VI

best, and I also selected a bunk in the farthest corner against the side of the ship, which left me an alcove to deposit my stuff, where I could manipulate it handily. A group of sardines pressed into one of the S.S. Pierce’s can live in comparative comfort compared to se in that number two hold.

We arrived on the ship Thursday morning and sailed Saturday morning. Saturday, we had three meals on ship with some twenty-eight hundred troops eating in a mess hall about the size of the downstairs of your house. It seemed for a while that all my time on the ship was going to be spent in the chow line, as I stood in line for three hours for breakfast and then got in line again for dinner, about two an a half hour later; then backed an hour canteen line, where I bought cigarettes for five and a half cents a package, a box of cigars, and sundry other necessities. By then it was time to get in line again for chow. The next day we fed by units and had only two meals a day, the first coming at eleven in the morning and the second at eight in the evening. Beans and creamed beaf is common in the morning, and, much as I hated the stuff, I forced myself to eat it, as there is no service club aboard to replenish myself with. The first couple of days, I subsisted on all types and assortments of candy bars in between meals, but then I smartened up and learned my way around.  Between the officers’ mess and hasty entrances and exits into the kitchen, I managed to keep my body intact with the same amount of padding.

I did have a hand in remedying my distressing situation; as I said above, we ate at eleven and eight, being the last outfit to eat, with the result that there was generally a shortage of everything for our gang.  I cornered Captain Forrest, our S-1 Officer, the

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