We were next sent by troop train to Maxwell Field in Alabama.
Somewhere on the trip we had to get off the train and spend the night
in the train station in one of those little southern towns. It was
cold so we made a mountain of barracks bags in the waiting room and
then we climbed up on them and tried to sleep. We arrived at Maxwell
in September and trained there through November. The first few weeks
were just like college with hazing and all that by the upper
classman. We had to sit at attention in the dining room and eat with
our eyes straight ahead and our shirt buttons touching the table. You
couldn't look at your plate so really didn't get much to eat. It was
probably just as well because later we had a Sunday dinner with half
a chicken each. The chicken was a green color and when I lifted a
wing the feathers were stil1 there. Needless to say, most everyone
got up and left.
These three months were about the hardest I experienced. I used to be
the first one up in our barracks at 4:30 am and got everyone else up.
It was nice to get to wash and shave before the others made it
crowded. It was just like going to college and they told us it was
the equivalent of two years of college. Besides getting up at 4:30 am
we had classes all day and homework until 11:00 pm. We had classes
in airplane engines, theory of flight, math, physics, and similar
subjects. During the evenings I helped others with physics and they
helped me with the math.
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