Dear Mom, Pa, Barb, Ann, Ele, Letter No. 9

Pvt. Anthony J. Curcio 1-28-43
Flight "F" 360th Tech. Sch. Sqd. Letter No. 9
Jefferson Barracks, MO

Dear Mom, Pa, Barb, Ann, Ele,

Well here I am in Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 14 miles south of St. Louis. We left Camp Upton at 11 o'clock Tuesday morning. We left in R.R. cars & the seats were able to be converted into births. It was the Pennsylvania R.R. Our first stop was Philadelphia, after passing through L.I., N.J., at 4:25 PM. From there we went to Harrisburg, PA, Altuna, and Pittsburgh during the night. All during the night we went through Ohio making stops at Columbus. During Wed. we hit Richmond, Ind. & at 9:30 we hit Indianapolis. From there we went straight thru to St. Louis to Jefferson Barracks.
We finally found out we were in the air corps. as you can tell by the address. After all the riffing we do about people coming from Missouri & here I am in MO myself. This place is very cold but the only place I feel it is in my feet & when I got up this morning. The air down here is dry & I don't feel it on my face, it just penetrates through the feet. We live in barracks or shall I call them huts. Wood frame with a small stove in the center. There are 6 in each hut. Our trip from Camp Upton was a bit tiresome & we didn't see much scenery because the windows were dirty & the steam from the locomotive blew right in front of our window. The food on the train was awful but the food here at the camp is swell. When we got here we were assigned to our huts & then we had chow. The dishes & silverware were immaculate compared to C.U. [Camp Upton]. After chow we went to get our bedding which consisted of 2 woolen blankets, 1 quilt, 2 sheets, 1 pillow case. We needed them all. The country around here is very hilly. After we got our bedding we went to the U.S.O. to send the telegrams. I sent one to you mom & one to Elfrieda. I sent them overnight because I didn't want to scare you. It would have probably came during the night. There is a lot of colored fellows here & are separated from us partly. They have a separate routine down here. The southern officers have a prejudice here against them. I really don't like the officers down here they seem to think they're a bit better than we are from N.Y. I don't know. But it is sure hard to understand them with their accent. This morning we were awaken about 5:30.
I slept fairly well. Then we had chow. When we came back we were shown how to make our beds. Boy what a screwy way. You have to break up the entire bed. Take the slip off the mattress & off the pillow. Fold your blankets, fold the quilt (in a certain way) fold your mattress. Where as in Upton we just had to straighten our fed and we were OK. Well we all do what we are told & we will keep our noses clean. I hope I like it here. He said we will stay here from 3 weeks to 2 months. So ma could you please send me a sleeveless sweater & some stationary (The stuff I got printed) say about 2 dozen sheets & envelopes & a few packs of cigarettes. Thanks ma. I would buy the stuff here but my money is running low. Sometimes we buy crackers & coffee & cards & etc. Besides I would feel much better if I did receive a package from home. Ma[y]be you can get a couple milky ways?

Love,
Tony

P.S. Did you get my telegram the first thing there mom? Please read this letter to grandma. I may not get a chance to write to grandma for a couple days so please read this to her. Will write again as soon as I get my first free moment. Be sure to put 360th in the address.