I don't have any pictures of Ft. Dix, New Jersey. I started Basic Combat Training in October. I finished before Christmas.

Because I was going to OCS I was installed as a Platoon Guide. That meant that I was a trainee leader. Almost all of the kids in my platoon were from the New York City area.

I finished Basic Combat Training sometime in December. I was able to go home and be with Louise at Christmas time. I think we went to Fargo at that time as well.

After Christmas I went back to Ft. Dix, New Jersey for Advanced Infantry Training. In AIT I met Richard Pershing. He was the grandson of General Pershing. After AIT Dick Pershing went to Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was later killed in Vietnam. I was recently reading an article in the New Yorker about John Kerry, the senator from Massachussetts. Pershing and Kerry were best friends and had gone to school together.

I remember doing well in AIT. I worked hard and was promoted to PFC at the end of AIT. After AIT I was scheduled to go to OCS at Ft. Lee, Virginia. I had a break between AIT and OCS. I went to Seattle to spend some time with Louise.

AIT ended for me sometime around the end of February or early March. After going back to Seattle I flew on Military Air Transport flights from Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle (currently Warren Magnuson City Park) to Virginia.