Everett Dee Conder, Magna, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, July 16, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 686

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VERETTD 0 DER J I 2 04 in th morning and I transferred in Pocatello for the leg to Boi e. h r wa a lay v r II1 Boise and I stayed in a hotel managed by the War Department. I was a signed a c t and blanket and ignored for two days. I could do anything I wanted to as long as I got on the train in time to ride to Farragut. For something to do, I took a tour of the tate Prison and decided that the hotel was a better place to stay. When I got to Farragut, I began to think otherwise. When I got to the training center, I was covered with crabs (body lice). I must have caught them from the blanket I'd been issued. I shaved my groin and used a medicated cream that was so harsh, it took off the skin. The tight fitting uniform didn't help and I was raw all through basic (training). My service number was 8760298. It was stamped on everything I was issued; dog tags, duffel bag, bedroll, uniforms, etc. I was put in Company 599, Camp Waldron. [Editor's note: Farragut was divided into several camps of which Camp Waldron was one.] I learned to march and got my vaccinations. I chose gunnery service as my Navy occupation. I knew I wouldn't be able to wait for someone else to pull the trigger when the fighting started. I left Farragut on a train for San Diego, where the gunnery school was, with over a thousand other servicemen. Not everybody was going to San Diego, so we lost people along the way to training camps in San Francisco and a few other places. For the people in gunnery school, it was a four-day and three-night ride. I don't remember how many times we were sidetracked, but sometimes we stopped for several hours. During one of these stops, an excited young man hollered we were in his hometown. He managed to get someone's attention on the highway and when he explained the situation, the stranger ran 14