Sunday, May 2, 1943

On April 6, 1943 I, Gerald Bagley was inducted into the United States Army. After receiving a thorough physical examination at the induction station located at Motor Avenue in Salt Lake, I was given seven days furlough.

One week later on Tuesday, April 13, 1943, I reported to the draft board at Murray, Utah at 12:30 P.M. From there I was taken to the Reception Center at Fort Douglas, Utah. Here I received my processing, which consists of receiving clothing, preliminary shots, short arms, brief drills and in general the detail of classification, records, insurance, etc.

Monday, April 19, I was shipped to Kearns, Utah. This was a great disappointment at first as I had expected to ship far away, but after a while I decided Kearns would probably be alright.

Our first barracks was full of a bunch of Detroit Michigan fellows. The next day we were moved to barracks 2337, where we are at present. We have the last barracks in the block.

The first four days were taken up again with processing, classification, more shots, preliminary drills, movies, and lectures. After our four days processing were completed we started our basic training. We are in the Medical Corps, attached to the Army Air Force, or the Army Air Force Technical Training Command. Our first day training was tough. We were all sick from a tetanus shot the day before, and we had to go through a series of athletic events - chins, sit ups, races, jumps, etc. The next day, Easter Sunday, our whole barracks got our first taste of KP. This was one of my toughest days in the army. The next nite, Monday, I got my first leave from Kearns and went home for a few hours. The following week our training started in earnest. We have rifle drills on nomenclature of Enfield rifles and Thompson machine guns. We have calisthenics every day, along with machining drills, detail, manual of arms. Our hours so far have been 5:30 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Saturday, May 1, we drew KP. This time it was much easier. Drew another pass.