“Replacements” during basic training in the USA - 1944

“Replacements” during basic training in the USA - 1944 











These young men were drafted or volunteered in 1944, and were sent for basic training, they were destined to become replacements, ultimately being sent to their receiving units from a "Repple-Depple".

Late in WW2 the duration of US Army basic training programs was reduced. As a consequence, although they arrived at the front well-fed & well-equipped, memoirs by vets reveal that in many instances they were woefully unprepared for what was ahead of them.

One account of an 18-year old replacement arriving at his unit in the dead of night, completely disorientated and really not knowing where he was or what his duties were.

On top of that, the "old-timers" in the platoon looked at him with a degree of suspicion because he was yet to prove himself...and he was filling the place of one of their fallen buddies.

Being a replacement in WW2 evidently wasn't easy.

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