Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: James Yamazaki Interview
Narrator: James Yamazaki
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Van Nuys, California
Date: February 4, 2005
Densho ID: denshovh-yjames-01-0031

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TI: Well, so you're at Musberg, and this is now towards the end of the war. But how long were you there before you were liberated?

JY: Not too long, I don't think.

TI: So can you describe the liberation? What was that like?

JY: Oh, I guess it wasn't a big battle, but there was some fighting around. And then it just, I guess the Germans were already on the run, so when the Americans came, they took off. So here, you imagine the chaos of fifty thousand prisoners being unleashed at one time, nobody tell you where to go or what to do or what to expect. And they said, but somebody left words that, "Don't go too far, you may never get home," because we don't know what the transportation's going to be. So don't wander off.

TI: Were people kind of wandering off to get food and things like that?

JY: Yeah, just freedom, they're free again. They could look around and see what happened. And so they commandeered cars, and god, we really went to distant places like Augsburg and Regensburg, it was quite a few miles.

TI: Now, what did you do?

JY: I joined, I got on with some of the guys. I apparently didn't know 'em at all, just went with 'em. And they would aim for places like supply depots, somehow soldiers have a nose for these things. We went in there and soldiers, American soldiers come with German uniforms, belts and little guns and stuff. I came out with a box of surgical instruments. I think I must have had some German uniform on, too. It was crazy.

TI: And during this period, what was the feeling for you, to be liberated?

JY: Just sort of bizarre of thing. Well, at last that the fighting is ahead, had gone ahead of us. Didn't look like the German was going to put up a fight, at least in our area.

TI: So the mood, like when you were off with these guys going to find supply depots, is there lots of laughter, is there smiles finally, or is it still... what was the feeling?

JY: Not a laughter, it's just abandoned, I would say. Nobody's controlling you, either Americans... nobody, there's no distinguishing mark between the officers and enlisted men. It's common experience.

TI: So you're liberated, so then how do you get back to, I guess...

JY: Eventually we got on a train. And we could almost date it fairly well, because about May 5th, the morning of May 5th, we were, we rolled into a town that later we were told was Reims. Later that day, when we got in, they said this was Reims. And the word got out that the surrender was taking place there. But we didn't stay there but for a few hours. Oh, the lights went on, that was the big thing. The whole square around the station was just brilliant with light. We hadn't seen that all during the war, of course.

TI: And that was because the war was over?

JY: Over, yeah.

TI: And so that must have been a really good feeling.

JY: Yeah, it was all over, and seeing the lights on again.

TI: And so having been a prisoner of war, what happens? Were you then after processing sent back to the States right away?

JY: Yeah, there was a camp called Camp Lucky Strike, a big assembly area where soldiers were processed. Apparently there was some stratifications of the kind of individuals that would get put on the ship first, or some were flown back. And so you're just waiting to see what that classification was. So some would stay in that camp for several weeks. And after a few weeks, then we were assigned to a boat. And then having been a army medic, I was put on a transport ship, which, and I was responsible for the health of the soldiers on this ship. So I had to keep a whole bunch of records, and they said, "You got to sign this before we get home." Of course, we kicked that whole thing off somewhere. [Laughs]

TI: But I'm curious, here these men were in a prisoner of war camp, some longer than others, under near starvation diets. I mean, were there physical ailments or concerns that you had as a medical officer in terms of getting people back to normal?

JY: No, everybody's just getting back into army life. Because from Musberg was certainly nothing organized there. I don't know how we got fed or where we got our food. But this camp was a regular army camp where you got in a chow line at least a mile long or so. Nobody's in a hurry, that's all you got to do is wait to get your tin can filled. I was at the end of a long line, when I went there, they said it's all gone, come back tomorrow. So the next day I... this long line, everybody hooting and hollering, saying, "Get back," and I couldn't hear 'em. I was just gonna get my food. [Laughs] So I went to the head of the line and got my share.

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.