Joseph Bottoni

When the war broke out I joined the Army, the 31st division. 

What do you remember about your basic training?

I liked it.  I was right into it. I did everything they told me to do. I learned how to shoot a rifle and how to be part of a unit. After that I wanted to learn how to drive the larger trucks that they used to carry troops.  In the service I became a truck driver. 

What was the trip over like?

After basic they shipped us to California and we got on a ship that headed to the Philippine Islands. That’s where the action was during that phase of the war.  On the way over to the Philippines we would get up every day and train on the ship. It took us quite a while to get there, but they kept us busy the whole time. We went through two or three islands before we got to the Philippines and landed in Manila. The guys on the ship were all raring to go; we were all ready to do whatever we had to do. Everybody was together and everybody was taking care of each other. We were all very young.