The Dover AAF Supply Office
On November 25, 1942 I reported to Local Board #71 and was transferred to Co. B, Barracks 1, Reception City, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.
On November 26 - Thanksgiving Day - we were given a Thanksgiving Dinner. We were also interviewed and given assignments.
On November 27th was assigned to do KP (Kitchen Police) duty in Tent City or Clapp City. The individuals assigned for KP were the recruits who had no venereal diseases.
My job was to do just about any kind of kitchen work in the tent. I helped prepare foods, serve food, and clean up the kitchen area only. The best part about working the l2-hour day was that we could fix and eat our own meals using any food that was in the tent - good steak several times a day and individually prepared bacon and eggs for breakfast.
The recruits who were served the meals were those who had a venereal disease of some kind. Some thought that if they had a venereal disease the Army would reject them. They were fooled; the Army cured them and sent them into combat.
After only a few days of KP, I was transferred to the reception center (they found out from my records that I could type). I worked only 8 hours a day interviewing recruits and typing up their individual records. After a few days of this I talked with the First Sergeant and he arranged for me to have a short stay at Fort Benjamin Harrison.
Instructions to Recruits (Page 1, Page 2)
On December 28 1942 I received my orders to report to the 3rd Station Compliment - Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio. We were given Pullman tickets to ride the train from Indianapolis to Dayton, Ohio. The porter on the train would not give us our berths. He left us on the train, but we had to stand in the aisle all night with our duffle bags. We were told by others on the train that the porter sold the Pullman berths to others and pocketed the money.
BASIC TRAINING
On January 3, 1943 I was assigned to the 478 Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron, Patterson fields Fairfield Ohio. For a few days we stayed in tents with wooden floors. After this we were housed in regular Army wooden barracks.
Basic training consisted of mainly learning the close order drill and twice a day calisthenics. Besides this we learned how to use the M-1 rifle, fire it, clean it, and the maintenance of it. We were taught how to use the gas mask and went through the gas chamber. The bad part about using the gas mask was that after we went through the gas chamber they loaded us into GI trucks. The gas was all over our clothes and it was worse than going through the chamber.
The only part of basic training that was strenuous was an unannounced 25 mile hike with full pack, tent and all, staying overnight, and returning the next day.
I was supposed to go to supply school. I did for two days. They gave me a test and found out that from working at Bowman Field I knew more about supplies than they did including the instructors. So they shipped me out.
On February 2, 1943 I was shipped to the 312th Base Headquarters & Air Base Squadron Army Air Base, Dover, Delaware. This was a new base and not completely finished. We set up the AAF supply room. I did mostly requisition of suppliers typing and keeping records. In the evenings I worked in the stockroom, handing out supplies and storing supplies.
On April 24, 1943 I was promoted to the rank of Corporal. I was relieved from all duty put into a car and taken to the 394 Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron at the Municipal Airport in Baltimore Maryland. It was all sort of a secret, I never did find out why this was done. The only thing that I was told was they needed a Supply Corporal in Utah. I was never sent there but have always thought that after the way things happened that it had something to do with the atomic bomb.
I only stayed in Baltimore a few days and I was transferred on May 2, 1943 to the 431 Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron at Municipal Airport in Philadelphia, PA. During my short stay I qualified as Marksman with the M1 rifle.
I applied for a furlough and finally in July, 1943 I was given one. Of course I went home to 1109 East Burnett Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky. The following pictures were taken then:
Sugar purchase certificates from 1943.
A few days after my arrival back in Philadelphia from furlough (August 15, 1943) I was promoted to sergeant. One of the remarkable things about this promotion is that my brother, Norbert, was promoted on the same special order.