In the fall of 1944 soldiers started arriving at Trinity Site to
prepare for the test. Marvin Davis and his military police unit
arrived from Los Alamos at the site on Dec. 30, 1944. The unit set up
security checkpoints around the area and had plans to use horses to
ride patrol. According to Davis the distances were too great and they
resorted to jeeps and trucks for transportation. The horses were
sometimes used for polo, however. Davis said that Capt. Bush, base
camp commander, somehow got the soldiers real polo equipment to play
with but they preferred brooms and a soccer ball.
Other recreation at the site included volleyball and hunting. Davis
said Capt. Bush allowed the soldiers with experience to use the Army
rifles to hunt deer and pronghorn. The meat was then cooked up in the
mess hall. Leftovers went into soups which Davis said were excellent.
Of course, some of the soldiers were from cities and unfamiliar with
being outdoors a lot. Davis said he went to relieve a guard at the
Mockingbird Gap post and the soldier told Davis he was surprised by
the number of "crawdads" in the area considering it was so dry. Davis
gave the young man a quick lesson on scorpions and warned him not to
touch.
Throughout 1945 other personnel arrived at Trinity Site to help
prepare for the test. Carl Rudder was inducted into the Army on Jan.
26, 1945. He said he passed through four camps, took basic for two
days and arrived at Trinity Site on Feb. 17. On arriving he was put
in charge of what he called the "East Jesus and Socorro Light and
Water Company." It was a one-man operation--himself. He was
responsible for maintaining generators, wells, pumps and doing the
power line work.
A friend of Rudder's, Loren Bourg, had a similar experience. He was a
fireman in civil life and ended up trained as a fireman for the Army.
He worked as the station sergeant at Los Alamos before being sent to
Trinity Site in April 1945. In a letter Bourg said, "I was sent down
here to take over the fire prevention and fire department. Upon
arrival I found I was the fire department, period."
As the soldiers at Trinity Site settled in they became familiar with
Socorro. They tried to use the water out of the ranch wells but found
it so alkaline they couldn't drink it. In fact, they used Navy
salt-water soap for bathing. They hauled drinking water from the fire
house in Socorro. Gasoline and diesel was purchased from the Standard
bulk plant in Socorro.
According to Davis, they established a post office box, number 632, in
Socorro so getting their mail was more convenient. The trips into
town also offered them the chance to get their hair cut in a real
barbershop. If they didn't use the shop, Sgt. Greyshock used horse
clippers to trim their hair.