This memory dates back to 1944 at Camp Maxey, Texas. There were two platoons in each two-floor barracks, four platoons in a company. It seemed inevitable there would be one or two oddballs in each barracks. The most common problem was someone who did not take showers, and the body odor was offensive to those on the adjacent bunks.

The accepted “cure” for that problem was a GI bath which consisted of several men carrying the victim into the shower and scrubbing him with a stiff-bristled brush and Fels-Naptha soap.

One Saturday morning after our stand-by inspection in the barracks, we had fallen out for inspection in ranks. The company adjacent to ours had completed their inspections, and the men in one platoon decided one member required a GI bath. Our company had formed up at attention with the captain and first sergeant out front giving commands to “open ranks” and “prepare for inspection.” At the same time, the stark-naked victim from the nearby company escaped. The naked victim and five naked GIs, running and yelling, ran right through our formation between our captain and the front ranks.

The captain started to laugh first, and then the rest of us in ranks joined in.

The sober military decorum was ruined, and we were dismissed without the inspection in ranks.