Pvt Stanley Safford
US Army
Co A “-62” Med Tng Bn
Camp Barkeley
Texas
Nov 5, 1942
Dear Mother,
Arrived here safe and sound last evening about 12:00 o’clock after one of the most awful trips I think I have ever made and across some of the most awful looking country in the US, I think. Before and after we left Phoenix there were some very nice looking country with very nice looking ranches of maise, kafir corn, peanuts, cotton and 2 or 3 other things I had never seen before. The cotton is sure pretty. We crossed New Mexico in the dark and I don’t think we missed very much if it was any thing like the other desert. We came through El Paso about 5o’clock yesterday morning. I looked out my birth window and it is a pretty good sized town, larger than I expected.
The train stopped for any freight, passengers and other types of trains on the tracks, so we were therefore late to pick up the Texas & Pacific diner that was waiting for us. We then only had two meals yesterday but what we had was very good except the eggs.
We traveled under army orders under a very nice lieutenant who had two aides. Also on the same train in 4 or 5 cars in the rear were colored boys. When we were switching for the diner we backed up along side of them and low and behold if I didn’t know two or three. Went to McKinley and Jefferson with them and they were quite pleased that I spoke to them and they then introduced me to two or three of their friends out the car window.
We then went on until we came to Sweetwater when we then put on an O P engine then switched around North of Sweetwater and came up to Abeline which I didn’t see much of(f), where very large army trucks picked us up and drove like mad around corners, over ditches etc until we came into the quarantine section of Camp Barkeley which is a large tent section, the largest I have ever seen. The tents hold six beds. To give you an idea of their size, on one side they go up a slope and disappear over the edge and they wind up for probably a distance of 1 ½ miles in each of the other three directions and beyond them on the barracks etc as far as the eye can see, of course remember it was 12:00 o’clock and it had been raining sometimes during the day for the ground was quite moist and in some places quite muddy as well as strictly and vol.(?)
I thought for sure that we never would get to bed because the seargents corporals etc were cursing and plowing through amusing(?) and one of the nastiest cold cutting winds coming from the north I had ever seen, then towards morning it came from the south and it was just as cold.
Then we got up this morning at 6 o’clock and the sky was the blackest I had ever seen a sky and we prepared for a downpour but it never came. We had a breakfast(s) that I thought would kill me. Two hot cakes about 1 inch thick that you couldn’t cut with a fork and 1 very good piece of bacon and that was it. Then we went in to be placed in our final groups and then we had to turn in our blankets which had been issued for the other tents and changed tents to the new one which I am now in.
It also has six beds around the side and a stone in the center which is about 1 ½ feet tall and all about the same in width and we are to(o) burn coal in it and we have it all fixed this evening.
I understand from the scores that I received on my tests at the Fort that it will qual(l)ify me for officers training after I have been in the army 4 months which I am sure glad to see after seeing what officers are treated like here. Their tents have floors in them and desks etc. Also I do not wish to hang with rabble t(o) long for a person comes in contact with some none to(o) desirable characters here. I sure feel sorry for some of the fellows here that cannot even make a bed and have no more idea of nice things or the finer things of life than a wild animal and their table manners are something awful. Some roll their bread up in a roll and hold it in one hand and shovel the food on their fork with it etc.
US Army
Co A “-62” Med Tng Bn
Camp Barkeley
Texas
Nov 5, 1942
Dear Mother,
Arrived here safe and sound last evening about 12:00 o’clock after one of the most awful trips I think I have ever made and across some of the most awful looking country in the US, I think. Before and after we left Phoenix there were some very nice looking country with very nice looking ranches of maise, kafir corn, peanuts, cotton and 2 or 3 other things I had never seen before. The cotton is sure pretty. We crossed New Mexico in the dark and I don’t think we missed very much if it was any thing like the other desert. We came through El Paso about 5o’clock yesterday morning. I looked out my birth window and it is a pretty good sized town, larger than I expected.
The train stopped for any freight, passengers and other types of trains on the tracks, so we were therefore late to pick up the Texas & Pacific diner that was waiting for us. We then only had two meals yesterday but what we had was very good except the eggs.
We traveled under army orders under a very nice lieutenant who had two aides. Also on the same train in 4 or 5 cars in the rear were colored boys. When we were switching for the diner we backed up along side of them and low and behold if I didn’t know two or three. Went to McKinley and Jefferson with them and they were quite pleased that I spoke to them and they then introduced me to two or three of their friends out the car window.
We then went on until we came to Sweetwater when we then put on an O P engine then switched around North of Sweetwater and came up to Abeline which I didn’t see much of(f), where very large army trucks picked us up and drove like mad around corners, over ditches etc until we came into the quarantine section of Camp Barkeley which is a large tent section, the largest I have ever seen. The tents hold six beds. To give you an idea of their size, on one side they go up a slope and disappear over the edge and they wind up for probably a distance of 1 ½ miles in each of the other three directions and beyond them on the barracks etc as far as the eye can see, of course remember it was 12:00 o’clock and it had been raining sometimes during the day for the ground was quite moist and in some places quite muddy as well as strictly and vol.(?)
I thought for sure that we never would get to bed because the seargents corporals etc were cursing and plowing through amusing(?) and one of the nastiest cold cutting winds coming from the north I had ever seen, then towards morning it came from the south and it was just as cold.
Then we got up this morning at 6 o’clock and the sky was the blackest I had ever seen a sky and we prepared for a downpour but it never came. We had a breakfast(s) that I thought would kill me. Two hot cakes about 1 inch thick that you couldn’t cut with a fork and 1 very good piece of bacon and that was it. Then we went in to be placed in our final groups and then we had to turn in our blankets which had been issued for the other tents and changed tents to the new one which I am now in.
It also has six beds around the side and a stone in the center which is about 1 ½ feet tall and all about the same in width and we are to(o) burn coal in it and we have it all fixed this evening.
I understand from the scores that I received on my tests at the Fort that it will qual(l)ify me for officers training after I have been in the army 4 months which I am sure glad to see after seeing what officers are treated like here. Their tents have floors in them and desks etc. Also I do not wish to hang with rabble t(o) long for a person comes in contact with some none to(o) desirable characters here. I sure feel sorry for some of the fellows here that cannot even make a bed and have no more idea of nice things or the finer things of life than a wild animal and their table manners are something awful. Some roll their bread up in a roll and hold it in one hand and shovel the food on their fork with it etc.
They do more reaching here than I have ever seen before.
We have just had evening meal, ham, macaroni, salad of lettuce, potatoes, corn, bread and a finish of pumpkin pie. There were only two or three of them that was any good and I haven’t seen any milk since I have been here.
There are supposed to be approximately ?5,000 here in this camp. They of course are not all in the medical branch.
We, after we finish our course of from 2 to 8 weeks, are then sent to hospitals all over the country but none that I know of or have heard of in California so I do not think that I will be home very soon at least not for a few weeks. How many I do not know and will not know until probably the night before.
I may get a 10 or 12 hour leave when perhaps then I will spend it in Abeline. It is eleven miles away and very small at that. Of course Texas has not many towns of any size. We are quarantined here in our section for the next two weeks.
How did you like your trip to the desert? I thought about you quite often.
Could you by any chance get me a small sheep skin, brown shoe polish and a soft cloth or two? They have the polish here but nothing else. I did get myself some more ink today. I may send home a couple things later because I want to carry my dress shoes in my case.
The flashlight Miss Mosher gave me sure has come in handy a couple of times, and the stationary case has sure helped me out a lot, in fact the whole case has come in handy. It may be a little nuisance but it is sure worth it.
Do you think that I could get a bible about half the size the one I have now?
And I want you to look around and see what kind of a camera I might be able to get or get for me if I am unable to. There is a few pictures that I would like to have. How are Boots’ little rabbits and have you received Marshall’s address. I would like to have written to him in Arizona.
With Love,
Don’t worry.
Stanley
We have just had evening meal, ham, macaroni, salad of lettuce, potatoes, corn, bread and a finish of pumpkin pie. There were only two or three of them that was any good and I haven’t seen any milk since I have been here.
There are supposed to be approximately ?5,000 here in this camp. They of course are not all in the medical branch.
We, after we finish our course of from 2 to 8 weeks, are then sent to hospitals all over the country but none that I know of or have heard of in California so I do not think that I will be home very soon at least not for a few weeks. How many I do not know and will not know until probably the night before.
I may get a 10 or 12 hour leave when perhaps then I will spend it in Abeline. It is eleven miles away and very small at that. Of course Texas has not many towns of any size. We are quarantined here in our section for the next two weeks.
How did you like your trip to the desert? I thought about you quite often.
Could you by any chance get me a small sheep skin, brown shoe polish and a soft cloth or two? They have the polish here but nothing else. I did get myself some more ink today. I may send home a couple things later because I want to carry my dress shoes in my case.
The flashlight Miss Mosher gave me sure has come in handy a couple of times, and the stationary case has sure helped me out a lot, in fact the whole case has come in handy. It may be a little nuisance but it is sure worth it.
Do you think that I could get a bible about half the size the one I have now?
And I want you to look around and see what kind of a camera I might be able to get or get for me if I am unable to. There is a few pictures that I would like to have. How are Boots’ little rabbits and have you received Marshall’s address. I would like to have written to him in Arizona.
With Love,
Don’t worry.
Stanley
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