1. Recap of Army Facilities

Ft. Benjamine Harrison, Indiana

Ft. McClellan - Anniston, Alabama

Camp Shenango - Pennsylvania

Ft. Lawton - Seattle, Washington

Fort Sheridan - Illinois

Port of Embarkation

Shemya

2. Conscription - the Draft

3. Selection Process

4. Shemya

5. General S. B. Buckner, Jr.

6. Major A. Brindle

7. My Outfit

8. My Buddies

9. Supply Sergeant

10. Army Medical Experience

11. Civilian Contractors

12. Potpourri

13. Returning to the States

14. Coincidences

15. Unspoken Concerns

SUPPLY SERGEANT

In it's organizational structure, the majority of Army units has a Supply

Room, manned by a Supply Sergeant and assistant(s). The many functions

it serves depends upon what sort of outfit it is part of, the number of men,

in the unit, and other local requirements.

As Supply Sergeant of our organization, my responsibility was to furnish

Army Tug Boats with their needs, requiring written authorization from

the ship's captain, and counter-signed by an officer in our unit.  A formal

requisition was then typed up and depending on the nature of the items, trips

made to Quartermaster for clothes, Commissary for food, Ordinance for

armaments, Fuel depot for oil, Base Hospital for medical supplies, etc.

This required at least one assistant to keep the supply room open when either

one of us would remain while the other did the pick-up.

We tried to inventory certain basics to keep on hand, but space was always a

problem.  Every person in the unit had a complete outfit, in his size, that was

permeated with protective coating in case of a chemical attack.  This took up

  room.      Emergency cots, blankets, etc. had to be stored should a ship go

aground - and this happened once in a while. Sounds silly, but the most sought

after items were toilet paper and candles (before we had electricity).

We also serviced the sixty men in our outfit - - - - - twice a month on predetermined

days, everyone would bring their dirty clothes in barracks bags - well marked 

and we would take the truckload to the base laundry and pick it up the next day.

Once a month was "Salvage Day".   When an article was worn out, the supply room

examined it, kept records of the person and size of the article, then made a trip to

Quartermaster for replacement.It was a half-day drag, waiting in line, having the

articles examined again, then replenished from the bins.  The reason for these exam's

was to determine whether the article wore out through ordinary use, or whether it

was helped along with a course rasp.  If any hanky-pank was discovered, we were

required to fill out a statement of charges, with the dollar value, then submit it to

the company commander so that the amount would be deducted from the monthly pay.

This procedure was bypassed when items were lost or damaged in a battle zone.

Occasionally, when there was an alert of a possible attack, we rushed to the Ordinance

Depot to load up on grenades, munitions, etc. then stored them in the supply room

until the danger was gone.

I will end this segment by saying that the qualification which allowed me the promotion

to PFC, then corporal, then to sergeant, was my ability to type 40 words per minute.