Second Eight and deployment

​     In basic training I forgot the worst part, KP. Kitchen Patrol, during the 8 weeks of training I was assigned KP 3 times. 

    They get you up at 2 AM to report to the cooks at 2:30. The first time I was the last one in line and got the last and worst job. They had  seven assignments, two people for the dining room, two cooks helpers, two for washing and drying trays and silverware and a pots and pans man. Well, I got pots and pans man. From 2:30 AM until 11:00 PM I washed greasy pots and pans and while learning how to do it right I had some do overs. When you are feeding 200 people three times a day you have a lot of pots and pans, big ones. 

     So the second time I got KP I was the first one in line and hoped for a better assignment.  I walked in the door and was met by one of the cooks and he asked me if I had been there before and I said yes looking forward to, mabye a dining room assignment.  He asked me what job I had last time and I said pots and pans and he said: good you are already trained. O woe is me!

     The third tine I was the chief potato peeler, oh well.

     So now I’m back at Fort Leonard Wood for Army Clerks Training. I had taken typing for two semesters in high school. I didn’t know why at the time, I guess because it was an easy class and it seemed like a good skill to have for a future job. Now I’m really happy I did because I was already two weeks ahead of the class. So this eight weeks was easy and went by fast. This class was going to go overseas so the last week they asked us to turn in a slip indicating, out of ten choices where we would like to be assigned so I wrote down Germany. (I hoped to see the country my ancestors came from). On Friday of that week the assignments were posted. Everyone in my class was assigned to Germany…………..except me, I had no assignment. It took them another four days and then I was assigned to Ordnance Company 55 in Korea, WHAT? That meant going back to the doctors and getting a series of seven shots to protect me from various illnesses. 

     On a higher note I was given a month leave before reporting to Fort Lewis in Washington State to board a troop ship for Korea. So after leave I was in Fort Lewis for two weeks waiting to board said ship for a fourteen day trip to Japan then on to Korea. 

     The accommodations aboard a troop ship leaves a lot to be desired. The bunks are metal bars attached to the bulkhead with a sheet of canvas attached to the bulkhead and the bar. The bar can swing up out of the way and when they are in sleeping position you have three feet by three feet by six feet to sleep in and they are stacked four high. (I have a picture I will send to everyone after I post this)

     A Sargent approached me on the first day aboard and asked me if I had been on a ship before and if I got seasick, I said no and I didn’t know if I would get seasick or not. He said if you start feeling queasy go to the ships store and get some candy bars and just take a bite once in a while. If you keep something in your stomach it will help. So I did and it did. I didn’t have any problems. 

     After we got under way I had to remember to hang on to my tray while eating or it would slid away because the ocean is not smooth sailing. And when I got in my bunk the guy beside me was 6’ 6” and he thought it was funny to tickle my ears with his toes.  In good weather I went up on deck and found a coil of rope I could curl up in.

     When we crossed the international date line they called all of us up on deck and they said they were going to give us swimming lessons. Actually they hosed us down with the fire hose and then gave us a certificate from Davey Jones for crossing the date line. 

     When we got to Japan they gave us a day in Yokohama then on to Inchon Korea. You could smell it before you even docked. The farmers use human waste to fertilizer their fields. They told us not to eat any local food as it would make us sick. I had to wait several days to catch a truck that would take me to my new assignment.  Thus in the Army you hurry up and wait. 

Next, Assignment  Korea……….