William T. Johnson's Second Year at PC

Summer Quarter, June-August 1942

With the country at war and with us in ROTC we knew that we would soon be called up one way or the other, either through the draft as enlisted men or by appointment as officers, so to get in as much education as we could, most of us signed up for summer school. For some reason, the college changed from a semester system to a quarter system. My sophomore year started about the middle of June 1942. I don't remember the courses I signed up for exactly, but one course I enjoyed was Spherical Trigonometry taught by Dr. Herbert E. Spencer. It turned out to be easier to understood than the trig I had in high school. Another interesting course was Dr. Neill G. Whitelaw's Astronomy. My room mate, Harris Johnson, decided to move upstairs with an older friend, Charlie Williams, and I inherited a freshman from Anderson, Oren Jones. I remember the campus as being very pleasant that summer. I continued to go home as often as possible. After the hazing I got as a freshman, I chose not to be guilty of it myself, and I saved my two freshman room mates as much grief as I could.

Fall Quarter, September-December 1942

Oren's friend from Anderson, Dave Humphreys,had spent the summer in Smythe Hall and wanted to live with us. So we got a bigger room on the third floor so Dave could move in with us. My most memorable event this quarter was picking cotton. Apparently a cotton grower had lost his laborers because of the war and asked for help by students. I remember riding to the cotton field in the back of a truck together with other students. We were offered pay at the rate of $1.00 per hundred pounds picked. On hand were cotton sacks and scales. The going rate had been $0.60 per hundred. That afternoon I earned $0.25 and never considered a career as a cotton picker. The Army Air Corps cadets had arrived, had taken over a dorm, and drilled in the streets. I never knew anything about their classroom training. This quarter I probably had a course we called "atomic physics", economics, and beginning Spanish.

Winter Quarter, December-March 1943

I had enlisted in the Enlisted Reserve Corps and was numbered in one of the country's number systems and received Army Serial Number 14 183 363 (my roommate Dave Humphreys got 14 183 364). In later years I figured out the meaning of this number. The first digit, "1", stands for a volunteer joining the Regular Army or the Reserves. A "2" in that spot would have stood for the National Guard and a "3" or "4" would indicate Selective Service. The second digit, "4", meant that I was in the IV Corps Area. Our Military Science textbook contained a US map showing the nine corps (pronounced "core") areas. Georgia and South Carolina were both in the IV Corps Area. In subsequent years I saw many other numbers, most of them beginning with "2" or "3". My National Guard unit was given a block of numbers, perhaps 100, beginning "24781". We eventually enlisted enough recruits to use up this block and were given another block of somewhat higher numbers. I saw the ASNs of some California men beginning with "19" or "39". I have little memory of the courses I had in this quarter.

William T. Johnson at Officer Candidate School

During World War II the Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning was in the Harmony Church area of the post. I had been in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at Presbyterian College (known as PC) in Clinton, SC, and had there been more time to finish college I might conceivably have received a commission through ROTC. However, there was not enough time and we in Senior ROTC program were permitted to sign contracts to earn commissions through Infantry OCS, provided that if we did not succeed we would remain in the army as private soldiers. So that was our program - basic training, Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), miscellaneous duties, OCS, and combat training and duty as either a Second Lieutent (2LT) or a Private (PVT). By attending college in the summer of 1942 I was able to get college credits and to be classified as a Senior ROTC student by the time I entered the Army in June 1943. So when my time came to enter service I had a guaranteed chance to enter OCS at the Army's convenience. When the end came for the ASTP program some of us with contracts eventually went to OCS and the others went into combat. From the ASTP program at Mississippi State College we traveled by train to Columbus, GA, by bus to an administrative company at Harmony Church area at Fort Benning, and on foot to whatever OCS company we were assigned. I was assigned to the 12th Company. OCS required 17 weeks of training, but I got no further than the 13th week when I was found short of the leadership abilities required of a lieutenant. In May 1944, after my failure in a night exercise while serving as a company commander leading the company across a wooded area during an attack, I was counseled, removed from OCS, and reassigned to the 71st Division, then being retrained in the Sand Hill area of the post. I was somewhat upset at being "kicked out of OCS" but eventually found the move to my advantage.

William T. Johnson at Camp Croft, South Carolina

When the train reached Camp Croft on Tuesday afternoon, June 22, there was some form of transportation to take us to our training unit, but I can't remember it. At any rate, I do remember that we boys from PC, together with some from Clemson, were assigned to Company A, 33d Infantry Training Battalion. We had been in Infantry ROTC training for two years and knew a little bit about the Infantry. Most of Company A, however, were draftees and knew nothing of the military. I recall all shapes and sizes of the draftees and felt sorry for some of them. We from ROTC were able to help with some of the training such as close order drill and map reading. This went on for a few weeks until we were told that we were being reassigned to another company, Company B, 40th Infantry Training Battalion. Since all of us had signed contracts with the Army to be given training in Officer Candidate School, it meant that all of B-40 would be in good physical condition and well able to absorb Infantry training.