Excellent health
By: Jerry Blackerby
Joining the military service can be a real culture shock to a 17-year old country boy. Growing up, we always lived in the country or small towns. I spent a few weeks each summer away from home working with cousins on the farm or with grandparents. Other than that, I was never away from home. I was the oldest of five children.
News reports made war seem romantic during World War II. When I graduated from high school in 1951, we were at war in the Korean conflict and I was gung-ho. I convinced Dad to let me join the Navy. Since I was only 17, he had to sign for me. I was sworn in at the recruiting office in Dallas and rode a train with about three dozen new recruits to San Diego for boot camp.
We arrived at San Diego late in the afternoon and were mustered into a company of about 48 men. We were marched to the chow hall and then to a temporary barracks after the meal. The next morning, we were issued a complete set of Navy clothing and a Seabag. We were instructed how to roll our clothing, turned wrong side out, to fit within the Seabag. We packaged our civilian clothing and any jewelry, such as wristwatches and rings, to be shipped home. We stenciled our name on each item of Navy clothing.
We were marched into a barber shop and literally sheared. I think the longest hair on my head was about one-eighth inch. We were marched through a medical room and given shots. We formed two lines of men and walked through with medics on each side of us. We were given several shots in both arms, some simultaneously.
We went through another physical exam and a psychological exam. The physical exam showed one man with a heart murmur and he was sent home. Some of the questions asked during the psychological exam were shocking to a country boy like me.
After a couple of days, we were sent to Camp Elliott in the desert for the first four weeks of training. We were up before daylight. Our beds had to be made properly and the barracks spotless when we left each morning. It was extremely hot during the day and cold at night. We marched everywhere we went and were in bed by dark. We attended many classes on Navy history and traditions, regulations and other needed subjects. We were not allowed any liberty (off base time) during those first four weeks.
We washed our clothes each evening with a Kiwi scrub brush and a bar of laundry soap. We hung our clothes wrong side out on lines that were hoisted high all night and the next day. In the evening, all the lines were lowered so we could retrieve our dry clothes and repeat the process with what we had worn that day. We shined our shoes each evening.
At age 17, I did not really need to shave because all I had was a little peach fuzz. But, our Chief could see that little bit of peach fuzz if I forgot to shave and I had to go back in and shave. When a person did not pass inspection, the entire company was given extra duty. I only got sent back once for not shaving. After that I always passed inspection.
One person did not shower every day, so every day or so, the Chief would notice his body odor and make him go shower. The rest of us had extra duty because of his failure to shower. Everyone in the company complained to him that he needed to shower daily, but he did not. After a few times, some of the bigger guys in our company manhandled him into the shower and scrubbed him clean with a Kiwi laundry scrub brush. He learned his lesson and never failed to shower again.
We carried 1903 Springfield rifles during training, but used M1 rifles for actual firing on the rifle range. I qualified very high on the rifle range, because Dad had taught me well.
After four weeks, we were moved back to the base at San Diego for the remaining eight weeks. We became eligible for liberty in town on the weekends, but had to be back on base at night. On Sunday, we had to attend church service or go to a reading room during the time of church service and get a signed slip that we had attended church or were in the reading room. Without the signed slip, we could not get a pass to go to town.
We had a television room in one building where we could watch a small-screen TV. I had only seen TV once or twice before going in the Navy. The room only had seating for about 30 people. If the room was full, we had to wait until someone left, so I did not see much TV.
We had to get more shots a couple of times while in bootcamp. Once we were in a long line behind other companies to get shots. Medics were giving shots in both arms. Just before we reached the area for shots, one medic shouted, “Grab that man, the needle broke off.” Three men ahead of us passed out.
While we were in bootcamp, Hollywood was there also filming part of Sailor Beware, a movie with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. I remember one afternoon as we marched back into the barracks area about 1600 hours or 4 p.m., we had to wait because the movie people were filming a scene in the movie. The scene was to be as if the lines were being hoisted for clothes to dry. Jerry Lewis had tied himself to the lines and was hoisted up with them. That scene never made the final movie, although all of us laughed at the premise.
We had to stand at ease, but still in ranks, until the filming was completed and the movie crew moved out before we could march on to our barracks area. We saw several scenes filmed that were in the final movie during the next few weeks. Our company was in about the middle of a crowd scene doing calisthenics, but I could never pick anyone out in the crowd when I saw the movie.
After boot camp, some of us went to NAS Jacksonville, Florida for additional training. Rules were a little more lax there, as compared to boot camp, but still a lot different than home. We were allowed to wear wristwatches and rings. While there, I saw another example of how things were done in the old days that was basically culture shock.
In the Navy, the stairs are called the ladder. The café or snack bar portion of the Navy Exchange is called a Gedunk. We had problems in our second floor barracks room with a thief. Someone of the 50 or 60 people in the room was stealing money from others in the room.
Some people would leave their locker unlocked when they went to the shower because they did not have a good way to carry their key. I used a combination lock on my locker, so always locked my wallet inside the locker when I was not getting something from the locker. The thefts were reported, but after a couple of weeks the thief had not been caught.
We expected to go into Jacksonville for weekend Liberty on Friday evening following payday. The Duty Chief stopped in our barracks and said that none of us would get a Liberty pass because we still had a thief in our barracks.
When asked what we should do, the Chief told us that in the "OLD" Navy, the thief would have been caught by people in the barracks and would have an accident, such as falling down the ladder. He said when someone was taken to sick bay (hospital) following an accident of falling down the ladder (stairs); everyone else would get a Liberty pass.
Two of us decided that we would just go to the Gedunk and then possibly to the movie on base, since we could not go to town. After killing a couple of hours in the Gedunk, a friend stopped by and told us that we could go get Liberty passes.
It seems that some people suspected who the culprit was. They got together and planned a trap. While one person went to take a shower and left his locker unlocked, a couple of others lay in their bunks with their backs to the unlocked locker and appeared to be napping. When the culprit opened the locker, they jumped up and caught him red-handed.
When he was taken to sick bay, the report was that he had accidentally fallen down the ladder, turned the landing and fell down the lower section also. He had a broken arm and multiple bruises from the fall. After this was reported to the Duty Chief, everyone was authorized to get Liberty passes for the weekend. In those days, nearly everyone looked out for each other.
Life was definitely different in the military during the 1950s. It was nothing like what my children and grandchildren experienced in the military during the 1970s until now. One grandson is currently serving on submarines in the Navy.
Copyright © Jerry Blackerby 2011