In 1953, as a Marine reserve, I was directed to report to the Marine Corps Base in San Diego for boot camp. I boarded a passenger train, in Richmond, IN. This train took me to Kansas City, MO., where I was transferred to another sleeper car, where I slept for the evening. The next day, I boarded another passenger train, where I joined up with three other Marine recruits, heading for boot camp. The staff on the train were very nice to us. They moved us into a private compartment for the trip. We enjoyed riding the train through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, which took another two days. We arrived in San Diego about 4:00 AM in the morning. Our Drill Instructor was waiting for us. By noon that day, we were issued our clothes & had our boot camp haircut! I became 1437236 and that is not my social security number. Plus, we learned how to march! For the next 10 weeks, the marine Corps made a better person out of me.