Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice older book in good condition. Pages in good condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> It’s strange how some things may mean so much in garrison but when you’re getting ready to go into combat-where every ounce is carried on your back-many of these items suddenly lose value and are discarded. Some didn’t even make it into the barracks bags that would be stored in some warehouse until our return. For the most part when a man didn’t want something and didn’t want to put it back in his barracks bag he would hold it aloft and call to all within hearing offering it to whoever would take it. If there were no tak- ers the item was usually pitched into the center aisle that ran the full length of the barracks. There it would remain walked over and kicked around until the clean-up crews came in after we left. Mem- bers of the cleaning crews inherited some choice souvenirs war tro- phies and other articles in this manner. What the hell? I wondered. Why should we bother putting any- thing back in our barracks bags? We couldn’t carry everything we owned into battle with us and every time we went in the bags we left behind were invariably ripped open and looted by the rear- echelon troops. Almost everything we owned of any value would be stolen. War souvenirs personal things and desirable GI-issue items usually wound up in the hands of thieves. Photos of loved ones were ripped from their frames and the frames stolen. Nothing was sacred. The next time we saw our barracks bags it seemed like the only thing they contained was our dirty laundry and sometimes not even that. All some guys got back was an empty bag with their name and serial number stenciled on the side. Chow call interrupted my reverie. Men were scrambling all around grabbing their mess kits and running like hell to the mess hall. The slower men always wound up at the ends of very long lines with little chance of making it through in time for seconds. It paid to be a very fast runner or billeted close to the mess hall. (SP)