The next day did arrive, and I felt like I hadn’t had any sleep at all. I don’t think I really did. We had our formation at 6:00 a.m. and went to the mess hall for breakfast. Then we went to the supply depot to pick up all our army clothes. When we got those, the first thing you had to do was put them on, and then pack up your civilian clothes and go down to the base post office, and send them home. Now, I really knew I was in the Army!
Finally, on May 15th, 1942, we boarded a train again, and arrived at Camp J.T. Robinson, at Little Rock, Arkansas. We arrived on May 16th for basic training. We were to get 8 weeks of training on the fine points of what it takes to be a soldier. While at Camp Robinson, I got all my teeth looked at, and one filled, and my shots taken. Some of the shots caused some of the guys to pass out, they hurt so bad. We learned to march in step, and do K.P., or also, Table Waiter, which was worse. I was assigned to Company B. 72nd Training Battalion, whatever that was. All the time I was there, I served K.P. once a week, and Table Waiter once a week. I complained to the Sarge once, but he said that’s just the way it is! The reason Table Waiter was so bad, was because you had to clean and scrub all the tables, mop the floor, and clean all the windows. It took all day. At least with K.P., you just had to peel potatoes and help serve the food.
For additional information about Camp Grant, please see the links and bibliography in the prior post. For more information about Camp Joseph T. Robinson, here is a short bibliography of additional resources.
- Camp Robinson and the military on the North Shore, Ray Hanley, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC; 2014, 127 p. [WorldCat] [Amazon]
- Camp Robinson Replacement Training Center handbooks, 1942-1943, US Army, Little Rock AR; 1942, 48 p. [WorldCat] [AR Archives]
- WWII-era Camp Robinson newspapers, running from 1941 until July 1946. [WorldCat] [AR Archives]
- Camp Robinson is still an actively used military facility, housing the headquarters for the Arkansas National Guard. The Arkansas National Guard Museum currently houses historical artifacts and exhibits about Camp Robinson in wartime, while the Arkansas State Archives contains a number of rare and specialized texts on the Camp.
Letters From Snook 