In 1954, I joined the Naval Reserve Surface Division in Racine, Wisc. I agreed to attend regular meetings there and spend two weeks every year on active duty. My first two weeks were spent at Great Lakes Boot Camp.

There was nothing that I disliked because my time spent there was a lot less than it was for full-time GIs. Since I was an Eagle Scout, I had learned lots of skills and had earned the marksmanship badge, so, I had fun on the rifle range. Because I was used to hiking, swimming, camping and marching, I especially enjoyed the marching music while marching.

Fireman school taught me a life lesson that I still employ today. It was the universal nozzle that was often threaded to other threaded connectors. Since I have been taking vitamins daily for many years, and some prescriptions, many of which have threaded cap. As I learned at Great Lakes, I usually turn the cap counterclockwise before turning it clockwise in order to prevent messing up the threads, as with the nozzles and connector.

As an aside: Three years later I transferred to a Naval Air Station north of Seattle where I became an air crew and radar operator. At the end of my eight years, I was an AT2 petty officer.

I am a member of American Legion Post 0250 in Adams, Wisc.