According to Papa they gave the C.B.'s a one week boot camp and them sent them to the docks to load up and ship out. I only remember him talking about four things that happened at the camp.
- They had to crawl under a field full of barbed wire with live machine gun fire going over their heads.
- They were marched to a muddy, soupy field. Once they were there and spread out a little a drill sergeant yelled, "Hit the dirt!." Papa said he immediately did just that flopping down in the muddy goo. Most of the rest of the other men slowly sank down trying not to get too muddy. Next, Papa and a few others who immediately obeyed the order got to stand to the side while everyone else got to practice "hitting the dirt" for some time.
- They were taught how to put on a gas mask properly and were marched into a large building pumped full of tear gas. While inside they were required to remove the mask and take a breath before they were allowed to run outside.
- And, there was the drilling and marching carrying a rifle. And, these rifles were cut out from pieces of one by four because the real ones were being sent overseas to be used int the war. But, my father did get a real rile as part of his equipment when he was over seas. He said the unit he was in never used then, but they had to be inspected every week. There was one problem though. Mud dabbers were getting inside the barrels of the unused rifle and building nests! So Papa and the others got some cork and stopped up both ends of their riffle barrel.
More to come aboaut the Sea Bees.
