Kelcie Burke

Larry Burke

April 23, 2017

The home of Larry and Joan Burke

2:30 P.M. 3:00 P.M.

1. What service were you in?
a. Army national guard
2. What time period where you in the service?
a. November of 1958 to November of 1964
3. Were you enlisted or drafted?
a. I was enlisted
4. How old were you when you enlisted?
a. 19
5. Why did you decide to enlist?
a. Because I figured, I would have to go sometime they were drafting about
everyone between the ages of 21 and 22. I figured Id probably have to go and I
wanted to start farming and I didnt want to have to go after I started farming so I
thought I would get it over with. But I never would have had to really went.
6. Where were you living when you enlisted?
a. North of Cambridge Nebraska, at home, I was still at home.
7. Why did you pick National Guard to enlist in?
a. Because you could go six months active duty then spend the rest of your time, you
had to spend six years going to meetings, weekend meeting and Monday
meetings, and summer camp.
8. Do remember your first few day in training?
a. Yeah some of it. *laughs*
9. How did you feel about those days?
a. Well it was a lot different. The reception center we spent 3 or 4 days there they
gave us all a bunch of shots made us all sick, so we didnt have to do anything for
a couple days. Then they moved us to our basic training unit then we spent eight
weeks there. Then after we got done with basic training me and Bruce and some
of these other guys they sent us to cook school. I guess one reason we had to go to
cook school was because our national guard unit at home needed some cooks and
so thats the only way we could get in. We tried to join in McCook but they were
full strength. So Lexington got us in as cooks, so thats how that happened.
10. Where did you do basic training?
a. Fort Leonard Wood Missouri
11. What types of things did you do in basic?
a. You had to learn how to take your riffle apart, clean it, and put it back together, in
the dark. We did a lot of training, a lot of riffle range. We did a lot of running and
oh I dont know infiltration course.
12. What did you think about the uniforms?
a. Well they werent too bad, some of them didnt fit real good. I remember our
boots were brown because thats what they used to wear during like world war
two and I think even Korea. Then they changed over to black boot, but ours were
brown yet. We had to dye them that was kind of a little bit of ordeal trying to get
that done. Some of them took the dye a lot better than others, but mine wasnt too
bad.
13. What was your favorite part of basic training?
a. Oh I dont know I suppose probably the riffle range.
14. Do you remember your instructors? What were they like?
a. Yeah, some of them. Some of them were real good guys and some of them
werent. We had a real good field first sergeant, his name was Sergeant Sally he
was a colored guy. Our company commander was a good fella. Some of the others
werent so good.
15. Were they mean?
a. No just, I think part of the problem was, well pretty much all these guys were old
WWII veterans. Except for our company commander, he wasnt and neither was
this Sargent Sally they were Korean war veterans. But some of those guys were
alcoholics, they had just been in the army so long and apparently werent married.
*then he showed me pictures of all the commanders and sergeants* this one here I
didnt like very good *points to a picture* he was just in for 90 days, he was from
Omaha. He was a second lieutenant we called them 90-day wonderers because
they were just out of ROTC and they had to spend 90 days in active duty. This
guy here *another picture* he was our company commander he was alright. These
guys here *group picture* was some that I was telling you about that were WWII
veterans. This one here *points to another guy* was our platoon sergeant, I dont
see our old field first sergeant.
16. What was the hardest part of basic training?
a. There wasnt any of it that was very easy I guess. It was wintertime for one thing
so it was cold. Probably BIVWAC was one of the worst things because we stayed
out there a week. I remember ice got so thick on our tent it collapsed.
17. Do you still use some of the skills you learned in basic?
a. Probably not, much of it anyway I guess.
18. What do you feel was the most useful skill you learned?
a. Oh, discipline for one thing I guess and they worked us hard we really got in
shape; we did a lot of running.
19. What conflicts in the world were going on at the time you served?
a. Well nothing was really going on except the Vietnam War was just starting about
the time I got out in 1964. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, we were on alert for
about a week before they finally settled it. We were also on alert when the
Vietnam War broke out, it actually started in Cambodia and Laos before it calmed
down again, so then we never had to go then either. Twice we were on alert
though.
20. What was alert?
a. Alert ment we had to be ready to leave in three days.
21. Do you think that growing up on a farm helped you in basic?
a. Somewhat probably, just being able to cope with stuff better than some of the
others. With the weather and everything too.
22. How did you stay in touch with your family?
a. With letters.
23. What was the food/ weather/ like?
a. The food wasnt too bad it was a lot better when we got in cook school Ill say
that. They kind of have a special diet for you in basic training. I put on a lot of
weight, Bruce Barrett *points to a chubby guy* thats a picture of him when we
first went in, I think he weighed 220 pounds. Before we got out of basic training,
we traded uniforms. His was way too big for him and mine would fit him, mine
got too little for me. I put on a bunch of weight I weighed about the most I have
ever weighed, about what I do now probably, when I got out of basic. He lost
weights so we actually did trade our dress uniforms.
24. What were the rules like there?
a. Oh there was a lot of rules. We couldnt go off post without a pass. You didnt
want to miss any of the drills unless you were sick. You had to go on sick call if
you were sick. That was kind of a deal too, I remember they had this corporal he
was a hold over there he didnt really have a job, but he had been there so long he
had gotten to be a corporal. One morning when Bruce and I both were sick, we
had terrible colds and everybody was about sick, we decided to go on sick call
and this guy marched us over to the dispensary and we would make two steps
forward and one step back, two steps forward and one back. That just the kind of
stuff you put up with you know. So we never went again.
25. What was your favorite thing to do when you werent on duty?
a. I generally went to movies or somewhere, they had some really good steakhouses
there. Where you could get better food than the army meals. I would go there
once in a while. Mainly I would just go to movies was about the only other
entertainment you had.
26. Did you have to go off base? Or was it on base?
a. Yeah we couldnt go off base without a pass. We only had one of those. Well we
got to come home for Christmas. We had only been there about three weeks and
the army gives you 30 days for every year, but we were only going to be there six
months so they gave us two weeks. We got to come home just before Christmas
and was home for two weeks, then we went back into basic. After we got off the
riffle range if you fired goo d enough you got a pass and you could just go into
 Waynesville a little town just off post there, but that was about it. When we got to
cook school we could go of post pretty regularly.
27. So you went to cooks school in Lexington?
a. No in Fort Leonard Wood.
28. Then you came to Lexington?
a. After we go out of cooks school they sent me, Bruce and these two friends of
ours over to the hospital. We cooked in the hospital then for seven weeks. Then
our time was up so we came home. Then we had to go to camp. We got home in
May about the 24th of May and then in August, we werent supposed to have to go
to that first summer camp but they made us go. We went to six summer camps
actually.
29. What did you do at the summer camps?
a. We cooked mainly, because we were cooks. The last year there, I got out of the
cooks and was on a artillery, we were an artillery battalion, I was a gunner on a
105 howitzer. That last year, I fired it a lot.
30. Do you remember any humorous or unusual event that happened?
31. There was one guy, this Cade, I think he must have been epileptic because we would be
double timming somewhere, carrying our riffles, port arms and all at once he would just
go down. He would just collapse on the ground people running over him because every
platoon was running there was about 60-70 of us. He did that several times. Then one
morning, these barracks we had they were upstairs and a down stairs there was about the
same amount of guys upstairs as there was downstairs. They had this group come down
and we all went out the same door, it was a pretty good-sized door. Well one morning he
had just started down the stairs and he had one of those spells and down he come, his
riffle and helmet, there was a landing there, he rolled right out on that and right on down
on the ground. Everybody was running over him because we were supposed to fall out,
and you had to really get out there when they told you that. That was the last I saw of him
after that. They took him somewhere apparently. When Bruce and me were getting out
we had to go over to the hospital and get a physical; we ran onto him over there he was
just getting out on a medical discharge. I dont know what he had been doing all that
time. I suppose he had been over at the hospital, I dont know. He probably told us but I
 dont remember. We only had two colored guys in our outfit, Clark and Cade. The rest of
our company was all white guys most of them were from Chicago, and a lot of them were
Italians. These friends of ours were, Bertolini and John De Sando. They were both from
Chicago; I went home with them one time when we were cooking at the hospital because
we got four-day weekends. I went to Chicago with them one weekend they lived there in
the part of Chicago where it was the Italian district. He showed me around Chicago that
next morning we drove all over. He had a brand-new car, brand new Oldsmobile 98.
32. Did you make any close friends in the service?
a. Yeah those two guys were. But we have never heard anything from them since.
Then this guy here *points to picture* I told you about him earlier, I talk to him
every year around Christmas time. Although he didnt happen to go to cook
school with us, but he was still stationed there in Fort Leonard Wood. He was
Newcome Bennet Benjamin the Third; he lives in Grand Junction Colorado now.
33. What did you do after your service?
a. I came home and started farming. I helped dad finish planting milo we grew milo
at that time.
34. How did the service effect your life?
a. I think it was probably good. I learned a lot of things. I learned how to get along
with different people and it just kind of gave you a different outlook on life.
35. Is there anything else you would like to add?
a. I was kind of glad to get out I know that I was getting tired of going to those
meeting and trying to farm. Grandma and I milked cows, and it was always kind
of a hassle on Sunday when we had Sunday meetings we had to get over there
early. I had to get up and milk six cows then get over there for the meeting then
come home and do it again. Then when I had to go to camp I always had to have
them so that they were dry, where they werent giving any milk. It didnt always
work out, there was always some there they werent dry so grandma had to milk
them. When we went to camp it was always longer than two weeks it was more
like 17 days from when we left and got back. One year we went to camp out in
Wyoming, but generally we went to camp Ripwood in Minnesota. Minnesota was
always really humid there was a lot of mosquitos.
36. What time period did you go to camp?
a. Generally in August. Around the 10th or so we would leave.
37. When did you guys take these pictures in the annual?
a. Pretty much right when we go there.
38. Did you have your gear before you got there or did you get it when you go there?
a. We got everything when we were down there. Then we brought all that stuff
home with us. We didnt bring our helmets home or our riffles home though.
 Larry Burke

John DeSando Bruce Barrett

Emil J. Bertolini