Leave it to my dad to get court-martialed for refusing to get dressed. Forget the AWOLs; I have no doubt that the uniform incident was the real reason he got court-martialed. In the transcript of the trial, that's what people talk about. 

Not him disappearing three times in less than three months, not him being AWOL for cumulatively one-third of the two months and twenty-six days he was enlisted.

No, it was the clothes. Take a look at my favorite part of the transcript, a conversation with the main witness, Charles. V. Ickes. 

Q. Did you have any conversation with him at this time? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. What was the nature of this conversation?

A. A command for him to do something.

Q. What did you command him to do?

A. To put on his clothes and go to the bivouac area.

Q. Did the accused reply to this?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What sort of reply did he make?

A. He said, “I refuse? and that he would go no place except to the stockade.

Q. Where were his clothing at the time you gave him the order.

A. The Supply Sergeant put them on the counter where he could get them.

Q. Approximately how close was the clothing of the accused to the accused?

A. Not more than two feet away.

Not more than two feet away. The implications there are ripe enough to smell. Lazy bastard. Unfit for service. Scofflaw. 

Yeah, it was the clothes. But my dad didn't say anything. Another line from the transcript reads: The rights of the accused as witness have been explained to him and he elects to remain silent. 

Yet another line reads: Confined Post Stockade, Fort Dix, New Jersey, 1 November 1949. Exactly a year later he would celebrate by going on the burglary "bender" that landed him back behind bars.