The year was 1945. I was a Columbian paper boy, at that time The Columbian was a Monday through Friday afternoon paper. My route was from the Vancouver cemetery to the end of Mill Plain, which was East Reserve and the boundary of the Vancouver Barracks.
The land where Mill Plain now goes through the Barracks was occupied by row on row of one story tar paper covered barracks, which was the home to hundreds of soldiers.
Occasionally, I would have an extra paper or two which I would sell to the soldiers, and many times would accept a Hershey bar for a ride on my bike, the boundary fence was only about five feet high attached to concrete posts and was no problem at all for the soldiers to jump over. One GI I remember very well would set backwards on the handlebars and pedal backwards for several blocks up and back on East Reserve, and boy did I enjoy those Hershey bars, which were very hard to find at a candy counter.
Phil Kerlee, CWO Army retired, lives in Burleson,Texas
