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TI: Okay, so let's go, now you leave Riverside to go where? What's the next step, where do you go next?

HH: Well, we still didn't know where we were going to be sent. We thought possibly to Alaska, because it was reported that a Japanese submarine was off the Aleutian Island area. And so we were prepared to more or less be going up. At the same time, they issued us winter clothing, not the summer clothing. So it was a surprise to us after we boarded the ship, that we were almost sure, because winter clothing was issued to us, to all of us. And at the same time, I would just mention to you that the others, the OSS crew, they were all assigned to the officers' quarters and I was assigned to the regular GI area. And right away, when they found out, after we set sail and everything else, and they had the SP, shore patrol, not MP, on a ship they say shore patrol, SP, they'll be guarding the stairs that goes up to the upper level that's off-limits for the enlisted people. And I had to go to the chow line down below, but they immediately went to the captain of the ship and got a special permit for me that I'm part of the crew and I'm supposed to be with them. So I was assigned to be able to show that pass. And unfortunately, I didn't keep that little pass that I showed.

TI: So were you able to sleep up on the upper decks, too?

HH: Yes, on the upper, officers' quarter. And see, the officers, they had to pay just like the other officers, their meals and everything. So I couldn't get that, but they said, "Don't worry," they could always say the guy's in sickbay or he's not able to come, he's sick or something, and they would get me the meals. And then I was able to go to the showers and everything else. And so I was up on the upper deck. And when I, up there, look down, some guys would say, "What's he doing up there?" [Laughs]

TI: So you got, yeah, so you had a better trip over because of the...

HH: Oh, yes.

TI: Because it was a big difference between the two?

HH: Yes. And the other thing is, the meals and all, the officers have better meals, and the GIs are not able to get showers, they had only showers on the deck, open kind of place where you could take a shower, but it was not like the officers.

TI: That's good. That's a good story. So where did you end up going on the ship? Where did it go?

HH: Well, it got warmer and warmer, and then I noticed that the GIs were making shorts out of their long pants and everything, and some, we were issued fatigues, which is a cotton deal, and they would cut the pants off, the legs off and make shorts and everything else. But it got warmer and warmer until we found out we were -- it took us a month, thirty days, to go from Riverside to Calcutta. So along the way, it must have been almost... I think they said we were, they could see Samoa, Samoan Islands. So we knew we were going south. So we thought that possibly we'd be going into Southeast Asia or probably India by that time. And then we did stop at Perth, which is on the western side of Australia, the ship stopped there to get water and things like that. So while we were there, the crew was able to leave the ship to have a meal at a Chinese restaurant in Perth, and I was able to go along with them. And that's the first time that we were able to get, they were all starving for Japanese rice, or the rice that we knew, and we were ready to just about clean out the -- I think it was rationed, too, for the restaurants in Australia, rice. But I think we ate up all his quota in that restaurant. [Laughs]

TI: So you went from Perth, and then where did you go?

HH: Well, after Perth, then we had to go into Indian Ocean and also around Calcutta, into Indian Ocean. We knew we would be passing through the area with a Japanese fighter or submarine possibility, and so they started practicing, the GIs on board, on putting up a white balloon and they would kind of practice shooting. But I never saw them shoot any of those balloons down, so I got real worried. And so I couldn't sleep nighttime because I thought it would be better to sleep out on the, not on the bunk. I thought it'd be better if I slept outside, in case I got bombed. [Laughs]

TI: You were concerned that because --

HH: Torpedoed.

TI: Because you were concerned that the shooters were not very good, that you guys might get sunk or something, it'd be better on deck to get off the ship.

HH: Yes, because I was up on the deck, and I could see them shooting at these targets and everything else every day while we're sailing into... and I thought, boy, if a Japanese torpedo plane came from Java, which is close, I thought that I don't think, we were gonna get torpedoed, and the Indian Ocean is full of sharks.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.