<Begin Segment 21>

TI: Okay, so how long were you stationed at O'Reilly?

JY: About a couple months perhaps.

TI: And then what happened? What was the next step?

JY: Then we were assigned to this field duty to an infantry outfit. So now we knew we were on our way.

TI: And so give me a rough, about what month was this?

JY: About June.

TI: June, so June, and this is when you were assigned to the 106th.

JY: Yes.

TI: And where were they stationed?

JY: At Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

TI: Okay, and explain that. So what was your role when you got to the 106th?

JY: We were assigned to be what we'd call a battalion surgeon, which is taking care of the medical needs in combat for five hundred men in the battalion.

TI: So there would be one doctor per battalion?

JY: It's somewhat like that, yeah. But there could... yes, uh-huh, there could be one to two depending on the number of available number of doctors.

TI: But it sounds like such a huge responsibility for so many men to be the doctor for that many.

JY: Well, they apparently they're not considering every outfit is going to have a huge battle experience. I don't know exactly what, but that's the way the division worked. Because there would be support medical units behind if you needed more assistance, for example, ambulances, more surgical need, we were more, when look back to like paramedics. Paramedics take care of the immediate needs of combat.

TI: Okay, so I'm familiar with more like Korea, because they had the MASH units and they had these units. So you were really, your role was to really be more, with the troops on the front line.

JY: With the troops, exactly.

TI: And doing that really, that emergency...

JY: The first stage.

TI: The first stage. And then after that they would then, in theory, be sent to something like a field hospital.

JY: Or even there'd be another secondary unit where an ambulance may come in and help you to transfer it to the next area of treatment.

TI: And so then you were working very closely with the, again, the probably front line medics, too.

JY: Yes, right.

TI: So the 106th -- and before coming down to California, I read a little bit about the 106th and the history. And they were, essentially, you were being trained, as you were being trained, they were to be replacements for troops in Europe. And from what I can read, it seemed like the unit, although they were training, didn't have an extended period to train, that they were a green unit, didn't get full training, but because the need was so great, they were being shipped to Europe to help replace troops that were depleted. Is that a fair statement?

JY: I think the initial 106th did get more regular field training and maneuvers. Then that group was eventually depleted because of the needs for replacing casualties after D-Day. And so the green units that came in didn't have the kind of advanced training for combat that the soldiers that went to replace the units in Europe.

TI: Right. And that was kind of the group that you were with, these were more the replacements.

JY: Uh-huh, right.

TI: So in terms of age and experience and backgrounds, what was the group like?

JY: Well, it was more older officers, colonels and lieutenant colonels. Majors were fellows in their thirties or forties, and some had more army training than others. But the soldiers we were working with were, seemed like they were teenagers, anywhere from seventeen to around twenty-one. I was twenty-eight then and I felt like a fairly old guy compared to them.

TI: And geographically, did they come from a certain area of the country or were they from all over?

JY: It seemed like there weren't too many from the West Coast, they seemed mostly from the East Coast and South.

TI: And in terms of racial makeup, were there other Asians, African Americans, Hispanics?

JY: No, there were no Hispanics as far as I can recall, no blacks, and no Asians that I saw. I later learned there were a few.

TI: So it looked pretty white.

JY: Yes.

TI: And then during this training period, what kind of interaction did you have with the troops? Did you give physicals, did you... or were you just getting ready to train?

JY: No, we went on these forced marches, Indiana's summer's pretty hot. And so we could see how the officers interacted with these young soldiers, and we had to see what kind of conditions they were in before and after the marches or any kind of field duties.

TI: But you as a doctor had to go on these marches, too.

JY: Yes, of course.

TI: It's funny, I always thought doctors would be excused from those.

JY: Yeah, sometimes I just had to be there to see them off and see what conditions they were when they came back. But sometimes we were with them.

TI: So I'm curious, when they came back from these conditions, what were you looking for?

JY: One of the things were conditions of their feet. Of course, they were exhausted, you had to help them that way. But we did have, where we participate together was jumping off of towers into a body of water. And so when we were on the towers, the young kids would say, "Hey, Doc, you show us the way, you're first." So we'd have a full pack, and they'd have the boats, rowboats down below hooked to grab us out of the water. So I was convinced that if I ever had to jump off a boat, I was going to unload all my pack and just jump in without any other thing to encumber me.

TI: But it sounded like you had a pretty good rapport with the troops.

JY: Yeah, they were kidding, "Hey, Doc, you first." [Laughs] So they remembered me, because I met one of the soldiers a year or sometime later, and he said, "Hey, I know you." I said, "I'm sorry, I can't remember you." He said, "Remember that tower?" And I said, "I was there. I'm sorry I can't recall you or your face."

TI: Now, was your heritage ever an issue with anyone in the 106th, the fact that you were Japanese American?

JY: Never.

TI: So it never came up?

JY: Never came up.

TI: So the fact that the United States was fighting Japan, nothing like that happened?

JY: No.

TI: And it never came up, the fact that your family was put into camp?

JY: No, nothing. We didn't discuss any of that.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.