Spalsbury: #57 Letters Home October 21, 1943

Archive

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St. Joseph Museums

Name/Title

Spalsbury: #57 Letters Home October 21, 1943

Entry/Object ID

2021.2.301A-F

Scope and Content

Letter Home from Pvt. Robert C. Spalsbury, Co. A, 66th Bn, I.R.T.C., ASN 17135556 - 3rd Platoon, Camp Roberts, Calif. to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh, Street. Saint Joseph 10, Missouri. Post Marked OCT 21, 1943, 11 AM, Camp Roberts, Calif., 6 cent Air Mail stamp.

Context

Wednesday Evening 20 October 43 Dear Folks, What a hell-hole this is! We arrived about 6:30 yesterday evening, after riding up from Santa Monica on the bus, after leaving about 9 or 10 in the morning. We had lunch and supper at places we stopped en route, paid for, of course, by gov't. meal tickets. Some of the boys had a 7-day delay en route, but I didn't see any sense in my taking one. If I went home I'd only have a day or two there, and the train fare would be a lot of money thrown away. Six of us came up together. We live in tents - 6 or 7 to a tent - and we were all placed in separate tents. There are a few other guys in my tent who flunked out of the ASTP - one from Stanford. We have to stand in a long line for our chow, and we eat out of our mess kits. I didn't eat any breakfast this morning, but just crawled back into bed (a cot) after reveille. We drilled a bit today, had some calisthenics, and some of us went on a 6-mile hike. I didn't have on my fatigues, so I just helped loosen the tent ropes, and laid around in the tent. There are a lot of soldiers around here who've been overseas and seen action. A lot of them were wounded, and many of them had malaria. Most of them are pretty common. As you can see by my return address, I'm in the 3rd Platoon of Company A of the 66th Replacement Battalion. This is labeled an "I.R.T.C."* but we'll all probably be put back in Anti-Aircraft. We'll be here anytime from 10 days to 6 weeks or more. I certainly hope it isn't very long - I heard rumors today, though, that we might be moved into barracks before long. I hope so; I don't particularly like the open air latrine and wash basins we have here. There is also another luxury - open-air showers (cold water only). I haven't taken any yet, and kinda hate to. Monday morning it poured down for awhile at Loyola. Coming up, it sprinkled a bit, and was sprinkling when we arrived. The man is cleaning up the Rec. Hall now, and said to hurry up and finish, so I'd better stop. It's 10:05 p.m. - Guess I'll go home to my tent and go to bed. Saw a movie tonite - "Flesh and Fantasy." - it was very good, and an unusual picture. Cost 15 cents. Love, Bob * Infantry Replacement Training Center

Collection

Marshall White

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Letter

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Correspondence

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Other Documents

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Archive Items Details

Title

Letter Home from Pvt. Robert C. Spalsbury, Co. A, 66th Bn, I.R.T.C., ASN 17135556 - 3rd Platoon, Camp Roberts, Calif. to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh, Street. Saint Joseph 10, Missouri. Post Marked OCT 21, 1943, 11 AM, Camp Roberts, Calif., 6 cent Air Mail stamp

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 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 is now stationed at Camp Roberts, California where he is assigned to the Infantry Replacement Training Center. This letter is two pages, front and back, written in blue ink on USO stationery. The stationery has a two color logo in the top left corner that features a flying USO flag with a cloud and sky back ground. The bottom of the stationery has a printed list of all the individual organizations that make up the USO in small block, all caps blue print. The letter was mailed in an envelope with USO insignia on the back with a 6 cent Air Mail stamp. The paper is folded in thirds.

Dimensions

Height

8-1/2 in

Width

5-1/2 in

Condition

Overall Condition

Very Good

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Robert C. Spalsbury