Written in pencil aboard a troop train somewhere along the West Coast, this letter home captures the uncertainty and improvisation of wartime mobilization. The author, unexpectedly placed in charge of a platoon for lack of other officers, describes a brief stop near Klamath Falls, Oregon and passage through Richmond, California -- fragments of a journey toward an unknown destination and, ultimately, the war overseas. Preserved among a family's wood box of wartime letters, this document offers an intimate, unfiltered voice from the ranks. Project: 218343