At Fort Knox, Ky., we were in temporary barracks used during World War II.
One of the guys had never shaved. He was probably 17. After the first morning of showering and shaving, this kid had 50 pieces of toilet paper on his face to stop all the bleeding from his nicks. That was a sight to see.
We got to our training barracks a couple days later, on a Saturday. These were three-story cement and a lot better than the wooden check-in ones.
On Monday morning, reveille was sounded to wake us up. Across the aisle from my bunk, the guy on the top bunk sat up on the edge. The next thing I heard was a loud noise. The guy keeled over and fell to the floor. One of the guys was a medic and went to see what he could do. The fallen guy was unresponsive on the floor, so the medic started CPR. The first sergeant came and called the barracks medics. It was determined that the guy was dead, probably from fright about the upcoming training. He was probably dead before he hit the floor. That was not a good way to start the day for most of the guys. It was very somber at mess that morning, and during the first day of training. This was not a good memory to have since I saw him fall from the upper bunk.
Another memory was all the miles we marched during the eight weeks. If I remember correctly it was about 200 miles. I know our boots showed lots of wear.