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pg.15

After one day at sea we joined a convoy, picked up a naval escort and most of the fellows got seasick - I was one of the few luck^[[y]] ones who didn't.

The holds were crowded- men slept four and five high.( After one night in the hold, I thenceforth slept out on deck.) Fresh water for drinking was to be had only two hours during the day, one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. Showers were of the salt water variety and it didn't take me long to [[strikethrough]] find out [[/strikethrough]] ^[[DISCOVER]] the folly of keeping clean in spite of the "salt water" soap we were issued.

Our first stop was at the Marshall Islands, Endwitok, the next stop, Saipan. We had scores of submarine alerts plus air attack alerts and,just to keep us on our toes, a practice alert or two.

The alerts in the middle of the night were those kinds of incidents which only [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] a lucky few can ever forget: The hold is dark and silent - a heavy silence made by hundreds of sleeping men. Suddenly the shattering,paralizing clang of an electric bell [[strikethrough]] [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] initiates a thrashing, hurrying confusion. You slither out of the narraw confines of your bunk, fall heavily to the floor andgrope blindly for your clothes.(After one or two of these things you go to sleep with your clothes on) Speed is important - a torpedo may hit any moment. A faint