Page 88 - Anthology

I was born in Union City, Kentucky, on July 25, 1923. My Dad was a farmer and my Mom was a school
teacher until she became pregnant with me. I am the oldest of four children. When the war broke out, I
was living at home, farming with Dad. During 1942 the government was building the Ordinance
(Bluegrass Army Depot (BGAD), Richmond, Kentucky); BGAD was established in 1941 and began
operations in 1942 as an ammunition and general supply storage depot. I worked on the Ordinance. I
helped build part of it. I went with the contractor up to Indiana and decided to join the Army. I worked at
the depot before going into the Army and I worked on it when I came home from service. I was working
on it when Eisenhower took office.

I went to the Army recruiting office just before Thanksgiving 1942, but I was told to go home for
Thanksgiving then come back. I joined the Army on December 1, 1942 and went up to Indiana to the
Induction Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison. I went to Miami Beach for basic training. It seems like I was
there about two months. Most of basic was learning how to march; that was the biggest part of it; it was
just enough to give you a good appetite. You didn't learn nothing except they learnt you how to use the
M1. Each guy would shoot five shells and that was all the gun training we got there. The food was good;
nothin’ wrong with it and in basic I gained twenty pounds the first two months. You had plenty to eat, I
out grew my first set of khakis. We killed sheep, young sheep, it was good. We went to bed at nine.

They had a test that you put down what you wanted to be or go into; I put down mechanics or something,
but they sent me to Armament School. I was what you call an Armor Gunner. Armament School was in
Denver, Colorado, in the winter time. We got up there shortly after Christmas and spent the winter. Our
school was the midnight school. They had somebody in those buildings all the time. We learnt the guns.
You see, both guns are just alike, the 50s and the 30 caliber. The 30s is what we worked on. The
armament is one thing I did not like. You were going to have to set the guns to shoot through the
propeller on the plane. Your bullet would go off in front of the propeller, but by the time it got there, it
would be behind it. You made a mistake on that cycloid, why your pilot could shoot his propeller off. I
didn't like that.

We would have a break in the middle of the evening to get out and get fresh air. I come up with a
candy bar eating it and other guys wanted to know if I had anymore. The Post Exchange (PX) would
sell you three candy bars for a dime or one for a nickel, so I had two more in my pocket and I sold
them. And from then on, I had my pocket full of candy bars that I sold for a nickel. On two of them I
would make a nickel. The guys would take up money for me to go to the PX to buy burgers; I would
collect enough so I could get one too. We did our sleeping mostly in the early morning or daytime.

Most every place I went I had KP once a week. When the school was just about over, they said you
volunteer for gunnery. Well the whole class volunteered except the guy behind me who is the only
one that didn't go. They looked up at him and said, "We won't take you." He asked: "Well why?"
They said: "You’re wearing glasses." I think the whole class all went together.

Then we went to Harlingen, Texas, for training on the .30 caliber Browning machine gun in the turrets of
the U.S. bombers. I was promoted to sergeant. I was assigned to the 448 Bomb Group/713 Bomb
th
th
Squad. Here is where you done a lot of shooting. Done a lot of it; air to air, stationary, on a stationary
target, on a moving target, a lot with shotguns and the skeet towers. And then we went out on a gun
range. They had a jeep that was behind a barrier; it was running around on a track, but nobody was in it
and it was carrying a target. We each shot one hundred rounds at the target.

Then they took us out over a little single motor plane with a gun turret in the top. A plane with a tow
target coming out and he wasn't there. So, we were circling around this little town below us, looked like
the town was turning. It made me a little woozy.

Then all the excitement comes. There were shells lying all over the floor. The instructor told me to pick
them up. I refused. He got kind of rough about it, so I picked them up. Just about the time I got them all
picked up, I dumped them. I used the bucket to throw up in. That was ok. I don't think we had colored
tips for each person.