BAKER TAKES PETERSBURG
Sunday afternoon, the laundry done, no duties and time on my hands with little money to spend, I joined a couple of guys who were going to check out the USO in Petersburg. It was a tiny little place on the top floor of an old brick building. There was a game room with a pool table, a living room with tables for cards and music.
There was an almost empty room with nothing but an old upright piano. It was cold in there because they didn't heat the whole place. Sometimes a bunch of us would go in there and I'd sing for them till I was horse and we were all shivering too much to stay longer. It kept me from being homesick and it made a lot of guys happy. One night Joe, a young blond guy asked me to write a poem or a song he could send to his girl to let her know how much he missed her. I wrote "Missing You" that night. It seemed like for a long time, I couldn't stop writing.