Evening star., 1943-10-15

States Army Henry MeLsmore. D
wants its beds made up, would
scatter sneezing powder at funeral.
or give counterfeit note to the
parson who married him to an
heiress.
1t was 10 o'clock last night when
the gravity of the bed-making busi-
ness was brought home to me and
the hundred or so other recruits who
had come through Blanding's big
gates late in the afternoon. We
were soldiers now. We were in for
the duration and six months more.
A Sandy Start.
A whistle blew. We jumped.
Some one said, "Oh, that's just a
man blowing for his dog"
You're nearly right, brother"
drawled lean cracker. That's a
man blowing for his dogfaces, and
that's US
We gathered on the company
street, patch Of sand some 90
yards by 20 yards, bounded by bar
racks Sergt. Roscoe Hinkle mounted
rude platform and in a voice that
had no hint Of the lullaby in it, said.
Put yourselves down on the sand
and make yourself uncomfortable.
1t won't hurt you, that sand.
You'll get plenty of it before you
get out Of here"
The sergeant read 46 rules He
read them so that even a man who
didn't know what rule was, would
know that he was hearing rules.
Quite few of the rules started with
the word Don't" The sergeant did
as much with the single word
Don't" as many a Broadway actor
could do with 200 pages of script.
$4,000 Steps in Job.
The moon was big and yellow and
riding high over the pines when
the sergeant finished the rules.
Then he began his demonstration
Of how to make up beds. He sent
two dogfaces into hut to get bed
and bedding He put it on the plat
form and told us to gather around.
He made it plain that he knew how
to make up bed, that he was going
to show us how to make one, and
providence have pity on the man
who didn't get it through his skull
how it was done!
There are roughly % 900 steps In
making up an Army bed. The ser
geant worked with the grace and
surety of a master painting a pic
ture. When he finished with that
bed, you could have taken a pair Of
sticks and played it like a drum.
The corners were as square as 3
country banker. The folds were
just so many inches wide and no
more. The space between the pill
low and the folds was as exact as
though calipers had been used. An
X-ray machine would not have re-
vealed wrinkle from head to foot.
At the finish of the lesson We
were given IS minutes to return to
our huts and make our beds. The
lights will be turned out in Is min
utes,' Sergeant Hinkle said, and
providence have pity on the man
who doesn't have his bed made
right"
A Horrid Thought.
We tore for our huts, mumbling
what facts We remembered. Square
corners. Twenty-six inches from
lower edge of fold to top of mat
tress. Pillow space IA inches. Space
between pillow and fold four inches.
Fold eight inches. Twenty-six
inches between bedpost and wall Of
hut. Upper hunks sleep head toward
south, lower hunks head toward
north"
Somehow we managed to make
those beds. To those of us who suf-
fered. toiled, and sweated, 1t was an
accomplishment that ranks close to
the invasion of Africa.
AS I fought my way under the
covers-and fight Is the right word.
because the bedding is as taut as
tom-tom hide-this horrible though,
struck me: BY sleeping in this bed
I make it necessary to make it again
tomorrow morning at 5:45 am. 1t
was all could do to keep myself
from sliding out and sleeping on the
floor.
Oh, to have been a soldier in the
Revolutionary War and slept in tho
snow that requires no making up!
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