Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Tosh Yasutake Interview
Narrator: Tosh Yasutake
Interviewers: Alice Ito (primary), Tom Ikeda (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: November 14, 2002
Densho ID: denshovh-ytosh-01-0012

<Begin Segment 12>

TI: Talk a little bit about your training, especially in your, like the medic unit, in terms of the amount of medical training, physical training.

TY: Yeah.

TI: What was --

TY: I think the physical training, I thing we went through very similar to what the infantry people went except that we didn't shoot any firearms. We did -- once or twice I think we went to the firing range and we fired the machine guns and the M-1's and pistols and carbines and all the things that they have just to give us the feel of it. But that was it as far as, as far as arms go. We didn't have any more formal training than that. Rest of the time we were spending lectures on first aid, usual first aid stuff they -- in fact it's very similar to some of these first aid classes that the Red Cross has. Generally it was more of that than -- and a lot of it was repetitious. And I think that was good because under physical and, physical and mental strain that we had to go through, I think that you worked a lot better under pressure if you do things automatic. So much of it was very repetitious. It was kind of boring at times. But, I think that was for a reason. It was designed that way for a reason. Like where the pressure points are and... but I think the most important thing was the physical part of it because it was very rigorous physical training. There was a lot of marches and hikes and lot of push-ups and that kind of stuff.

TI: Now would you do that with, just within your medical unit, or --

TY: Yeah. Medics all had training on their own. Even the ones, I think -- and guys who were assigned to companies as company aid men, three to a company, one to each platoon. They, every morning, we all got together, all the medics got together and we went through our routine for the day and then they went back to their assigned companies.

TI: And so at that --

TY: So we always went as a group.

TI: -- this is at Camp Shelby.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.