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PB: I had a lot of dangerous experiences in the Philippines, but it all worked out for the good. I was not there a real long time, but the time that I was there, I got to meet a lot of Filipinos that, you know, they -- hard for them to distinguish between those that are Japanese American and Japanese. But they told me that they had heard that we were there. And before I left I met many Filipinos that gave me a lot of kindness. While I was there, I was then told to report to Australia again -- I had been there before -- and to join the Australian unit, because the Australian army had asked that, if we could find a Japanese-speaking soldier. So MacArthur ordered me to Australia, and that's when I became a member of the 2nd, 48th Battalion, Ninth Infantry Division, very famous in Australian history, known as the Rats of Tobruk. And I joined them in Australia and went with them to Borneo. I didn't know where I was going to go, but we ended up in Borneo. And that too was quite an experience, because as I say, when I first went there, they didn't expect to see a Japanese American and to join them.

Now, one of the experiences I remember when I was with them is that, I think it was about second or third day when I landed at Borneo, I got a call from the hospital, and they said, "There's a Japanese here, ranting and raving in English, and we don't know who he is. Would you come down?" I went over there, and sure enough it was a Nisei, and he was hurt very badly. So I went back the next day to get his story. He told me that he was a Nisei drafted in the Japanese army. When he found out that we had landed, he thought we were American soldiers. Now, the Australians, in order to protect themselves, we took hand grenades and tied 'em on the, both ends and then put 'em on the trees. So that any time anybody crossed that string, the grenade would go off. And we felt that that protected us from any of the Japanese that tried to infiltrate. Well, this young man tried to crawl back. Now, before that, we used to kill lot of baboons and other animals because they tried -- but he told me, he says he thought -- at least his comrades told him that the Americans had landed -- and he thought, "I'd better get back to them." Because he says he was taunted, he was persecuted by the Japanese army buddies of his because he was American Japanese. Didn't speak a lot of Japanese. So he wanted to get back to America, and he was hurt. Injured very badly coming back, and that's why, I never knew his name or anything because I didn't have time. I was very busy. But that's just one story of one Nisei that I ran across. There were others later on, but that was a sad tale of a young Japanese American drafted in the Japanese army and didn't want to be there, quite contrary to Americans who were in the, Japanese Americans who were in the American army.

AI: That's right. So it's like an opposite experience...

PB: Right.

AI: ...of what happened to you.

PB: I was given a medal by the Australian government, I found out later, and I also found out that I was not entitled to it. They thought I was an Australian soldier. So I sent that back to them. But one of the fellows I served with was the winner of the Victoria Medal, which is the highest award that an Australian can get. It's a British medal or part of the British Empire. And he was with us in Borneo. He came back with the unit I told you about, Rats of Tobruk, and they told him, "We don't want you to go into combat anymore. You stay home and sell bonds or do that." He said, "This is my unit." And he says, "I've got to be with my buddies, whatever happens." He was killed by a sniper alongside of me. I couldn't save him or any of my friends couldn't save him. But that was an example of someone who didn't have to be in the front, getting killed in action.

And many times I would go out. In those days we would have equipment to tie into Japanese phone lines so we could find out what they were doing. And many times, of course, like everywhere else in the Philippines and New Guinea, I was shot at, but came out of it alive until the end of the war. So I felt very fortunate that I ended up the end of the war and, without being injured. Now, at the end of the war, I thought I would go back to my own forces. But MacArthur said, "We cannot send any U.S. forces down for the surrender ceremony. I would like very much if the Australians" -- who, at the beginning of the war, were in the area down there, Singapore and Indonesia and there. So he said, "I want them to take the surrender from the Japanese. And if you'll stay there as interpreter and represent the United States, it would be good." So that's why I stayed down there.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.