<Begin Segment 5>

ME: What did you first think of Shiro Kashino when you met him?

BY: Oh, first time I met him, I kept wondering, what kinda guy is this? I -- in fact, when, the short while I know him, I know he was a real (friendly) -- guy who can take it. You can joke with him. We used to call him kotonk. And we used to call him "Hirohito." And he used to laugh over it. And we got to, get to like him. Kash -- Shiro.

ME: He was a pretty fun-loving guy?

BY: Yeah. Well, he was well-liked. And then, while we were going overseas -- oh, before that, I think I told you that my friend Matt Tanaka.

ME: Yeah.

BY: He and I became real close friends, too. He's Seattle boy, too. And, he, he was accepted for the -- when he and I volunteered for the 100th Infantry Battalion, he was accepted and I wasn't accepted. So --

ME: So he went off with the 100th?

BY: He went with the 100th, yeah. It was a sad time for me, that moment. But anyway, going, while going over on the ship, Liberty Ship to Italy, we had a boxing matches on the boat.

ME: Oh, really?

BY: And that's how I got to know Shiro pretty well. He never refused. He, he would, he would take on anybody that we put him against.

ME: Did you box, too?

BY: Yeah. He was a good boxer, surprisingly.

ME: Did you box?

BY: I did a little too --

ME: You did a little bit?

BY: Yeah.

ME: Did guys place bets on the side?

BY: No, nothing like that.

ME: No bets, huh? [Laughs]

BY: No. This guy, I don't know, if you folks know in Seattle Tommy Umeda, the guy I told you that gave me the name?

ME: Yeah.

BY: He was our coach. He was a boxer from back in Hawaii already.

ME: Oh, okay.

BY: He was a pretty good boxer. (He later became a professional boxer in the northwest area around 1947.)

ME: He did pretty well.

BY: And he (coached) us (in Camp Shelby and on the ship to Italy.)

ME: Bruno, when, when you look at this picture here -- what, what do you think of when you see this picture?

BY: These are all the boys from our hutment.

ME: Yeah.

BY: Most of them are, yeah --

ME: Who's that handsome guy right there?

BY: [Laughs] Yeah.

ME: What goes through your mind when you see old photos like this of the boys?

BY: Oh, it's sad. Some of them are not there. Yeah -- we used to have lotta fun. Doin' weightlifting --

ME: So, you told me that there, you, there was boxing on the, on the ride over to Europe?

BY: Yeah.

ME: What else did you guys do to, to kill the time?

BY: Oh... (we played cards, sang songs and talked about the past and the future.)

ME: 'Cause it was a long, long journey.

BY: Long journey, yeah. Oh, we, we did quite a few things.

ME: Did you practice your Italian?

BY: Huh?

ME: Practice your Italian?

BY: Little bit, yeah. And we sang songs, and learned Italian songs and --

ME: Where did you first land?

BY: We landed in Sicily, Italy. And, that's our first engagement with Italian people. They gave us some oranges, and we, we offered them some money. We, we became pretty popular with them.

ME: You got along pretty well with the civilians?

BY: Yeah. Then from there we went to Naples, from Sicily.

ME: How was Naples?

BY: Oh, I thought it was a terrible town. I mean, you know, the outlook of the place.

ME: Very war-torn?

BY: Yeah, war-torn. People begging for food. But when you look back, I feel sorry for them.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.