<Begin Segment 83>

TI: Well, let's get to the, sort of how you re-met your parents because now we're towards the end of 1945.

RM: Uh-huh.

TI: And you were an MP and one of the things that you did was you would sometimes need to transport prisoners to Japan.

RM: Yeah. This in '46.

TI: '46. Okay.

RM: Yes.

TI: And so when you did that, there was one time that you went to Japan and you were able to take a side trip --

RM: Yes.

TI: -- down to Hiroshima. Why don't you tell us that story?

RM: Well, when I escort twenty-four war crime prisoners, sentenced prisoners, and they were to serve a term in Japan rather in China because these prisoners were American prisoners, because committed, crime committed against the United States airmen so they were served their term in Sugamo Prison in Japan, so therefore they have to be escorted to Japan and I had a duty... well, I have a duty to take them. But they asked a volunteer but since I'm in charge of the prison, I volunteered, and then I have to get the two guards to go with the weapons. I just picked the people who best suited for. And we made the trip and went to Japan. And order read in conjunction with the trip, but twenty days TDY, doesn't specify what you could do. But I interpret this occupation that whatever I could do would be fine so I went to provost marshal office, and, "How about giving me permission to visit my folks in Hiroshima?" And that place had been off limit to all the military personnel. However, I'm being an MP, I authorized to go anywhere I wanna go. So therefore I got an Allied train, went as far down as Hiroshima. But then no transportation go to the village. And they have a local train so I, when the train stopped I got on the train and conductor says, "You cannot, soldier cannot get in the civilian section of Japanese train." So that's in case you cannot put in passenger, I ride with the engineer. He says, "No, no, but I said, well, I'm MP." So I force it to let me ride in engineer. And when you passed by the village where my folks lived, I stopped the engine, told him to stop, then I got off, and so I was able to visit my parents there. And they were surprised, but they knew I was alive already because one of my brother already told 'em, as a matter of fact, two of 'em.

TI: Well, sort of describe, so here you, you went from a sort of a, more of an Allied train --

RM: Yeah.

TI: -- down to Hiroshima as a main train. And then you went on the local train.

RM: Local train.

TI: They wouldn't let you on there so you, you went up to the engineer's station and then they stopped the train right at your village --

RM: Yeah, right.

TI: -- which was not a normal stop.

RM: No, no, not normal station.

TI: And so after it stopped, then you would walk to the village. Can you describe what you saw and how you first met your relatives?

RM: Well, they were surprised, they didn't expect and I didn't have time to let them know because as soon as I got there my thought was, "What am I gonna do?" Well, of course, I wanna visit them but they told me they were safe, but not in the city. But meantime, when they stop Hiroshima and saw it, it was devastated. It was flat with nothing there except a few buildings. And one of the buildings was the dome where the bomb was dropped and, but the village wasn't touched.

<End Segment 83> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.