IN THE ARMY FT SNELLING FORT DEVENS CAMP COTUIT

I was in Portland, Oregon, working for Kaiser's Swan Island Shipyard when I received       "greetings" from my draft board back in Miller, SD. I could have gotten a deferment because of my job but decided to join the crowd. I arrived back at Miller/St. Lawrence in early January 1943, with orders to report on the 8th. All of the local draftees met the morning designated at the Miller depot. The only one I really knew in the group was my old school mate, Jim Bush. I had started in the first grade and went through high school with him. It was a cold, snowy day with a strong wind blowing. Uncle Carl drove in from his farm about 10 miles north of town to see me off.                                                                           

Other draftees, particularly from Highmore, were already on the train. I knew a couple of  them, Mose Burroughs, Chuck Kenyon, Spud Hague and Davy Johnson who was the  coach at Highmore and had gone to DWU when I was there. The first stop was at the depot in Huron. Everyone promptly unloaded and headed for Hurst Corner, a liquor store and bar about a block away. The last I knew, Hurst Corner is still going strong. Most everybody had a round or two and bought a bottle and headed back to the train. From that point to Minneapolis was mostly one big drunk. I did not indulge and think that Davy & I were the only sober ones by the time we reached Minneapolis. Jim had passed out and the MPs had to carry him off of the train. That is the last I saw of him until we were discharged about three years later. I guess he liked the MPs who helped him off the train as he spent his time in the army as an MP himself. Spud Hague joined the paratroopers and was killed in France. I never saw the others again.

The rest of us were all placed in the same induction company. I don't remember its designation. We had a big Indian First Sgt. named Christie. He had about ten hash marks on his sleeve in addition to three up and three down sgt stripes as well as several overseas stripes. He had probably been in WW I or maybe even the Indian Wars. He was our first contact with a GI noncom. He was all business and set about making soldiers of us the first day. After physical inspection, which Davy didn't pass, and swearing in, our first duty, and main duty for the remainder of the time at Ft Snelling, was "policing the area" under SgtChristies' supervision. "All I want to see is asses and elbows!!! Pick up them buttsies (Cigarette butts)" Woe to the man who looked up or missed a scrap of paper. Chuck Kenyon happened to look up at an airplane flying over so Sgt Christie made him our official airplane spotter and he had to stand there looking up at the sky for the rest of the day. Mose Burroughs made the mistake of asking if he could cat an orange. He became the assistant spotter. It snowed that night, covering the ground so it was impossible to look for "buttsies". No Problem. Christie called for anyone who could drive a truck to raise his hand. All who did became "truck drivers" for the day of a wheelbarrow. The rest of us shoveled snow into the wheelbarrows from between the barracks and the drivers hauled it down to the Minnesota river behind the barracks.

The call had gone out for the army to look out for draftees who could or had any experience operating boats, including work in a shipyard. I had that on my sheet so was assigned to a group going to Ft Devens for the Engineer Amphibuous Command. Dick LeDosquet had worked in a shipyard at Duluth and was also assigned to the group as were several other fellows from Minnesota.

FT DEVENS

We arrived at Ayre,Mass, site of Ft Devens about Feb 1,1944. Here we were temporarily assigned to a company of amphibs. I'm not sure today exactly what company it was as I have no written record. I believe it was Co B 534 EAC (before the called it EB&SR). Several of us were standing around together, waiting to be assigned to a barracks. I was with Dick LeDosquet, whom I already knew, Earl "Sandy" Burdick and Lenord wielock. Sandy suggested that when any of our names was called that we rush into the barracks and head for the four man squad room at the rear of the second floor. That we did and secured the private quarters as we had no noncoms yet, all being rookies. We took basic training at Devens under a Sgt Appleby, a pretty good guy, a big improvement over Sgt Christie. Our platoon officer was a Lt Bice from Huron, SD. I don't recall any other members of the company except a loud mouth Irishman, called "Irish" Loughlin, a corporal, who kept us occupied with his orders to "Snap Shit men !", or hurry it up. He didn't remain a corporal long as he came in soused one night and fell into the garbage pit.

We had our first taste of military duties at Devens, including guard duty. There was a WAC detachment at Devens at the time but we had orders not to go near them except in the line of duty. It was really cold there and we were allowed to step into the furnace rooms of the  WAC barracks to warm ourselves every half hour. Of course, there is no entry from the furnace room into the sleeping quarters.

 Every morning at roll call the sgt would announce the "uniform of the day" depending on what was in store for us. One day the order was "raincoats". That was all!! No underwear, shirts or pants. We were allowed to wear shoes. Our assignment that day was to march over to the medics for another physical, or "short arm" inspection. Some WACs were flashed by about 400 men i unison.

 I should give a little more detail about the arnphibs. We were part of the Fourth Brigade.   The First, Second and Third had preceded us About this time the First was enroute to North Africa and later to Omaha Beach on Dday without boats. They became strictly a Shore Regiment and controlled the landing beaches. The Second Brigade was headed for the Pacific and the Third was now at Camp Gordon Johnston, Florida, later to also go to the Pacific. The Fifth and Sixth Brigades were formed in Europe from groups of existing engineers and were also strictly Shore with no boats.

 The Second, Third and Forth were divided into a Boat Battalion and a Shore Battalion, with four companies each (including Headquarters CO) and a Regimental Hdqhdq Co. Co A, B, & C were boat companies. Co D, E & F were Shore companies, or regular engineers who specialized in landing beach work, operating heavy equipment. The boat companies operated small landing craft: LCVPs or Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel. Wooden boats about 32 feet long, with a 250hp Gray Marine (General Motors) diesel engine. Some of the first training LCVPs had other engines, including HallScotts or Budas, but later Gray Machines were universal. An LCVP had a crew of three, a Coxswain, a Motorman and a Seaman. LCMs were larger, about 56 foot, steel boats with two Gray Marine engines, two propellers and rudders. They had a four man crew, including two Motormen. The operation was somewhat the same, the difference like driving a truck or a car. We had yet to see our first landing craft while at Devens. We had first to become "soldiers" they said.

 Soon after we finished basic training at the temporary company, most of us were assigned to Company C, 594th EB&SR and sent over to Camp Edwards and a local subbase, Camp Cotuit, on Cape Cod for another go at complete basic training all over again. A Captain Ford was Company Commander, a hotshot from Yale and Connecticut. Lt Zanca, from New York City was the Executive officer. All of the troops were assigned to a platoon. I think the four platoon lieutenants got to select the members of their squads. Lt Reiter picked mostly midwestern guys, while Epperly, Second Platoon, picked easterners and Lt Cronin of the Third Platoon had New Englanders and West Coast guys. This is not exclusive, but in the main. We really lucked out with getting Lt Reiter a nicer guy never lived.

Shortly after the second basic training, I was sent the Gray Marine Diesel school in Detroit, together with John Friend (Aberdeen Washington) and guys from several other companies. In Detroit we had a soft job, living at the Field Hotel, marching a few blocks each morning to the school and after about four o'clock, had free time to do as we pleased. Detroit was an ideal GIs town. Nearly everything was free, including bus or street car fare and USO entertainment. We took in the Andrews Sisters at the local, USO and many free drinks at various bars along Woodward Ave. We even learned a little at the school and got our first ever boat ride in an LCVP on the Detroit River. I was "senior nomcom" having already   gotten my corporal's two stripes (actually, a T5, or Technician Fifth Grade, same as a Corporal in rank.) My job was to see that all of the men got back on the train bound for    Cape Cod. An older guy, Winfield Scott, turned up AWOL. He had met a girl in one of the bars and decided not to go back to the army. He got a private delivery a few days later, by the MPs.

At Camp Cotuit we were assigned to our first boats for training. The first few weeks were spent just learning "the ropes" of how to operate them, come in to the dock, running in formation etc. This was mostly in the small harbor at Westerville, near Hyannis, on Cape Cod. The cape was overflowing with GIs from many units besides ours. It was difficult to get a meal at one of the restaurants or a drink at one of the bars in Hyannis with 10,000 or so   other soldiers in line waiting to be served.

After learning to operate the LCVPs, we made several trips out to Marthas Vinyard and    back. Finally, they decided to try a night run out to the island. Unfortunately, that day at supper the cooks had served us a soured succotash (corn & lima beans). Nearly every one had a bad case of diarrhea, or as it was known in the army, the GIs. There are no bath      rooms or heads on these small boats. You simply went "over the side". Everywhere you looked you could see bare bottoms hanging over, or sitting on a bucket on the sterns. Somehow we made it to Martha's Vinyard and back. Sgt Gottlieb, the Mess Sgt, blamed it on the KPs who had not cleaned the mess hall good enough. Of course, it was not his fault. The poor guys on KP had to scrub everything in the mess hall, garbage cans to silverware, until   it shone. We all knew the real reason was he had put warm succotash in the cooler at noon and it soured before being served that evening. Fortunately, I didn't (& don't) like succotash so was spared the "GIs".

It was now time to practice landing the boats in a higher surf, so we went back to Marthas Vinyard and around to the south side, past Chappaquiddick, before Teddy made it famous. This is a good beach and the surf was quite high, but we made out like veterans. We stayed over night on the island and took in Edgartown and Oak Bluffs an an impromptu   performance on the beach by Jimmy Cagney.

Some of the guys were sent to New Orleans, to the Higgens boat factory. Higgens had designed and made most of our landing craft  both LCMs and LCVPs. They also made PT boats and even some Victory ships. These fellows collected some newly made LCMs and took them all of the way back to Cape Cod, via the inside waterway, on their own power.

Having now been certified as being capable of beaching a boat and retracting it in fairly high surf, we had orders to pack our gear and move to Florida.

CAMP GORDON JOHNSTON

Our destination was a temporary army camp about forty miles south of Tallahassee on the gulf coast. The barracks were single story, tarpaper shacks, unfinished on the inside, and up on blocks about three feet from the ground. The nearest towns were Apalachicola and Carabelle. The camp is now long gone and is the site of present day Lanark Village.

There was no water in the barracks. We filled our canteens from "Lister Bags" hanging in the company area and took showers in a building for that purpose. The latrines were low screened in sheds with about 1015 holes in a bench. Under each hole was a honeybucket. A group of colored "sanitary engineers" had the daily job of emptying the buckets. They got all of the good jobs, but on this occasion they really did get the sty end of the stick.

Each platoon had it's own barracks, heated by wood or coal heaters in the center aisle. We continued our military training here with time on the rifle range, mock village, called Shickelgruber Village, for street warfare training and an obstacle course. We had to crawl through the latter on our bellies, under barbed wire with live machine gun fire over our    hears. In addition we did a lot of close order drill, long distance hikes and calisthenics to toughen us up                                                                                                                                         

Our primary mission at Gordon Johnston was to work with the Fourth Infantry Division in practice landings along the gulf beaches, and on Dog Island a few miles off shore.This we did for several weeks. The Fourth ended going to Europe for the Normandy landings.       

We also had training with explosives under Lt Williams, hand grenade practice and gas attack drill, Everyone took a course in Morse Code as well as semaphore, signaling with flags, although we had our own communications or radio section in Hdqs platoon. It was too far to go into Tallahassee although most of us got in there once or twice. Mostly we had our own PX (Post Exchange) and beer garden.                                                                                                  

I was on guard duty one night when they brought in. a drunk GI who had called the Colonel  a SOB. The captain of the guard placed me beside him with a loaded rifle and told me to  shoot him if he tries to get away". After a few minutes the guy decided he didn't like to      have anybody guarding him and made a move towards me. I placed a round in the chamber and leveled the rifle at his gut and was about to pull the trigger when the officer came out and put a stop to it. I don't know if I would have shot or not I was relieved of making the decision just in time.                                                                                                                                

We were at Gordon Johnston for our first Christmas in the army, 1943. Sgt Gottleib and the cooks prepared a special feast for us. I still have the "menu", which included the names of all the members of Company C at that time on the first page. Soon after this there was a big house cleaning and a lot of older guys and misfits were transferred out of the company, and new replacements were received In February we began packing for a move overseas. Most of us first got a furlough home.                                                                                                                

                                 A GROUP FROM FIRST PLATOON, CO C, 594th EB&SR                                                                At Camp Gordon Johnston, winter 194344
Name, Home town 1943, (1997 address) (Dknown deceased) (? never located after war)

Back row standing, I to r. First man in helmet unidentified; Alexander Pilczak, Hartford, CT. (D); Gabino Rojo, Port Arthur, TX. (D); Robert Douthat, Mohawk, TN (D); Vernell C. Meyer, Minonk,IL (D); Edward Hughes, Jaimaca, NY. Ralph Clifford, Morris, IL (Morris,IL); Harold Crouse, Webster City,1A (D); Louis Utterback, Creston, IA (Creston,IA); Carl Maples, Gatlinberg,TN. (D); Harry Watts, Readlyn, IA (Waterloo,IA.); Pedro Escamilla, Aransas _Pass,TX (?); Stanley Gershoff, NY NY (?); George Pehush, Haverstraw,NY (D);Marion Huber, Kewanee, II, (Kewanec,IL); Lathy Roloff, Alton, IL (D);

front rowstanding at kitRichard LeDosquet, Williston, ND (Layton, UT); squatingEdward Schneller, New Orleans, LA. (Metarie, LA); Archie Anderberg, StLawrence, SD (Edgerton, KS); Floyd Whaley, Galva, IL (D); William Hale Thompson, Keokuk, IA (D); William Zichos, Baltimore, MD (Baltimore); Avis Polan, Tomball, TX (Pinehurst,TX); David Ziegler, York, PA. (D); John Bugos, Alpha, IL (Davenoport, IA); Warr. en France, Philadelphia, PA (D); Wilfred Cann, Detroit, MI (Sun City, AZ)