Wow! That was my first thought when I got two new pairs of socks in my Army clothing issue on arrival at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., in the summer of 1943. I was raised in rural Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho, and was the third son in a family of eight siblings. I had never received more than one new pair of socks at a time. But then, during the Battle of the Bulge, I went for 30 days without changing my socks. Immediately after my assignment to Breckenridge, Ky., I received orders for overseas. While I was with the 75th, I …