Veteran William O. Graves

t was a round-about route to get into the military for William O. (Bill) Graves. At age 20 he was drafted by the Selective Service Board in Southern Illinois. He went to St. Louis, Missouri for the physical and other testing. He returned home for a short time. He went back to St. Louis to board a troop train that took lots of young men in a similar situation, to Battle Creek, Michigan.

When leaving St. Louis, Bill had worn street clothes and a windbreaker. Arriving at Battle Creek, the temperature had dropped significantly. He became chilled and feverish. The Army couldn't seem to find warm enough clothes. He was there for a week, completing paperwork and waiting and remaining cold. From there, the large group of almost-soldiers boarded a troop train that delivered them to the stop near Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

The chill and cold resulted in pneumonia for Bill. He was hospitalized for a month before beginning basic training. That also meant that the guys he knew and was inducted with were already into training.

Training went along fairly good. Saturdays were for inspection and parade wars. The training company commander would conduct the inspections of the men, their equipment, and the living area. After that, the men would exit the building and form up outside. The Drill Sgt. would march them to the parade field where their platoon would compete with other platoons for "who's best".

Bill was 6'4" at the time. He was selected as the guidon-bearer (the one at the front of a formation that carries a staff with the Company flag.) Whenever the platoon formed up, they would be in four rows, 12 men in each row. Their heads would face the leader. They would be at the position of attention... with head and eyes forward...no movin' around. The next command was usually for the men to execute a right face, a movement done so as one group. The Drill Sgt then directs "Guidon, POST!" The soldier who has that job gets to a position 10 feet in front of the formation. He then is a marching cheerleader, in a way, who carries the platoon's colors.

The problem that developed was that long-legged Bill was just doing his job while the shorter people in the platoon had to hustle to keep up with him. Bill had to hand over the colors and move into the formation so the troops would quit griping!

The military/history time line has the Korean War in the headlines. Things were overlooked occasionally because men were indeed needed. The people conducting the entrance physicals got half of Bill's vision test right.

When Bill's unit began rifle marksmanship phase, about five weeks into the training cycle, Bill was shooting but not striking targets. A Drill Sgt. thought he needed extra coaching. Bill was blind in his right eye. The rifles were designed for right hand shooters. When Bill moved the sights so he could line up with a target, the hot expended brass would hit him in the face. DANG! The Drill Sgt and Bill worked on it tirelessly and made modifications to the shooting positions so that Bill could qualify.

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