<Begin Segment 75>

TI: And when this happened, what, what was the reaction from the unit? I mean, the fifty men that were there with you? I mean, it was, what were you guys --

AI: Were you -- excuse me -- were you standing right with --

RM: Right in between the fire, well, more or less, because, just right there, then bullets are coming. If you, let's see... Sergeant Warren Ventura, his statement, eye-witness, but he say everybody was in a foxhole, just sticking out the weapon to do it. They don't stand up and do it, they get more chance of getting hit.

AI: So you --

RM: But I have to give 'em order in order to carry the voice out.

AI: So you got out of your foxhole?

RM: Got out of fox. Good thing nothing hit me, see.

AI: You were standing up way away from the foxhole?

RM: Yeah, well, yeah, not in the foxhole itself, I mean, stand up.

AI: And did you have your uniform on?

RM: Huh?

AI: Did you have your uniform on?

RM: Well, I'm in, I have, one of the pictures taken was Akiji Yoshimura. It's, see, I have jacket and hang it on the tree stump. There was artillery hit it. So I have a woolen sweater.

AI: So if someone looked at you --

RM: But, I mean, you cannot see anyway. Just, they heard me. You cannot see me because I didn't have any flashlight or anything to see.

AI: It was still dark.

RM: Dark. So they don't see, they just heard the voice order, so some lieutenant or sergeant maybe give 'em order. Never heard my voice before, but distinctly, totsugeki ni they understand, so could be somebody else and just reinforcement, new guy, but the old guy, too, the one, original people, I don't know how many were, at least they figured that company size, but only found fifty-four that's about platoon size, but probably they, some of 'em dragged away or some just wounded or some didn't wounded, retreated.

AI: And as you were saying earlier, for the Japanese army, if someone gives the order to charge, everyone's going to go. No one's going to --

RM: Yeah, even corporal give 'em order, or PFC give 'em order and then private have to follow, no question asked. So they didn't know who gave 'em order but that was an order some, and some authority, and that's the way they been trained, so I knew that. You have to follow it, no yes or buts about it.

<End Segment 75> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.