Name/Title
Spalsbury: #78 Letters Home August 7, 1944Entry/Object ID
2021.2.322A-CScope and Content
Letter Home from Pvt. R. C. Spalsbury, 17135556, Hq Co - 216th Armd Engr Bn, A.P.O. 412, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G.C. Spalsbury, 806 South 11th, St. Joseph (10), Missouri. Post Marked AUG 7, 1944, 2 PM, Fort Smith, Ark., 8 cents Air Mail stampContext
Sunday Afternoon -
6 August 1944
Dear Mom and Pop,
Oh, what a hot afternoon it is! I'm sitting here on my bunk, stripped to my underclothes. I just came back from walking up to the gate and back, and my suntans were soaking wet. The heat here, as in Missouri, is oppressive, full of moisture. I've noticed a difference in the water here, too. I guess it's hard, because it takes a heck of a long time to wash the soap off. Out west the soap comes off in a hurry.
Service Club No. 2 is a block away. I dropped in there for a coupla malts - they really make good ones.
I've been working up in the Personnel Office for the last several days - typing, cutting stencils, etc. Gosh, there's sure a lot I don't know about it. I'm far from being a skilled 405; it's listed as semi-skilled on my Qualification Card. That's one reason I hated to leave the 778th. I'd only been working in Personnel for three months, and realized how much I had yet to learn.
Some of the fellows who work up there are taking Basic Training here. There's a bunch of 'em who fall out every morning here for that purpose. Even high non-coms are taking it. Never having had Engineer Basic Training before, I suppose I'll have to take it sooner or later. Time will tell. They haven't said anything about it yet, though.
Don't be alarmed by the A.P.O. number. This outfit will never go overseas as a unit. There are too many men here who aren't qualified for overseas duty, I believe. There are two Mexican boys who came in the other day. One can't speak any English. There's a young fellow named Trenery who came in recently who was in the same tent I was in while at Camp Roberts last fall. He'd had malaria while on Guadalcanal, and has been in any number of outfits and hospitals since then, for it keeps recurring.
I had two letters yesterday, forwarded from Yuma. One from you, Mom, and one from Russell Larson, in A Btry of the 778th. The 778th is back at Haan after spending 3 of the most grueling weeks at Camp Irwin in the Mojave Desert, firing. Larson says they are now turning in their clothing for overseas issues. I suppose P.O.E. will be their next stop.
Love, Bob
[Note - written along the left side of the back page: No, I've just read one or two excerpts from "A Bell for Adano" Say, Mom, how much do you weigh now?Collection
Marshall WhiteArchive Items Details
Title
Letter Home from Pvt. R. C. Spalsbury, 17135556, Hq Co - 216th Armd Engr Bn, A.P.O. 412, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas to his parents Mr. and Mrs. G.C. Spalsbury, 806 South 11th, St. Joseph (10), Missouri. Post Marked AUG 7, 1944, 2 PM, Fort Smith, Ark., 8 cents 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, 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 letter was written, Robert had recently been transferred to Camp Chaffee at Fort Smith, Arkansas. He is working as a clerk in the Personnel Office.
This letter makes reference to time spent in Yuma (prior to arriving at Camp Chaffee), presumably Yuma, Arizona and potentially Fort Laguna a few miles west of Fort Yuma (operated by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers). Fort Laguna was one of twelve U. S. Army desert training camps used during WWII. Camp Laguna was deactivated and demolished at some point this same year, 1944.
This letter is only one page, front and back, written in blue ink on plain stationery with 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
