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From Silk To Olive Drab
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At the Whitehall Street
center near the lower tip of Manhattan, draftees and
recruits were asked to strip down to their drawers.
Walking up and down the halls with nothing on but your
shorts was nothing new for Sugar. But he was eventually
asked to pull them all the way down for a full inspection.
Even more disconcerting than the invasion of his privacy
was the call to attention by his original name. "Walker
Smith," a drill sergeant barked, and Sugar fell into the
ranks with the other raw troops, then boarded an
olive-drab bus that was bound for the Holland Tunnel and
on to Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Fort Dix was a sprawling place where the numerous barracks
blended with the greenish uniforms. From this location, a
soldier was usually deployed to Europe, if overseas orders
were cut. Between each row of plain buildings were
exercise grounds that Sugar would become well acquainted
with in due time. Making reveille was never a problem for
a boxer used to getting up at the crack of dawn. Nor was
he that unnerved by the early morning calisthenics. He
thought of Greenwood Lake and trotting through clumps of
pine trees, sometimes trailing Joe Louis, sometimes
leading the way. Sugar discovered immediately that he was
in far better physical shape than his fellow soldiers.
They would be exhausted after a quarter mile of jogging,
while he was breezing along way out front, still breathing
comfortably through his mouth. Excelling at basic
training, however, didn't mask the ceaseless boredom of
the camp. What was missing were his trainer Gainford, his
cornermen Soldier Jones and Harry Wiley, and the sparring
partners who kept the training camp abuzz with chatter and
laughter.
After basic training, Sugar's orders were cut and he was
assigned to the Army Air Corps at Mitchell Field in
Hempstead, Long Island, about fifteen miles east of New
York City, closer than Fort Dix, close enough for him to
make quick trips to the city to see his beloved Edna Mae. |
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Herb Boyd with Ray Robinson II
Pound For Pound
a biography of Sugar Ray Robinson
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