Physical Description: .16 Linear Feet(2 folder)

Language of Material: English.

This series contains 26 corresondence from John Thursby to his friends Ogden and Agnes Platt between February 1941 and August 1942. He discusses his routine in basic training, from learning how to march to how to shoot a rifle. Thursby was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he served under General George Patton. He describes a service he attended on Easter where Patton spoke to the assembled soldiers (Letter dated April 13, 1941). He also mentions listening to a speech given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt declaring a state of national emergency on May 27, 1941 (Letter dated June 1, 1941). Thursby's tone grows sober as he relates the discussion at the fort that war will soon be upon them. In one of his letters, he describes the grief he felt when he learned that his friend Bill Collins, a Navy seaman who was stationed on the USS Arizona, died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (Letter dated January 5, 1942). He also asks for news about another friend, Morgan Dabney, who was stationed at Wake Island when the Japanese invaded. He later discusses the movement of troops of the Second Armored Division to Fort Bragg in North Carolina and indicates that soon, they will be joining the fight. He hints that "I am glad now that I spent ten years on the Desert. It will probably be beneficial to me in the near future" (Letter dated March 22, 1942). The Second Armored division landed in North Africa in November of that year.

Physical Description: .01 Linear Feet

Language of Material: English.

A collection of three photographs. One shows Thursby, one shows the trucks he drove, and one shows the Thursby family homestead in Barstow, CA.

Physical Description: .01 Linear Feet

Language of Material: English.

A page from the book Once Upon a Desert describing the Thursby family's history in the town of Barstow.

Physical Description: .01 Linear Feet

Language of Material: English.

A newspaper clipping showing the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Benning with writing on it by Thursby describing where his company, Headquarters Company, appears in one of the photographs. In another, showing the scope of the units arranged on a field, he jokes, "This will give you an idea of our field inspections."