Chapter 2 Basic Training at Camp Roberts California.

Basic training wasn't all that tough. Not anything like the Infantry or Marines. They also had to learn how to kill. We spent lots of time learning morse code and other means of communication. So there wasn't any time to waste on things we wouldn't have to know. You don't have to be conditioned to operate a radio. We had the usual Chicken Shit obedience training to accept but training wasn't too difficult because my physical condition was pretty good. The non-coms of the batttery were decent sorts for the most part.

After a few weeks my wife decided to come down and visit me on weekends when it was permitted. She got a job at the Paso Robles Inn which burned down 10 or 20 years ago. Her job was menial house work cleaning the mens and womens restrooms.

One weekend we went to Pismo Beach which is next to Paso Robles. Here is a picture taken of us that I liked so well I made a huge enlargement of it.


The picture of the sailor is my brother who enlisted in the Navy shortly before the war. He was on the Lexington CV5 when it was sunk. Somewhere over 200 men were killed. He was one out the two survivors of his gun battery. The other survivor was the Lt. commanding the battery He said there were 25 in the battery. I am not familiar with the number of crew needed to operate a gun battery but it must have been a fairly big gun. They took the survivors to Tonga Tabu where he was for a year after some trouble with the brass the Lt told me. I was able to contact him after a story appeared in the Seattle times newspaper. I never knew anything about this incident until recently. He was reassigned to a post here in Seattle after Tonga. This picture of him and me was taken sometime before I was drafted. To see something about the Lexington click here.
You will see a 5 inch gun where almost all the crew except the Lt and he were killed. This is probably the gun he helped shoot. He told me once he was either a pointer or trainer on the gun. I don't know which is which.