Induction

I got my draft notice in October, 1951 and was inducted at Fort Omaha. We stayed overnight at the old Rome Hotel and were shipped out the next morning to Camp Crowder, Missouri.

We were there for about two weeks, getting shots, physicals examinations and finally assignment to basic training.

By this time it was early November and my strongest recollection was how cold it was in the barracks where they sent us for our immunization shots. The building was empty except for a few benches along the walls, which we were not allowed to use, of course. We stood in line with nothing on but our under shorts. A medic stood on each side of the line jabbing a needle in both arms with the desired inoculation.

There was a big farm boy ahead of me in line and as we approached the medics, he would slip out of line and let the next G.I. pass on. Finally, he was the only one left in the line.

The medic said, “What’s the matter, big boy?”

“I’ve never gotten a shot before,” he said.

“That’s okay,” replied the orderly. “This is the first time I’ve ever given any!”

Whereupon the medics hit him in both arms with their needles and he promptly passed out and fell to the floor.