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SF: So you finished up your army tour in '46; is that right? In Burma. Is that right?

JF: '45.

SF: '45. Okay.

JF: I came home in 1945.

SF: And then maybe you could tell us how you readjusted to life, civilian life, and how you got your life started again.

JF: Well, it was pretty fast. But I had, I had some mental problems, I guess you'd call them. The strangest things. I'd been literally surrounded by armed people for all these years, and all of a sudden I'm in this little house that my wife bought when I was overseas. And there's just the two of us. I haven't got a weapon. And I had one hell of a time ever getting to sleep. I mean, I was just on guard all the time. For some reason I couldn't, I couldn't shake it. And this little house was on a hill, and the side of the house was kind of built into the hill. So all you had to do was walk up the hill and step over on the roof, and we had a big skylight over our head. And I could just think of somebody just coming through that skylight. And I'm, and I'm totally unarmed. And it, it just, I heard every sound for, this went on for probably a year. That was one.

Another was that I got this job at the newspaper, and when I came home -- I went to work by bus -- when I came home, I transferred at Third and, I can't remember the corner, but that's where the old post office used to be. And the new post office was there now. But the old post office had this very heavy and ornate decoration above the top, kind of hanging over, and I for some reason got the strange idea that I shouldn't stand under that thing. So I was always standing out by the curb. And I, I mean, there was always something over your head in the jungle, and every once in a while these things would fall, vines or something would fall down. And I never got hit by one, but sometimes they'd take out part of your, part of a tent or something. But for some reason that stayed with me, and I, those two things I had really a tough time acclimating to civilian life.

And then an army buddy of mine, a fellow that I had met in (Baltimore), when we were taking our pre-induction physical in 1940, December, it was December 23rd. We were taking our induction physical together, and we were sworn in together, and we became, he went to radio school with me, Fort Knox, and we corresponded ever, all our military career. And finally when I got out of the army he was already out, and he came, we had a two-story level house with this huge room in the basement. And he said, "I'm going to go to pharmacy school at the University of Washington." I said, "Where are you going to live?" And he says, "I don't know." I said, "How about our lower room?" So he said, "Well, yeah. I'll fix it up, and I'll live there." It was already fixed up. It was plastered and the whole schmear. So he was in school about four days, then he brought home two other guys. And he says, "Is it okay if these guys live with me?" And I said, "Sure." So all of a sudden I had some support in my own house, and these, these feelings of being alone left. It was a really strange thing to go through. To this day I don't know what the heck caused it other than the fact that you've been cramped for so long with, surrounded by people and all of a sudden you're all by yourself. So they, they stayed with us for quite some time. In fact, all through the school. And we had a ball. It was great.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.