God Takes Care of Drunks and Fools

We shipped out of Fort Lewis December 1944 on our way to God knows where. But the trip was aborted and the troop transport ship had to go back after two really rough days in the Pacific with lots of vomiting (most of us had never been on a ship before). And then we were on our way.

We stopped in Hawaii and were ensconced in Schofield Barracks. It was there that I made corporal, much to Captain Gooch's chagrin. I had made myself into a high speed radio operator and was being assigned to General Buckner as his personal radio operator. Captain Gooch couldn't send a private and say that I was above average in competence. The Captain literally said that he hated to make me a corporal but felt that he had no choice (why he disliked me is a story in itself). So I dragged my ass over to headquarters and was soon on a half track learning how to use a 50 caliber machine gun which had very little appeal to me.

When I was told that I was expected to dig the General's latrines, I was determined to fuck up and be sent back to my outfit, the 241st Signal Corps Group. I dropped radio equipment and even books as we were getting ready to ship out, doing everything to look like a klutz. I was successful (it was easy) and was sent back to my outfit. General Buckner and his radio operator were killed on Okinawa which once again proves that God takes care of drunks and fools.