I was born in Yonkers, N.Y., so I was used to the cold weather in the winter months for many years; however, when I joined the Army my duty station was with the Big Red One at Fort Riley, Kan.

Every morning, no matter what the weather conditions—rain, snow, hot—we did our one hour of morning physical training, then the 2- to 3-mile run.

I can remember that, as a squad leader, each one in your squad had to grab onto the ladder-like bars and go from one end to the other. If one of your squad fell off before reaching the end, you could not eat and had to go back to the end of the line.

My squad was a great squad, and we always made it through with lots of encouragement from the rest of the squad and myself.

It was very cold, colder than New York.

We were glad to have had the opportunity to eat first and have that cup of hot coffee to get us through.