DIY History | Transcribe | Nile Kinnick Collection | Nile Kinnick diary of service in the U.S. Naval Reserve Air Corps, December 3, 1941-February 25, 1942

Transcribe
Translate

Nile Kinnick diary of service in the U.S. Naval Reserve Air Corps, December 3, 1941-February 25, 1942

Page 014

Wednesday - Dec. 10 This day started in no uncertain manner. Some bay-bellied sailor jarred us to consciousness at 6 this morning with a "hit the deck, men" that echoed & reechoed across the barracks. We piled out to uncomfortably realize the temperature had dropped to about 15 above during the night. In fact, I discovered that I had been shivering all night. The guy next to me said my bed legs shook like a castanet from four on. The crowning climax to all this came when some delightfully dispositioned officer decreed we should take our calisthentics in our shirtsleeves. Now, if you have never stood on the concrete runway of a flying field in the early hours of a December morn with a stiff wind from the north baling by your ears, you can't appreciate what I am saying. The only thing I know that can compare to this frigid experience is sitting in a duck blind facing a north wind on a similar morning.
I cannot refrain from making this little observation: we have six toilets,

Saving...

Wednesday - Dec. 10 This day started in no uncertain manner. Some bay-bellied sailor jarred us to consciousness at 6 this morning with a "hit the deck, men" that echoed & reechoed across the barracks. We piled out to uncomfortably realize the temperature had dropped to about 15 above during the night. In fact, I discovered that I had been shivering all night. The guy next to me said my bed legs shook like a castanet from four on. The crowning climax to all this came when some delightfully dispositioned officer decreed we should take our calisthentics in our shirtsleeves. Now, if you have never stood on the concrete runway of a flying field in the early hours of a December morn with a stiff wind from the north baling by your ears, you can't appreciate what I am saying. The only thing I know that can compare to this frigid experience is sitting in a duck blind facing a north wind on a similar morning. I cannot refrain from making this little observation: we have six toilets,