The Army was in need of Engineers and all of us at Arkansas State were in that program. The Classes were much like those at any University. We would march to class and to the Mess Hall etc. I was selected as a Lt. Platoon leader. It was much like ROTC I supp0se although I never participated in that program in High School My grades were ok but I knew from the curriculum that I was not really cut out for an engineer. I did much better in Political Science, Geography, languages and such. However, it was a good experience and we were sorry to see it end after one Semester.
The Army announced the closing of the ASTP program. It was somewhat of a surprise although there are no guarantees in the Army. They needed more men for the European front. We were all shipped to Camp Maxey Texas in Paris Texas (northeast corner) where we underwent 6 more months of hard infantry training. Worst thing about the area was the chiggers. Hardly large enough to see but they caused a lot of itching. I was assigned to Co. B, 394th Reg. of the 99th Division. I was in the first platoon and soon was assigned the Browning Automatic Rifle. It weighed about 20 pounds; could automatically fire 20 rounds from a magazine. There was a bipod at the far end which I seldom used, but it made for more accurate firing when you had time to use it. We had occasional passes and one weekend I went to Little Rock and spent some time with my Aunt Vera and Uncle Allen. Vera and I rode a bus to Hot Springs and went to the horse races.
After about 6 months at Camp Maxey we were deemed sufficiently trained and we sent by train to a POE called Camp Miles Standish near Providence R.I. The week or 10 days there was pleasant with no hard work after the rigors of Camp Maxey. I had two passes and went to Boston. One weekend I watched the Phil Eagles Pro football team play Boston and the other I went to a show and saw Lena Horne in person. She has been one long-lived celebrity
We embarked in Sept. 1944 for England. Our ship was the Excelsior. It was what they called a Victory Ship probably built by Henry J. Kaiser. It was not large by todays Cruise Ship standards being only around 10,000 tons. The seas were rough and we had some sea sickness. I felt woosy at times but never had to lean over the rail. We were in convoy which was attacked by submarines a couple of times. I heard that they hit a ship or two, but none of them were near us. We disembarked at Liverpool for a memorable months stay in England before joining the fray.
5 comments:
It's funny how much preparation time it takes after drafting! It sounds like they tried to give you some fun time. I'm sure having a bunch of teenage boys on such a strict schedule must have created some confusion.
Wow! More than 9 months training! Man, you were really prepared. Then onto the ship. Your description made me start to sway a little, and feel the slightest little wooziness in my head.
Here's hoping your descriptions will approach that 50 pages you originally had.
Chiggers? Yikes!
Paris Texas was in my mission in fact I was in Sulphur Springs which is 30 miles south of Paris and made it up to Paris a few times. You're right, the chiggers aren't fun.
This is so very interesting. You are a wonderful writer. I love the details.
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