In a week or two I was released from the hospital. A small boat took me to Guadalcanal where I was placed in a casual camp This is a camp for soldiers who were separated from their units or not attached to a unit.
I was assigned to a work party. We worked in the jungle. I can not recall what we did. I can remember riding a truck with a load on it.
I got a severe case of ringworm and jungle rot. It was so bad that I was released from the work party and stayed in the barracks. Ringworm is not aworm, it is a fungal skin desease.
I was put on a large loaded troop transport that was headed for Pearl Harbor. The ship was low on provisions. We were fed two meals a day. We had a meal card that they punched. Two punches and you were through eating for the day. The ship store (for the crew only) would open once a day. I can remember standing outside the door to the store and offering sailors ten times the normal price for a can of peanuts. I never was successful.
My skin problem was still bad and I went to the medics. They swabbed my scrotum with some solution (?) that boiled on my skin. They quickly washed it off. I will never forget that. It is a real thrill to have some acidic solution boiling on your scrotum.
I took salt water showers (the only kind of shower available) and laid out in the sun every day. The jungle rot and ringworm went away. I even had ring worm on top of my head.
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