THE TRIP WEST
After a little over a year at Ft. McClellan for which I was very thankful, I received orders to ship out. I was placed on temporary duty with Co. D 33rd Bn. July 10-August 7, 1944 before leaving Ft. McClellan, August 14, 1944. Unlike many service personnel I was not transferred with a unit but as a lone individual with orders to report to Ft. Ord, California. After a brief furlough in Meridian, Mississippi I left on the long trip across the country alone to Ft. Ord California, by way of New Orleans. There I was met by my brother David who was by then an officer in the Navy. He insisted that I take a Pullman for the long trip to California. I had never been west of the ferry over the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, MS up until that time. It was a tiring trip, but the monotony was broken by the many new sights and experiences along the way. The expanse of desert was mind boggling. I had no idea the USA was so big. Traveling on the Southern Pacific in an upper berth with a military couple in the berth below was an experience in itself, but no doubt more comfortable than a coach seat. The couple seemed to be enjoying the trip and each other. In Texas they had to get off at one of the stops and buy cowboy hats. At one or two stops volunteers from the town came out to treat the service people with refreshments. That I appreciated in the midst of the very hot summer trip. The train finally arrived in Los Angeles and I was greeted with the largest RR Station that I had ever seen. I was able to walk around awhile before catching another train that would take me to Salinas, CA. Having come from the rigidly segregated South, I was surprised to see a black lady working as a Cashier in one of the stores. I even wrote home about that surprise!
LOS ANGELES UNION STATION-1944
I arrived at Salinas on August 29, 1944 and checked in at a military desk in the railroad station. From there I was told to board a military bus to Ft. Ord. It was a very different type of bus, a long trailer pulled by a truck. I thought I had seen pictures of a similar bus from the Chicago Worlds Fair. It looked like it was designed for sight-seeing. I was attached, unassigned to Co. B. 2nd Regiment, at Ft. Ord and learned that I was to be sent overseas as a replacement. I assumed that meant I was to take the place of a soldier who had been killed, wounded, or rotated back to the States.
FT. ORD, CA 1944
For the couple of weeks at Ft. Ord I had little responsibility and had a chance to enjoy the beautiful service club on the Pacific. One night we were entertained by the Jan Garber orchestra, my first concert by a famous big band of the time.
JAN GARBER ORCHESTRA FT. ORD 1944
My most memorable duty while at Ft. Ord was serving as a guard at a firing range. This was a one-day assignment. I was driven out to the end of a dirt road in the desert early in the morning and was told to guard a gate to the firing range. I spent the whole day alone without seeing another person or even hearing any firing. I began to wonder if I might be forgotten and never have transportation back to Ft. Ord. Imagine my relief when late in the afternoon transportation arrived and I was driven back to the fort. I learned a bit about myself that day! I enjoy solitude from time to time, but that was carrying it to the extreme!
OVER THE DEEP BLUE SEA
On Sept 24, 1944 I left Ft. Ord for an unknown destination, boarded the USS Gen. R.E. Callan at Oakland and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge Sept. 25, 1944. I slept on a little short bunk bed six tiers high and developed my first back trouble!
USS GEN. R.E. CALLAN-TROOP TRANSPORT-1944
We crossed the Equator somewhere in the Pacific and were thus inducted into the "King Neptune's Ancient Order of the Deep” crossing the Equator at Longitude 173 degrees 80’ October 4, 1944.
ANCIENT ORDER OF THE DEEP CERTIFICATE
Stopping briefly at Milne Bay on the east tip of New Guinea October 11, 1944, we arrived at Oro Bay, New Guinea October 13, 1944. The beaches were a beautiful sight after seeing nothing but water for so long. I received jungle combat training at Buna, the site where a previous severe battle of the war had been fought.
NEW GUINEA-1944
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