Name/Title
Spalsbury: #65 Letters Home December 24, 1943Entry/Object ID
2021.2.309A-EScope and Content
Letter Home from Pvt. Robert Spalsbury, 17135556, Btry B - 778th AAA Bn, Camp Haan, California to his parents Mr. and Mrs. George C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh, Saint Joseph 10, Missouri. Post Marked DEC 20, 1943, 4:30 PM, Camp Haan, Calif., 6 cents air mail stamp.Context
Thursday Night -
23 December 1943
Dear Mom and Pop -
I wish this would reach you Christmas day, but you probably won't get it till Monday. Gee, but the mail service is stinky, especially now - around the holidays. Your package hasn't arrived yet, so for the time being I've been thriving on the goodies that some of the other guys get - chocolates, cookies, fruit cake, etc. Some of them sure get a mess of 'em.
I wrote Uncle Charlie and Aunt Nell a letter last night, thanking 'em for the box of delicious cookies and fudge I got last Saturday. I had a short note enclosing a five-dollar check from Aunt Esther yesterday, so I'll write 'er a letter within several days, thanking the old gal. It was nice of her. She said she'd heard I needed a sleeping bag, so she said to add it to the five bucks she sent you for me. However, I'm afraid I'm gonna use it in L.A. this weekend. I haven't been paid yet, and with all the dough I spent on those six boxes of dates, etc., I've run rather short. I don't have enough to send you those five bucks I'm contributing toward your fountain pen, Mom. That'll have to wait until the end of the month, when I'll be paid, and I'll get about $8.50 ration currency. Also, Duane said he was sending me money for Christmas, so soon I'll be amply supplied.
Cpt. Kurtz and I plan on an enjoyable holiday around L.A. and Hollywood. It was certainly nice of him to tell the 1st Sgt. we were going over to Las Vegas, Nevada, to visit his school teacher sister (she'd invited him), so that we were both exempted from duty this weekend. He also signed the pass list for me last Monday, when I was out on the range firing the M-1, and last night, when I was on K.P. I'm plenty glad I had K.P. yesterday instead of over the weekend. Our passes start at 11 a.m. tomorrow - Friday - and end at 6 a.m. Monday.
I had a very smart Christmas card from Mrs. Partridge the same day I had your letter telling me about her getting my address. Also had a card from the Cox family. Also from Bill and Helen. Also from Dorothy Schmidt. I'll acknowledge all these cards by sending 'em notes on a Camp Haan postcard.
This afternoon last period we played volleyball. Starting this week we have one hour of organized athletics a day. We've been having a lot of lectures on gas - the various kinds, etc., and gas mask drill, and general protestion against chemical warfare. We also had a class called "Orientation" today - sort of a current events discussion, and a resume of the European situation. Lt. Ryan showed us an L.A. paper with the huge headline - "Public Warned to Expect Huge Casualty List of 500,00 Within Next Three Months." B-r-r, sounds bad, doesn't it? Of course, this would include wounded and captured, also. I have no doubt that a huge offensive is about to get under way on the European Continent that will really be a "blitzkreig" from the Russians, Americans and English. Lt. Williams said the other day that some time we would be stationed with some British unit. Jolly, isn't it? I still can't see myself going overseas, but miracles happen, ya know.
Three non-coms in our Battery went A.W.O.L. two weeks ago - a buck Sgt., a Cpl. and a T/5. The Sgt. came back yesterday, minus his stripes. The others are still gone. I guess maybe they're afraid of being non-coms overseas. They think it's safer as a Private.
Four fellows in our Battery were caught in the Service Club the other day, when they should've been here. They were fined $15.00 and restricted to the Bn. Area for 30 days, by a Court-Martial yesterday. Silly boys!
I'll write again soon.
Love, Spals
[NOTE: written along the side of the back of page 2 "P.S. - Who was the Jewish boy you spoke of who was killed? I didn't read it in the paper. - The pictures of me you took while I was home I think are stinky.Lexicon
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Category 08: Communication ObjectsArchive Items Details
Title
Letter Home from Pvt. Robert Spalsbury, 17135556, Btry B - 778th AAA Bn, Camp Haan, California to his parents Mr. and Mrs. George C. Spalsbury, 806 South Eleventh, Saint Joseph 10, Missouri. Post Marked DEC 20, 1943, 4:30 PM, Camp Haan, Calif., 6 cents 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 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 two pages, front and back, written in blue ink on Camp Haan stationery. Camp Haan stationery is printed with blue and red images at the top. This includes the Anti Aircraft insignia, two red capital letter As in a blue circle on the left hand side. To the right of the insignia a desert sketch in blue ink features a 40 mm Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun with crew in the forefront with an additional one in the back ground. Below the sketches, in red ink reads Camp Haan (star) California. The paper is folded in thirds. The envelope is edged in red, white and blue hash marks.Dimensions
Height
10-1/2 inWidth
6-1/4 inCondition
Overall Condition
Very GoodRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Robert C. Spalsbury
