PUERTO RICO PAGE 1
The photo of me being inspected I believe was taken at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, where I took basic training. Then I continued on in the Clerk-Typist School before being shipped out to Puerto Rico. Almost everyone wanted to be posted to Europe.
The photos of the ship in New York harbor may be either going down to Puerto Rico or coming back, I am not sure.
I do have some photos of onboard a ship but again, I am not sure if they are coming or going.
It was a real adventure arriving in Puerto Rico, being bused to the south part of the island over their mountains and then being put in a 10 man tent with 9 soldiers who spoke Spanish all the time. The camp I was stationed at had a nice outdoor basketball court but my bunk space was, like all soldiers, rather limited. Note the mosquito netting on top of the bunk.
The camp was rather sparce, if this is the one I was stationed at as I did spend some time at a training camp, Camp Salinas. Camp Salinas has cattle roaming the base as it was really just part of a huge cattle ranch that the army used. Some of the bulls were huge but non-theatning. The bathroom was a latrine but we did have cold showers I believe.
I am not sure if the jeep photo is before I went to Panama or after. But the mess hall decorated for Christmas must have been in 1954.
The camp on the south side of Puerto Rico has a nice enlisted men's club with a pool, which all of us soldiers used when off duty. The mess hall has garbage cans outside the hall where you dumped your left overs and cleaned your utinsels.
Here is a photo of some of the cattle roaming the camp.
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