<Begin Segment 26>

GH: But we did make it to Nhpum Ga, and at Nhpum Ga, the 2nd Battalion was under siege for something like ten days or whatever. And the battle was so severe that it became known as "Maggot Hill." They fought over the water hole, and they did lose it to the Japanese, and the Niseis would take turns during the night, they would crawl beyond the perimeter to see if they could gather some information. And one night, Roy Matsumoto, he crawled beyond the perimeter, way into no-man's land, and he overheard that the unit was planning to attack the following morning.

TI: Now, while this was happening, so the 2nd Battalion was sort of under siege, they were surrounded, the 1st Battalion, were you guys, were you guys --

GH: We were out in the outside, we're trying --

TI: Outside, were you in a position to break through at all, or is it just like there's...

GH: The 3rd Battalion was trying to break through.

TI: And you had just arrived.

GH: We arrived and we were diverting the other units... you call it diversionary action.

TI: Because the Japanese were trying to reinforce the...

GH: That's right, uh-huh.

TI: Okay. So it looked like it, so what were people thinking at this point? Did they think the 2nd Battalion had a, had a chance, or what were your, your thoughts?

GH: I really didn't know. We just knew that they were under siege, and we had to somehow get them out.

TI: There wasn't much communication between the battalions?

GH: No, no. And with, when Roy overheard their plan, he crawled back and he passed it on to the platoon leader. And the platoon leader in turn passed it on to Colonel McGee, the commander, and they withdrew the men from the foxhole, and they established a new perimeter.

TI: Because what, what Roy overheard was he, similar to what Hank Gosho, he found out what their plans were, where they were going to attack...

GH: Attack, uh-huh.

TI: And so in the same way, they, so they pulled back, and they, again, probably brought all their automatic weaponry to bear on that one point.

GH: So after they established a new perimeter, they waited, and sure enough, at dawn they struck with a banzai attack, and they were bayoneting the empty foxholes, throwing in hand grenades. But then they realized, and they were taken by surprise that the, the Marauders had moved. So then they came up and led by an officer, but with a sword, and they were charging up the hill. Lieutenant McLogan, the platoon leader, he waited until the enemy was within fifteen yards, and then he opened up with all the automatic weapons and annihilated the enemy. The second wave that was coming up saw what happened, so they, they hit the ground. And there was indication that they would withdraw to fight another day. Well, Roy, thinking that they may withdraw, got up from his foxhole, and gave command in Japanese, "Charge, charge," and charge they did, only to meet the same fate as the first wave.

TI: Now, what Roy did, was that something that, that the other Niseis would have done also?

GH: I don't know. I guess there was a lot of, you do a lot of things unconsciously. I don't know if other (would have) it took a lot of guts. I mean, had a lot of thinking on the part of Roy, yeah.

TI: Now, was that a scenario that you guys ever talked about? That if you were in a situation, that that was something you could do?

GH: No, we haven't, but...

TI: Yeah, it just seems like a pretty amazing thing to, to do.

GH: Yeah, that's right.

TI: And so, so the second wave was also sort of destroyed.

GH: Right. And so...

TI: And then, and then what happened?

GH: So when the battle was over, I think they counted about fifty-some-odd bodies, among them were two officers. And then the 3rd Battalion broke through, and that was Sunday, Easter Sunday.

TI: So that was, that was a pretty -- and at that point, do you have a sense of how many men -- you said when they first started, you had about three thousand men or so?

GH: Uh-huh.

TI: About how many were --

GH: By then, I think we had only about, the figure I have is fourteen hundred, yeah.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.