The base reported brisk business in courts-martial for offenses large and small. For example, one log entry shows how dozens of men were rounded up at the same time one day for skipping duty to shop or eat.

"On instructions from the commanding officer, a tour of the Post Exchanges and Cafeterias was made by Major McClure to ascertain the number of men absent from their respective duties during duty hours. 184 men were found to be absent from duty in Exchange and Cafeterias on this tour."

The base had five libraries. Books were popular enough that a librarian complained that soldiers had stolen 360 books one year, which, she said, did not count those taken by soldiers with them as they shipped out overseas.

Big-name entertainers

Big-name entertainers sometimes transformed the dusty base into a bit of Hollywood, Bourbon Street or Carnegie Hall.

Legendary movie director Cecil B. DeMille went to the Kearns hospital to cheer up the sick and talked about his plans for upcoming movies. (His famed "The Ten Commandments" was still more than a decade away.)

Other stars who toured the base included Alan Ladd (who was in "Citizen Kane" and in the future would star in "Shane"); Ella Rains (who had just starred with John Wayne in "Tall in the Saddle." She kissed one lucky soldier in the hospital as others joked that it gave him a fever); and Maugerite Chapman (who would later star with Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch").

Heavyweight boxer Tony Galento (who had lost a championship fight to Joe Louis after famously promising to "moida da bum") toured Kearns and fired a machine gun on its firing range. He would later have roles in films, including "On the Waterfront," and "Guys and Dolls."

Jazz legend and movie star Louis Armstrong and his 23-man Jumpin' Jive Band played a concert in a base theater, then "gave out his autograph to all comers" as he toured the post by Jeep.

Nat King Cole crooned to thousands at an outdoor concert. National big-band stars of the time, not well-known now, played at the base, including Jack Teagarden, Stan Kenton and Kay Kyser.

It wasn't just all that jazz. John Charles Thomas, the "leading baritone for the Metropolitan Opera," gave an outdoor concert to thousands just after V-E Day. The Roth String Quartet, with members from Budapest, played at Kearns. So did the Royal Air Force Band after touring in Great Britain.

Many USO shows came. Among the most popular was the Crosby Brother's Troupe, produced by Bing, Larry, Bob, Ted and Everett Crosby. It included "a chorus line of scantily attired lovelies from the MGM studios," who pulled soldiers out of the audience to dance with them. It played to 5,000 people outdoors.