The Frontier Kid

Then, we got orders to go to Camp Bowe, Texas, on Maneuvers. The reason we had been on the desert on maneuvers was because, at that time, they needed Armored Force people in Africa on the desert where Romel was eating up the British Armies over there. But, eventually, they got enough Americans over there to help them out, so we didn't have to go there. We went to Camp Bowe, TX, on maneuvers, which was more like Europe than Africa. So, we were on maneuvers in Texas for about five or six months until we got orders to move to Standish in Rhode Island. We went home on Furlow, and we drove the car back to Texas. We had a 1936 Ford Sedan that I had bought before I went into the service. Interesting story here… We owed about $150 or $200 on the car when I went into the service, and at that time, there were laws in government that stated that if a veteran was inducted into the service while owing a certain amount of money, that was forfeited. We didn't have to pay the rest of it. So, we got a little break there. That was free and clear. So, we drove it back to Texas. At that time it was real hard to get gas for it, because gas was rationed. So, I went to the Army Headquarters and got a card that allowed us five gallons a week. (It wasn't called an A Card… It might have been a B or C card…) We got along pretty well on that. We made a lot of friends out there. Ardis got a job out there at the Army Post. She was working in the laundry doing something… folding handkerchiefs, or something like that. I came into town just about every night. We had an apartment at a place called McCulley's Apartment. Actually, it was a converted hen house. Chickens roosted under our apartment every night, and there was a considerable odor coming up between the cracks in the floors. But anyway, it was a place to stay, and Clarks were right next to us. Then there was a couple next to them from Kentucky. The guy was tall, he was about a seven foot guy, and about a four foot tall girl. They made quite a pair. Anyway, we had weekends off there most of the time, so we'd go to Lake Brownwood, which was the name of the city right there by Camp Bowe. We'd go swimming, and have a heck of a time. We were on maneuvers there six months. Come December 23rd, we left Camp Bowe for Camp Standish in Rhode Island. That was our deportation point for overseas. When we arrived and got settled, we weren't to be there only two days before we got on a boat for shipment. So, Jim and I got together and called Ardis and Clara and we told them to meet us at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island right away. Well, Ardis got on a train right away, and Clara drove from Sudbury, Pennsylvania. We all met at the hotel. Jim and I jumped over the fence… We weren't supposed to leave the camp because of restrictions. We jumped over the fence and grabbed a cab and we went into the hotel and stayed all night with the girls, or most of the night, anyway. We got up about 4 o'clock, and we just barely made it back. We jumped back over the fence just as our outfit was loading onto the ship. This was Dec. 24th or 25th. We grabbed our socks and duffel bags and beat it to the ship. We got on without any penalties. That would be the last time that I would see Ardis for two years. Two lonely years.