Called For Duty

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Jack was officially called to active duty in April 1942, when he was transported to Camp Sutton in North Carolina (Jack Nemerov, WWII Memoir). Jack described the camp as being relatively “sprung out of a swamp” (Jack Nemerov, We Remember History Oral Interview). Upon arrival, Jack and the other men were informed that there were no uniforms available for them yet. Due to this, they had to perform their drills in the clothes they had arrived in. They were issued “rifles” which were only rifle silhouettes cut out of wooden boards (Nemerov, WWII Memoir).

About a month went by before they were issued the first piece of their uniform; shoes (Jack Nemerov, We Remember History Oral Interview). To break in their new shoes, the young men were taken as a group on a twenty-five-mile walk. 90% of the young men in the group did not finish the walk because the shoes were so stiff and painful (Jack Nemerov, We Remember History Oral Interview). Jack was in the small handful of men to finish the walk. When he had reached the twenty-five-mile mark, his feet were soaked in blood and blisters (Jack Nemerov, We Remember History Oral Interview).

After being tended to in the infirmary, Jack was supplied with the complete uniform he would need (Jack Nemerov, We Remember History Oral Interview). He was then ordered to shower and change into his uniform. Once he had finished these orders, Jack was put on a truck with a few others and transported out of Camp Perry.