Air Raid Drill

Ben is 18 years old.  He has been in basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina for two months.  

August 26, 1943    
Wednesday

Dear Folks,
Sorry that there was a two day lapse between letters but a card is just as hard to dash off as a letter.  I wrote a card last nite but forgot to mail it this morning. Here’s the news of the week.  Monday nite we had a 10 mile hike.  We were fortunate in having good roads all the way.  We weren’t physically tired, just our feet.  And when we got back, there were rolls and coffee waiting for us.  And after a refreshing shower, the hike didn’t seem so bad after all.

Tuesday wasn’t so bad.  We got up at 6:45 instead of 5:15.  It was a rest after the hike.  Had easy work all day.  We all went to bed at 9:30 in preparation for today.  I was sleeping peacefully when activity around me woke me up.  Everybody was getting dressed & putting on their packs.  I couldn’t figure out why everybody was putting on their packs before breakfast.  Then I heard that it was an air raid & it was only 11:00.  I jumped out of bed & started fumbling for my clothes.  It was pitch black outside & I couldn’t see anything.  I got my pants but couldn’t find my shirt.  I was groping all over, on the floor, on the window sill, but I couldn’t find it.  Then the guy next to me tells me that it was hanging from the ventilator in the aisle. 

During all this time everybody was laughing & joking because it was so dark & they had difficulty in finding anything.  I was just about dressed when some guys down the other end of the room wakes up & wants to know what the hell we’re doing.  Perhaps it doesn’t sound funny to you but it came at just the rite psychological moment.  We all burst out laughing & couldn’t stop.  I then go to the rifle rack, grope for my gun, and am just ready to start down the stairs when the order comes to sit tight on our foot lockers.  We’re all wondering what’s up & hope we don’t have to run all the
way over to our area thru the rain when the street lites go on.  It all happened in the space of 10 minutes & it was really funny.

They told us this morning that today would be our most exhausting day at Camp Croft.  At times it was & at other times it wasn’t.  Never did so much double-timing or had so many rest periods as I did today.  We marched out near the range & had the following.  The whole company ran a 500 yard obstacle course which consisted of going under barbed wire twice & the rest running over logs, across ditches, & up & down a hill. 

Then we had demonstrations on demolition & high explosives, mines, anti-tank grenades, dynamite T.N.T., etc.  Then we had the village fighting that you’ve probably heard about before.  But it was nothing compared to what I thought it would be.  It was very safe.  You didn’t fire until a non-com told you to.  It was fun taking the building & everything.  I was as assistant machine gunner, but I didn’t fire today, not even my rifle, for which I am glad because I didn’t have to clean it as thoroughly.  They had booby traps set all over the place but they were controlled so they were very safe.  They also had dynamite & T.N.T. exploding around all day, just to get us used to the noise. 

Later, we each threw a hand grenade, finally, after hours of practice on the drill field.  Then we went on the infiltration course, the course that we had heard so much about.  You know, crawling under barbed wire with machine gun bullets whizzing over our heads & mines exploding around us.  Well there was nothing to lit.  The bullets were 30 inches over our head & in the middle was a 15 inch rise which gave us about 5 inches clearance.  While on the straight ground it was about 20 inches.  It wasn’t all barbed wire, half of it was open space.  After we once started crawling, we didn’t even pay any attention to the bullets.  Half the time we were so absorbed in getting thru the barbed wire, that we wouldn’t ever hear them.  They only had one mine explode & that was controlled.

As on all the things we do in the Army, this was overplayed.  It certainly wasn’t dangerous in the least.  We were just exhausted and dirty.  But there was a small creek near there where we washed ourselves for a half hour.  Right after we finished the course, we looked like & felt like a soldier that had been on Guadalcanal.  Probably the only time during our training that that will happen at the same time.  Had a swell meal out there.  Roast beef, mashed potatoes, fresh tomatoes, beets, bread & butter, apple & ice water.  Had plenty of it too, and I had an orange, too.  Always take one along in my pack.

I bet Mom is glad the company left so soon, especially since it was time for Bob & Ruth’s vacation.  Hope your sunburn is better, but bet you’re just as tired. Where are they going on their vacation?  Well I’ve got to close again.

Love,
Ben