US Army Infantry School - Doughboy Yearbook (Fort Benning, GA)

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Je. , T' 7371 . ,xc , , f , 'A ,, 4.1. 4 a :ul I or U0 A- Q 924- oousnsov T QGirard.j Half of the corn crop of the south is used in making corn bread, and half for corn licker g another case of fifty per cent efficiency-Unable to locate the electric fan, and so to bed. September 28-Today hotter than yesterday. Hotel full of officers, mostly captains, and their wives and children. Went out riding with another auto salesman, then an insurance man, and after that an agent who rents houses. Bought a Columbus paper: much ado on the front page about one Stribling and a champion of sorts, Mike McTigue. Also took a couple of magazines from the news stand: the Atlantic Monthly and the Police Gazette. Lunch at tea room: waitresses rather cute but kittenish. Slept all afternoon. Going to the movies tonight. October 1-Reported officially at Benning, filled out a paper with in- teresting details of my previous life and was assigned to a company. Nothing on the schedule until Thursday. Morale high. October 4-Given my place in the company today, a responsible position in the rear rank. Had to draw a lot of property, two rifles, a bayonet and scabbard, a pistol, two belts, a canteen, a cleaning rod, field glasses, a clip- board, a clinometer, two compasses, and a sketching case with more trick things inside than a man could count in a month of Sundays. The only place to store the paraphernalia is a bathing suit locker, but darned if I see how. October 6-Lectures all morning, the mysteries of the monograph ex- plainedg the first shadow falling over the course. The subjects haven't been assigned yet, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.-We have pistol, grenades and bayonet all next week. October 12-Finished pistol range firing this afternoon. Can't say that I'm in the class of Wild Bill Hickok, or Whispering Smith, but I managed to rate sharpshooter. Six more bobbers and I'd have crossed the expert line, but my hand got shaky at fifty yards. Heard one of the class whooping like an Indian when he finished his last score. I made it! I made it! he kept yelling. Make expert?', Somebody asked. Naw, marksmanj said he- The pistol is gone, but like the poor, the bayonet is always with us. Somehow or other, the spirit of the bayonet, the overmastering determination to rush the enemy and carve him into gory scraps of meat, the insatiable craving for blood, is absent from my make-up. I just haven't a liking for the cold steel. It must be an acquired taste, like celery or limburger cheese. i - if-g. ,lacy if -Ea' gi , N, was 4. yw QQ-u Int

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Je, 0 -- X sw k , N JL i s ' -? , Ag I924- uouansov CLASS HISTORY' EPTEFMBER 27-And this is Columbus on the Chattahoochee. Arrived last night from New York, after a hot, disagreeable, and cindery trip. Cou1dn't sleep at the hotel because ofthe heat, and M3 spent three nickels running the electric fan, but in vain. Took T breakfast downstairs, sliced oranges, hot cakes, and coffee, broke the law of Georgia by giving the black waiter a dimeg then went out to look over the town. Met Davy Crockett whom I saw last in a blizzard at Devens in 1920, and talked over the happy days when the steam pipes froze in our quarters and the snow was five feet deep on the ground. Took the bus to Fort Benning, and saw much dry ground, two creeks, cotton fields, tumble- down shacks, and pine woodsg and the fort looming up on the hills above the river. The first impression is that of a reformed cantonment of the vintage of '17, Reported at headquarters, and was told to come back next Monday. Rode back to Columbus with an auto salesmang he told me a car is a necessity here, and I mentioned that my Rolls Royce is being shipped from Singapore, and that I also owned a 1920 Ford .... Had lunch at a tea room, and can't see how the waitresses in such a hot climate manage to keep their com- plexions. Spent the afternoon in house hunting, and wore a set of gold bars for camouflage, Had dinner at a tea room, and afterward explored Alabama if QFIOITI the uncensored diary of Nosnio King, sometime Captain of Infantry in the Army of the United Stntcsj. ,i'iQ1',. nw -Q 'Q K,-A . . yn, ,X , ,..,,, ,rigwxf-, Y, ,T .exam LIP f , - -MMWMJ l l If i L ,f 5 , , 'UM' was X - X JA-s AA is W ' if AWW W' ' Wil., W 1 ii Y, 'ff ii if i ' 5.9 g iw iqi 1- j V4ufJ akwgwsf -1,-Pie lg, 3 gi ' Lg, J-,iiyif -f ..-L i ' 'Z NWW' L 1 gg 5 Q W ' '? at ,r,, ,Ru s Inv

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Ja- A . xl ,J 35 M fl -,' li. i n.: -r Q A - 924 DOUGHBOY A The bayonet court is a jolly place, full of cunning little trenches, shell holes, hurdles, and whatnots, with dummies scattered about, all touched up with spots of red paint. The dummies are hung around in all sorts of im- possible locations, or down in the bottom of a trench, and the game is: Try and hit 'em! If you keep your bayonet out of your own foot, and don't run yourself to death, you're lucky! We've been throwing live grenades this week, and today one came back into our squad bay. In ten seconds you couldn't have assembled the squad by radio! October 25-Rifle range now, all day, every day. It's great stuff, when the sun is warm, and there's nothing to do but fire a few scores, and then lie around and swap yarns until it's time to clean the old Springfield and climb onto the narrow gauge. I'd be supremely happy, if it wasn't for my con- founded monograph next month. The marking system is new this year. There used to be a scramble for tenths of a point and no speaking to your best friend before an exam, but this year it is merely a matter of the alphabet. AH-in the Benning primer stands for SUPERIOR, the NE PLUS ULTRA of scholastic ability, the watch-me-I'ma-whizz complex, of General Staff caliber, and that sort of thing. B is along the same line, but not so standoffish. Quite good enough to tell your wife, or Willie when you spank him for not being a shining light in the kindergarten. C is next, an average conservative, middle-class kind of a mark. Then follows D , below the satisfactory line. It doesn't quite ruin you, but it's a moral lapse that may lead to worse things later in life. And, oh, my dear, EH, of course, is utterly impossible! F I 7x ' X I A 'V' E ' l . , Tg.-.- - X X - X if U Q - T 9 Y a J -.9 'I - L' 'i 1 I V 5 W' V 'ol ,T ,xv ,. aw Q. -- ll!