old pair one day when we were learning how to fall. My new ones are brown instead of blue, and I'm glad, because the brown color takes off more glare than the blue. I also left my bracelet at the store, and am having 'em engrave my Army Serial Number on the back - they're charging 8 cents a letter (64 cents in all). I'll pick it up next Sunday or Saturday, or if not, thay'll send it to me here. We each had a chocolate malt for 21 cents, I bought a tube of foot ointment for 75 cents, a bar of Lux toilet soap for 10 cents (it's only 7 cents back at the P.X.), and a clothes brush for Rudolph Conrad Haglund, one of my friends from Iowa. I saw a cowhide writing kit for $7.00 and a suede one for $5.00, but they were both small - like books -. I saw a nice big one in a window, but the store was closed. Next Sunday Swanson and I intend to go to La Jolla or Diego, and I'll probably locate an ideal one then.
Mom, I ordered something in La Jolla for you on Mother's Day, and it's supposed to reach you sometime next Saturday. Let's hope it does. I think it will, though.
Pop, you were lucky to hear Gov. Donnell. Is he a pretty good speaker?
It's a shame the Griffon News didn't have my address correct. They had me in the "5th" Battalion and the "5th" Platoon. A letter from Ann Ashcroft addressed that way reached me the other day though, and the Griffon News came, too, but about two days later than Hubert's, whose address they had correct.
I bet the yard is beginning to get pretty. There are flowers galore out here - especially in La Jolla - but things like redbud, iris, daffodils, spirea, etc. - would look mighty good. Robert Hampton, a Pasadena boy, told me beefsteak tomato plants were very good, and bare quite a lot. The onions in between the roses probably won't shade them very much - it might interfere a little with cultivating them, however.
Thanks a lot for the hangars, taffy, newspapers, etc. which came the other day. My, how the boys love the taffy - they even swipe it from me! However, not much real stealing goes on here.
I finally got around to reading last Sunday's News-Press. That speech must have been a lot of work - but interesting, though. I had a fairly nice letter from Uncle Robert yesterday - written in ink too. Of course he had to "bitch" (army slang for "gripe") a bit about the Army, but I expected that. I certainly hope I find time to answer his letter.
Folks, I think I have a very good chance for the Army Specialized Training Program. I've enclosed the second article explaining it which appeared in last Friday's "Range Finder" - camp newspaper. When we filled out the three duplicate forms the other day, we rated the 4 large branches in the order of our preferences. Foreign Service (comes under the heading "Languages, " also) sounds by far the most interesting and exciting, doesn't it? I believe I have an extremely good chance for it, having had a 2-yr. Liberal Arts course and being able to read, write, and speak Spanish. The Psychology Division, a relatively small one, would probably be very good, too, and the Army might want to place me there, since I had a course in high school and two courses of it in college. Most of the fellows who are eligible (1 out of 5 who took the A. S. T. P. test passed it) haven't had that much psychology nor can many of them speak a modern foreign language, so again I say - I think I've a darn good chance of getting into one of these 2 divisions - maybe even Medicine or Engineering. Another recommendation I have for the Foreign Service (or languages) Division is the year of French I had in high school. At last my languages may be to my advantage. I'm glad I didn't take the Trig Test for Officer Candidate's School the first Wednesday I was here, because the OCS Board has stuck some to the boys who took the test and passed it onto the OCS list, even though they wanted the A.S.T.P. Before I go to O.C.S. I want a little more schooling and experience.
Mom, I got your letter on Saturday, when I imagine you got my last one. You can see by it that It was begun on Tuesday, so I didn't intend to wait so long before writing. I have a bunch of those U.S.O. Post Cards now, so I'll use them somewhat, if I don't have time to write a letter.
You said you sometimes got to thinking I'm sick when you don't hear from me. Believe you-me, I wish I were in the hospital, and then I would have time to answer all I owe. That's what the boys who've been sick say, anyway.
Call Kathleen - my next letter will be to her, and I'll write it on the good looking stationery she sent me.
Lots of Love and Kisses, BobCollection
Marshall WhiteLexicon
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Category 08: Communication ObjectsArchive Items Details
Title
Letter Home from US Army Pvt. Robert C. Spalsbury, Battery C-57th A.A. Trng. Bn., 4th Platoon, Camp Callan, California to his parents, Mr. & Mrs. George C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh Street, St. Joseph, Missouri - Postmarked May 3, 1943, 11AM San Diego, CA Air Mail, 6 cent 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, is at Camp Callen, California for Basic Training. The letter is four pages, front & back, written in pen on Air Mail stationery. The envelope is too small to fits the stationery so the pages have an extra fold to fit . On the back of the envelope Bob has sketched a Battalion logo with the slogan "WE KEEP 'EM FALLING!" The word FLYING was first written and then crossed out to read FALLING.Condition
Overall Condition
Very GoodRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Robert C. Spalsbury
