It was August and we were inducted into the Army in northern California. The Army was in a hurry to get us into basic training because there were none in the area, so after preliminary induction, we were sent to be issued our uniforms. We were told they were out of khakis, so they issued each of us one set of olive drabs, long-sleeved wool shirts, a tie, a hat and combat boots. We were also told we would get our clothing allowance straightened out when we got to San Antonio. In San Antonio, we learned the meaning of "SNAFU."

Upon arriving at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, we were told all our paperwork was lost, and so they couldn't issue us the rest of our clothes but they could issue us a helmet liner, canteen and web belt.

In August, San Antonio's temperature is in the nineties and we were the only barracks that had winter clothes to wear. They were kind and said we could roll up our sleeves and did not have to wear a tie, which was regulation at the time. We had to do everything else expected of us during basic. We ran everywhere and did all our physical training. We were thoroughly drenched after the first half hour; as a coincidence, we were relegated to the end of the line at the mess hall. At night after our GI party, we took a shower and washed our clothes with GI soap.

At the end of our basic training we were told the Army had decided our paperwork was gone forever; we were to turn in our olive drabs, they would issue us our regular allotment of clothes and they would start processing us again. But we would have to wait further for our pay vouchers to go through. It's a good thing that we all were in our teens, or we would never have made it through basic.