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is what they said. Back to boot camp, I'm trying to think. They would give you things such as, they liked volunteers and one time they wanted a volunteer truck driver. I knew how to drive a truck. Do you know what they gave me? One of those little hand trucks that you put crates on and wheel that around (laugh). Then on the obstacle course; I was in very good shape because I was out for the Montana State track team and I kept myself in pretty good shape. We had to run the obstacle course; nothing to it. I and another guy would just breeze over it. The DI said, "How did you like it?" "Oh, it was okay." "How come you finished so fast?" "Well, it wasn't very difficult." "It's not difficult? Go over it a second time and see how difficult it is." Then for inspection, we had clothes inspection, by gosh, each of us, not each of us but a lot of us that were wise, we would get an issue of clothing that was not dirty at all, no specks of dirt on it at all. Otherwise they would tell you to go do the laundry; we're going to inspect it. So you would do your laundry; you would put your arm out; put your laundry and your skivvies over it and the DI would come along and he would look at it and he would said, "Humph, it doesn't look too clean to me." He would flip it off in the dirt and he would rub his foot on it and the he would say, "Okay, now go do it right." But if you got a set of clothing that had not been touched, hadn't been worn, then you were okay. So we got that down pretty well. I was always kind of slow about getting around so I very soon found out that they wanted you
pretty clean shaven. I was two years older than some of these kids so I had quite a beard. You had to stand in line and the tall guys would usually stand behind and the shorter guys would stand towards the front and you would alternate so that you could see the mirror because there was only one mirror in there to shave by and you had a straight edge that you shaved with. If you didn't get all that stuff off your face why they would say, "Okay,
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Finley. Finley joined the Marine Corps around December of 1943. He provides vivid details of his boot camp experiences. He served with Headquarters Company, 4th Marines, as a radar mechanic on Corsairs, repairing radio and radar gear. Beginning in September of 1944 they traveled to Guam, Kwajalein, Pearl Harbor and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Finley shares a number of anecdotal stories, including working with POWs. He was discharged in the fall of 1946.
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