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I think there is a difference between being drafted during wartime and signing up for the military. During the Korean War, the Army did not have time to "make men out of us" nor did they have all enthusiastic solders. They just had a lot of people flooding in and they had to rapidly crank them out into the battlefield--or other places. Luckily for me, I went to other places. But, it was not without pain and injury. I was nearly 4F'd before I left the states. Going back to boot camp from my Christmas leave, the couple driving me fell asleep. As the wife drove off the road, the flying by of the trees and the roar of the sand beating against the car, woke up the husband who jerked the car back onto the highway--the wife slept through the whole thing. Then, she had to drive 15 mph the rest of the way to dream up the stories she could tell the insurance company for which she also worked. In the process, I banged my knee up against the side of the metal seatback. I remember it was New Year's Eve because people were throwing fire crackers into the street near the hotel and I had to jump up and down in pain. On the bright side, I got to spend the night in the hotel for free because they were afraid of a law suit. When I got back to camp, the Army decide they wanted a clean base so they had us pick up cigarette butts. While doing so, I scratched my eyeball when I ran into the Scotch Pine Tree. Adding on to my injuries, I was also nearly deaf. They had me get down on the ground and look at a person shooting his gun to see if he was squinting or flinching. Of course, that meant that my ear was up against his gun barrel. After eight shots, I couldn't hear my watch tick for two days. From then on, I put my fingers in my ears--I didn't care if it looked bad or not. They might have called us the "sissy troop" but we could hear. Before going to the Army, I had never shot a gun in my life. So it is with great pride that I earned a marksmanship medal--like all other solders at the time. On the firing range, I missed the target and the Sargent put some marking on my Helmut. Knowing that meant spending more hours out in the sun on a Sunday, I quickly found that sand removes all markings. A few moments later, another officer got all of us unmarked heads together and tossed a bunch of medals on the table. He said, "go get them." So, I ran to the table and got the prettiest one I saw--it also said expert marksman on it. So, when you see some old fools parading down the street with all of their medals and ribbons (without a scratch on them), it probably means that they couldn't hit the side of a barn either and spent all of their time behind a desk. Moral: Don't be fooled by medals and trappings. For war games, they gave us a bunch of blanks to fire which made a nice noise for everyone to hear. However, those blanks also dirtied up your riffle. So, I gave my blanks to other dumb fools and played silent games. My son always asked what would have happened if I was on guard duty and had to shoot someone. I told him the question was moot since they never gave me any bullets. One time a Sargent decided to surprise a solder on guard duty to see if he was sleeping. The guard wasn't sleeping and from that point on, guards weren't allowed to have ammo. Later on, a dumb guard said "halt" to someone coming off of leave late. That dummy got his teeth knocked out. So as a rule, there was no halting by the guards. Boot Camp was an interesting experience. They did not make us go through all of the training they have today--if they do it today. We had a Sargent who did, however, get us up in the middle of the night to "teach us how to be solders". We decided this had to be stopped. So, as he ran in front of us, he'd stop after each block and shout back, "have you had enough?" We'd shout back "NO!" Of course, the silly man didn't bother to look behind him. If he did, he would have realized that half us were hiding in the hedges and taking turns running. The next morning, that Sargent could hardly walk . So, he tried to "teach us" how to throw live grenades at wooden boxes. He said, "don't look, just throw." So, we did. The result was that he got some shrapnel in his jaw. To cap things off, he got drunk that night due to his injuries and put his hand on a hot stove. Therefore, the Korean Veteran, who came back unharmed to "teach us," left after three days with our "sissy troop". Before he left, he thought up another gem for us to do. We were to stand on one foot and while hopping, elbow the other person to the ground. Knowing that this could hurt, all of us took a dive faster than a Don King fighter. Today, solders have their names on their uniforms. I know why. In the old days, an officer would point at you and tell you to some dumb thing. This one officer told me to get steel wool and remove the red paint off of a fire extinguisher. I tried to explain that the steel wool wouldn't work for such a task. He replied, "when the Army tells you to do something, do it!" After he left, I realized that he didn't know my name. So, I went the library, listened opera music, and reflected on Army life. I also found that many in my troop listened to opera at the library because that was the one place the Sargent never went. We may have been a "sissy troop" but we knew opera. Just before my ship left South Carolina, I nearly broke my elbow. In training, they had us fall on rifle butt. I missed the riffle butt and saw stars shooting up my arm. At this point, I was now deaf, had one leg, one arm, and one eye. But, I knew if I missed the ship to Germany, I might be sent to Korea. Therefore, I got on that ship no matter how much I was in pain. While on that ship, I found that many became sick on board and we all had to clean up the messes. There is nothing like cleaning vomit out of the grills on steps. Two parts of Army life were the most terrible--maneuvers and holidays. When you were on maneuvers, you prayed for a partner. If you didn't have one, you had to take your half of a tent and tie it to a tree instead putting your half with the other guy's. While in your tent, you did not sleeping bags--just a poncho, coat, and a bed blanket. Therefore, a worry you'd have would be if your partner decided to use a Sturna Lamp (a little stove) in the middle of the night. Many tents caught on fire during those February nights. Of course, what caught on fire, you had to replace out of your $75 a month pay. Holidays were even worse. On a holiday, you had to shine your shoes, polish your gun, and stand for hours on the parade ground. They had you stand so long that the polish would actually fade off of your shoes. Therefore, I grew to hate every holiday. While on the ship to Europe, I saw the waste in the military. While we would get powered eggs, frozen milk and rotten sausage, you would look out the porthole and see the officer's fresh uneaten cantaloupes floating by. You see, everything had to go overboard as the ship gets closer to port. If the officers didn't want it, they should have given it to us. In Germany, they tried to put me in the infantry (for which I was well trained and prepared) but I told them that foxholes would fog up my glasses. Therefore, they gave me a typing test and I got to stay in the offices. We had maid service so life wasn't too bad. Typing documents in the old days was not easy though. You had a manual typewriter and everything had to be done in triplicate--without mistakes. The best part about the time there is that it allowed me to tour Europe while on leave. World War II had just ended and Germany was still divided into zones. The French were the bossiest. They actually patrolled the streets with guns. Everything was bombed out. In some places, you might see the front of a building propped up and then find that there is nothing behind it. Our currency, however, was highly valued so you could buy a number of things cheaply. I once went to a fancy restaurant in Rome and ordered an orange. They brought it to me on a silver platter. A number of us would travel together while on leave. We'd take tours into England, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, France, and Italy. Train service went everywhere although the railroad cars where pretty bad--the seats had straw in them. During these tours, I learned a few things: (1) Keep track of where you are since things look a lot different at night. (2) Don't track down your long lost relatives. A friend of mine went to see his "family" and came back empty handed--they even took his suitcase. (3) Don't buy food off of the street. I bought a small bottle of wine and my face went numb. (4) Some boarding houses are better than others--it is interesting what people use for bathtubs. On the ship ride home, I got to ride in the center of the boat and make the duty announcements every morning. This was a great job because the center of the boat doesn't rock as much as the ends. When I got home, I used my uniform out in the garden for awhile--until I grew out of it. I still have the medal but where it is right now is beyond me. So, don't expect me to parade down main street like some of those other unhurt solders who never left the country. jvm |
