Life Story of Dorothy Evelyn McRae Keller, seventh installment

My first assignment was to basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. I traveled on a train and went through Salt Lake City. We were not allowed to go out of the depot. So my dream of seeing Salt Lake was dashed. As we went further east, I noticed how dark the buildings were, which had been white at one time. I had never seen what coal smoke could do before. Fort Des Moines was a pretty place I thought. So many trees, which we do not have in Arizona. The main purpose of basic training is to learn to do things the army way and be taught discipline. I hated this at first but gradually adjusted. We had inspection every Saturday and everything had to be spotless. On Friday evening we washed the windows and almost always it would rain during the night.

I recall one unique experience; we were told we would mess in the field (that means we would prepare a meal in the open). While we were out a terrific thunderstorm came up (it was in August) and we were soaked. We wore heavy socks and high-top shoes and my socks inside the shoes were soaking wet. Another experience was when we were lined up on the parade grounds and told to stand at attention. We were not supposed to move even our eyes and this happened right after we had received our shots for tetanus, typhoid, etc. While standing at attention in the hot sun girls would drop to the ground as a result of the shots. We were told not to look at them as someone would carry them off the field. I learned a lot that day.

After six weeks at Fort Des Moines, I was sent to Alpine, Texas to Clerical School. Our barracks was at a junior college facility which was vacant at the time. Alpine was a small town and there were three choices of something to do when we were free. We could either go to a movie (most of which I had already seen), go swimming, or go to the beer joint. I tried the beer once and wondered how anyone could drink such nasty stuff. So I went swimming or stayed in the barracks. During this time we were allowed to go by army truck to Carlsbad Caverns. There was so much to see there. While we were deep underground the lights were turned off and flashlights were gradually turned on. I had never experienced such darkness before.

After clerical school a great number of us were assigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky. This is where I spent the rest of my time in the WACS (Women’s Army Corps). I loved my life at Ft. Knox and made many dear friends. One person close to me was Eunice Hagerman. She was from Racine, Wisconsin and she became involved with a married officer, Frank Roig. She became pregnant and was sent home, of course. I went to visit her in Racine and saw her beautiful little boy. After the war he divorced his wife and they were married and had two more children. We corresponded for years and the last I heard from her, they were living in Florida.

All of this time I was corresponding with Ralph. After being in North Africa, he was sent to Italy, then Sicily and then Corsica. For some reason I saved all of the letters he wrote to me (160 letters) and have put them in albums for preservation. Of course there were no real attachments between us for a long time and I continued to attend dances and had dates with soldiers at Ft. Knox.

Link: Life Story of Dorothy Evelyn McRae Keller, eighth installment