The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Camp Laguna Turned Boys Into Desert Men-- Part 2

Private Hardrath got to Yuma twice and remembers it as a small town with Native Americans selling jewelry and crafts.  Then, there were the watering holes, "These joints were popular among the soldiers and we really guzzled beer."

Their next destinations, North Africa and Europe, proved a dangerous assignment, "To my knowledge, nearly everyone who went into the field with my company, aside from the support people, was hit by enemy fire.  This included both officers and men.  Even I was hit in the leg after fighting the Germans in France for 31 days.  I spent a year in the hi\ospital after that."

Today, the US Army Proving ground is the Army's desert environmental center where a wide variety of weapons are tested including the M1 Abrams tank, M777 howitzer, Apache helicopter and unmanned aircraft.  It has a workforce of 3,000 military and civilian workers.

Hitting the "Watering Holes."  --GreGen

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