Lee Coffman
USS Helena CA-75
Boot Camp NTC San Diego, CA
On Monday October 13, 1952, Dad and Mom drove me to the Union Train Station in Los Angeles; we had to be there early in the morning because I was to report for training in San Diego at 0900. I said my goodbyes to Morn and Dad and boarded the train at 0600, of course the Navy paid for the train fare and a Navy bus would meet all the trainees reporting at the San Diego train station. It was a beautifully clear chilly October morning and as the miles rolled by; I looked out of the window and watched the scenery. I made acquaintance with some other men headed to the training center, some of them were excited about it and some were apprehensive, all the men I talked to were from California and in the naval reserves. Soon the train was outside of the dense Los Angeles area and traveled through Orange County, which was then mostly rural with orange groves and farmland. The train came to San Juan Capistrano and traveled on tracks right by the Pacific Ocean, the scenery was beautiful and I was enjoying the ride very much but all too soon the train was entering San Diego and it was time to get off.
The train arrived at the San Diego Station and there was a Navy Chief Petty Officer there to greet us, a tough sounding old guy. About 40 men got off the train and he ordered us to fall into formation in rows. He said, "Okay knock off the chit chat and stand at attention because what I will tell you is important." He called a roll call to make sure no one was missing and then he gave us our plan of the day, which included where we would go and what we would do. He said, I want you to remember all I have told you because you are expected to carry out orders from now on and I don't want any screw-ups, is that understood?" We all shouted," Aye, aye sir." Then we marched out of the station and boarded the Navy bus.
I sat down in a seat by a window and another man sat down beside me, he was a good looking, tall and blond. He started a conversation by saying, "Hi my name is Charles Monson you can call me Chuck, looks like we are in for the real thing this time." I introduced myself and told him my reason for going into the regular Navy to avoid the draft and he had a similar story. Chuck said he was from Kingsburg, California and as far as he could tell, all of the men on the bus were from California. We hit it off right away and talked to each other all the way to the training center; little did either of us know that our friendship would last a lifetime. It is natural to choose someone to talk to when you are in a stressful situation
and it was soothing for us to talk to each other. We talked, joked, and seemed to bond right from the start. Chuck said he was born and grew up in Kingsburg, California. Kingsburg is a small Swedish community south of Fresno. His dad was the only plumber in town and made a decent living. The Fresno Bee newspaper employed Chuck and when the Army tried to draft him he joined the Navy instead. I told him about my background and we talked all the way to NTC. Chuck and I found out that our birthdays were one day apart, his was January 10, 1933 and mine was January 9, 1933 and that gave us something in common, in fact, as time went by, we found that we had many things in common.
The bus arrived at the training center in 45 minutes and drove to a large building. The Chief told us to get off the bus as he called out our names and we entered the building, inside was the barber shop and we all got a "GI haircut".
After getting a haircut, each man went through the storeroom where uniforms and gear were issued. Issued to each man; two undress blue uniforms, one dress blue uniform with kerchief, two white uniforms, two dungaree uniforms, Navy blue knit sweater, two white caps, shoes and socks, Navy blue belt, web belt, leggings, underwear, two pillow cases, two sheets, one Navy blue flat hat, a black woolen watch cap, one Pea coat, bathing trunks, two towels and two washcloths, ditty bag, one sea bag and a Springfield rifle. Then we were marched into the stenciling room where each man had a stencil made with his name and serial number. There were large tables where the items were laid and each man stenciled his own items. When the stenciling was done, the Chief instructed us in the proper way to fold our items and stow them in our sea bags. Now it was time for noon chow and we marched to the mess hall. It was cumbersome carrying the sea bag through the chow line but the Chief told us to guard it with our life because if we lost it we were in big trouble. The food was good and I remember clearly my first meal in the navy, spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread.
After noon chow, we fell into formation and marched to another building to have our "dog tags" made; these are two metal tags with our name, serial number and blood type stamped on them. My information stamped on my dog tags were; COFFMAN, LEE M., 420 95 34, A-POS, name, serial number and blood type. The dog tags hung from a chain around the neck and we were told that we would wear them at all times while we were awake, asleep, showering or making love. The main purpose behind the dog tags was so that we could be identified if we were injured or killed in combat. The company then marched to a barracks building. Inside were two rows of double bunk beds with mattresses and pillows along the outside walls by the windows, in the middle of the room was two rows of lockers. We lined up in front of the bunks two men per bunk. The Chief told us to stand at attention, however there was one or two men who were still talking. Another tough looking Chief entered the room and immediately went to a big recruit, who was over 6 feet tall and was very husky. I later found out his name Emest Johansen. The Chief slapped him several times in the face and yelled, "I'm going to have trouble with you aren't I fatso?" The shocked recruit said, "No
sir." The Chief said, "Yes I am you low life, next time you are given an order to stand at attention you had better obey that order or I will have your ass put on report!"
Believe me, we were all paying attention to this introduction to our new Company Commander, he really was a tough old bird and none of us wanted to cross him ever! The Chief then spoke to us in a gruff voice and said, "My name is Chief Graham, I am a strict disciplinarian and I expect you to obey me or else! Every company of recruits I have commanded has won honors in this training center and I expect this company to do even better than the ones before. There are forty men here so far and thirty-eight more men will join you tomorrow. That is a big responsibility for me and I expect all of you to obey orders learn and become worthy graduates from the Naval Training Center. The uniform of the day and every day you are here is dungarees with leggings, web belts, white caps and shined shoes. You will change into your uniforms now. What you do with you civilian clothes is up to you; you can send them home or put them in the trashcan because you are not allowed to have them on the base. Fall out, stow your gear, make your bunks, and change into the uniform of the day and in 30 minutes fall in outside the barracks with your pieces". In the military, a rifle is a piece.
While we were getting into our uniforms Chuck who was near me said, "Well Lee, it looks like we are in for a tough time. Old Daddy Graham is one tough SOB." I heartily agreed. All of us fell into formation outside the barracks, Chief Graham was standing waiting for us, and he yelled, "Okay girls cut out the chit-that. Attention! Order arms!" Then he went up and down our ranks inspecting us and really tore us apart with all the things he found wrong. He said to me, "Pull in that gut Coffman and straighten your shoulders, I'll work that flab off of you by God." After the inspection, the Chief organized our ranks by putting all the tallest men in front and the shortest men behind the formation, I was in the middle of the formation and Chuck was in the front. The Chief assigned flag bearer positions to three men, two to carry the company flag and American flag in front of the formation and one who would carry the guide on banner at the right front of the company, our company's number was 826. He also appointed a company yeoman that would be in charge of the company's discipline, mail delivery and conducting drills when the thief was not present his name was Richard Arnoux. Amoux was a tall lanky guy who had an outgoing personality. The Chief arranged to send the yeoman to the gee-dunk to purchase toiletry items for the company.
A great emphasis was put on the shining of our shoes and we spent a lot of time to get them to shine like glass so we would not be in trouble with the Chief. One trick I learned was to heat the can of shoe wax holding a match under it before applying it and this made a terrific shine. Neat clean uniforms were necessary, the bell-bottom trousers of the blue uniforms were made of wool, in order to keep them pressed they were folded inside out and we put them under our mattress and slept on them. The trousers had a front flap that was secured by 13 buttons, an old saying in the Navy was that the 13 buttons were to give a girl 13 chances to say no. Another point that the Chief was big on was clean and close shaves, in 1952 aerosol cans were just coming out on the market. Gillette Company marketed "Rise" shaving cream and all of us wanted a can. Prior to this, I had a tube of shaving cream, it did not work very well, and carrying a shaving mug, shaving soap and brush was too bulky. Luckily, I have light colored whiskers so it was easy for me to appear clean-shaven but some of the men with darker whiskers had a hard time satisfying the Chief with their shaves.
We had an hour practicing the manual of arms, how to triple stack our pieces followed by an hour of close order drill. We then marched to the infirmary where each man was given a series of shots. Unbelievably, the biggest man Johansen fainted! He was okay after a while and came to. The company practiced close
order drill for the rest of the afternoon and then we marched to the mess hall for evening chow. After chow we marched back to our barracks and the Chief again talked to the company he said, "For any of you that smoke the smoking lamp is out from 0800 to 1200 and from 1300 to 1600. You can smoke inside your barracks but I do not want to see any mess or cigarette butts laying around, is that clear?" Then he assigned starboard and port watches, starboard watch from 2200 to 0200 and port watch from 0200 to 0600. There being 78 men we would only have to stand watch every third day, which was a relief to all of us.
Marching drill and manual of arms
The Chief said," For the first 30 days in boot camp you are under quarantine you will receive no visitors, no liberty, and no movies and no gee dunk time. On Thursday, the company will be transported to Camp Elliot about 50 miles from here and you will be under full quarantine. Enjoy the nice clean surroundings here because Camp Elliot it is near the desert and it is hot, dusty and dirty. After you are dismissed, go to your barracks and stay there, clean your barracks, wash your dirty clothes and put your gear in order. I will hold surprise inspections and God help anyone that screws up! Company dismissed!"
It was now 1830 and we were all glad finally to have a rest from the hectic day. Many of the men were really bitching about how tough the Chief was but personally I liked the old SOB and I thought he was doing a good job training us and teaching us to be as tough as he was. Johansen had brought his Zenith Transoceanic shortwave radio and we had music to listen to while we cleaned the barracks and washed our clothes. When our work was done, we talked and smoked for a while and I wrote some letters to family and Mary Ann. Soon it was 2200 and lights out, I went to sleep listening to Tattoo and Taps being played by a trumpeter. I loved to hear it and I liked being in the Navy, I liked the discipline, cleanliness and order. My first day in the US Navy, I went to sleep and I was glad I was here.
At 0600, the trumpeter blew Reveille and all hands hit the deck and the showers. At 0700, Amoux had us fall in by the barracks to await the Chief, he
soon came marching toward the company with the remaining 38 members of our company and this made 78 men in the company. The Chief again assigned each of us positions in the ranks, taller men at the front to shorter men at the rear. The Chief then conducted an inspection with a lot of chewing out of any offenders.
We then marched to the mess hall for morning chow. During breakfast, we all got to know each other and exchanged talk about how tough Chief Graham was. The new men were from various areas such as Hawaii, Utah, Michigan, the mid-west, the east coast and some southern states. It was a good mix and most of us had
never met anyone from other states.
We fell into formation after morning chow and the Chief told us that we would have an easy day because most of the day would be spent on physical exams and taking batteries of tests. These tests would determine our IQ level and our proficiency and aptitude at various trades and the results would determine what rating in the Navy to pursue. We marched to the infirmary and once inside we stripped down to only our shorts and went through a series of physical examinations. Before we were through, we had more shots given to us, both of my arms were sore and I felt like a pincushion. I already wore glasses but I would be fitted with new ones. It was an easy morning because the Chief was not around and after the physicals all of us gathered outside, smoked, and talked scuttlebutt. At 1130, the Chief showed up and marched us to noon chow.
After noon chow, the Chief marched us to a large building and inside was many rows of tables and chairs. There were three other companies taking the tests with our company so there were over 300 men there in the building. A lieutenant was in charge and he stood on a stage at the front of the room and gave us instructions about each test. The tests were time limited and we had to complete as much of each test as we could in an allotted time. The subject matter included mathematics, English spelling and grammar, mechanical and electrical aptitude, logic and American government and history and other subjects. We got the results the next day and I was very pleased with my high scores on the tests, I received a 161 on the IQ test, which is "genius" level, I never thought of myself as a genius but there it was in black and white. This helped me later on to strike for a technical rating such as Radioman, Radar man, Fire Control Technician, Electrician's Mate or Electronics Technician. I got a lot of ribbing from some of the guys about being a "brain" and one of them said, If you are so smart, how did you wind up in boot camp?" We all got a good laugh out of that remark.
Some of the guys were trying to find a way to get out of the Navy now that the full reality of being in boot camp hit them. Some of the schemes included declaring homosexuality, injuring themselves or going AWOL. Most of us couldn't understand their desperation and were happy being in the Navy instead of the Army. The next day, Wednesday, a large red swelling appeared on my right arm where I had received a tuberculosis vaccination, I showed it to the Chief and he sent me to the Medic. Some of the guys said it was a positive reaction to the vaccination which meant I had TB, they said, "You lucky dog Coffman, it looks like you will be getting out of this hell hole!" I went to the Medic and he examined me and determined that it was a false positive reaction and I was okay. I was relieved because I wanted to be in the Navy and I was looking forward to staying where I was.
I missed morning chow because I was at the Medic's office. I got back to the barracks just in time to join the company as we marched to another large building. Once there we were instructed in Navy rules and regulations, The Universal Code of Military Justice and proper naval decorum. We had to sign a lot of paperwork and apply for our GI Insurance. After noon chow, the Chief told us, the afternoon would be spent washing our dirty laundry, packing our gear in our sea bags and cleaning the Barracks. He said, "Tomorrow morning at 0800 we will be traveling to Camp Elliot have all of your gear properly folded and stowed. I want you to leave the barracks spotless for the next group of men that will occupy it. Company dismissed?
