Page 151 - Anthology

I only had one encounter with another trainee. We were scrubbing the floor and I had a bucket of water
with soap and I had my floor all soaped up. He came over and said he wanted my bucket. I told him, “I’ll
be done with it in a little bit and then you can have it.” He just reached down, picked up the bucket and
walked back to his cube. I said: “That won’t work.” So, I walked over, didn’t say anything to him and got
my bucket.

When I bent over to pick up my bucket, he jumped right square on my back and started choking me. It
took a while, but I finally got him twisted around and off of me. The instructor came around the corner
and said: “I won’t have this, and I’ll see to it that you all don’t get a stripe.” I told him: “That’s fine, but I’m
not going to let a man choke me to death.”

The assistant instructor came over and told the lead instructor that he saw it all and that I was not doing
anything. He said: “Eberly started it all.” I took my bucket and went back to my cube and started to work.
A short time later I looked up and saw toes next to my hands. It was Eberly. I figured I might as well get
it over with, but when I rose up, he stuck his hand out and said: “I’m sorry.”

A few days later, I heard somebody crying. I got up and went to the bathroom. I went by his bunk but
didn’t see him. When I saw him in the bathroom, I asked him what the matter was. He said: “I’m
homesick.” I told him he would have to deal with it. He said: “I’m only sixteen.” I told him all he had to do
was tell the instructor the next day and they would send him home. But he said he asked for it and he
would stick it out. Eberly did alright after that.

I was trained in radar operations for eight weeks at Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi. I adapted
to the military very well. After working on the farm, I was very fit. Social life began later. When we left
New York, it was the 8 of May and we were still wearing winter clothing. On arrival in Biloxi, it was 100
th
degrees. So, Louisville to New York – wrong clothing, New York to Mississippi – wrong clothing. A short
time later I’d be headed to tropical islands. Cold to hot – Hot to cold – Cold to Tropics.

I requested to be sent to Alaska and a friend of mine asked to be sent to Japan. I was sent to Japan and
he was sent to Alaska. Crazy, but that is what happened. When I graduated Tech school, I was granted
three days leave and seven days travel before being shipped off to a small island just off the coast of
Japan. We were told at Oakland, California, that we would wear our winter uniforms because it was
going to be cold. It had been cold in Oakland, but here we were doing the Cold to hot – Hot to cold –
Cold to Tropics thing again. When we got in to Japan, it was 94 degrees.

Fukushima Island (Good Fortune Island) is five miles wide by ten miles long; we called it “The Rock.”
When I first got there, I was a kid, two years and seventeen days later; I left that island a man, because of
my experiences. It was a great experience, with a family attitude and only thirty-five servicemen on the
island. There was no combat on the island, but we were there basically to protect Japan from North
Korea. We were still involved in dog-fights and had naval encounters to the southwest of us with China
when I arrived on the island.

I served as a radar operator and after six months was a Crew Chief doing surveillance on planes coming
from China and North Korea towards Japan. Several times we were placed on alert. We would run to
our fox-holes with weapons. I had a carbine and a 30-caliber machine gun. I’d get the weapons and
another guy would get the ammo. I don’t know what they expected us to do against an airplane, but there
we were. We’d sit there; I never loaded the machine gun but one time.

Serving on the island wasn’t all that bad. We never had KP, never had to wash our clothes, clean or
make our beds. Five dollars a month was all we had to pay for “House-Boys” and women to take care of
all those tasks. It was a pretty good deal.