Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Fred Shiosaki Interview
Narrator: Fred Shiosaki
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Spokane, Washington
Date: April 26 & 27, 2006
Densho ID: denshovh-sfred-01-0037

<Begin Segment 37>

TI: Well, then, just, as a blur, from that point on, it was just weeks before the end of the war.

FS: It was, yeah, you know, it's... the battle, the war was going on, we were aware guys were, people were getting shot, wounded, Germans had some... the Germans still, the German soldiers in Italy were really experienced infantrymen, they were good soldiers, they didn't buckle easily. In France there, we saw some kids who couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen years old. These guys were old hands. They, they had seen us before, probably if they'd survived, they'd seen us at, seen our guys at, at Anzio and all these other places, in the battles there at Sassetta, for example, the same, same outfit. So they were seasoned troops; they knew how to fight. And so we, they, every battle was a, was nasty. But I just, I know we were moving fast. Pitched battles were maybe a day or two, two before it folded and moved again. I think it was a problem keeping, keeping us supplied and keeping, keeping up with us. Because once, but once the coastal roads were open, they could get, they could get, you know, ammunition and food to us. I just, there are just some things, some things happened that I just, that I recall... it's really towards the end of the war, and we were, we were sitting on reserve one day, and I saw a kid from Spokane. He came in as a replacement, and God, within, within a few days, he was killed. I really had a -- I thought, "Good God." I didn't know about it until after the war was over, but I, I said, "Geez, I'll see you back home," or something like that.

TI: And you knew the war was coming to an end.

FS: We knew the war was, we knew the war was almost over. The Germans were just folding and moving back. We got to the outskirts of... we got to the outskirts of Genoa, and the war was pretty much over, and I could, I could... the, in order to go into town, we commandeered the railroad, I mean, the streetcars, and rode into town in streetcars. But there was really, at this point, nothing to be concerned about. We just rode into town and set up a defensive perimeter.

TI: And when you were in Genoa, that's when the, you heard the war was over?

FS: No, we pushed through Genoa, and we were in a, we were billeted in an old school building. It was, it was north of Genoa, and then they said, "Hey, the war is over."

TI: And what, what did that mean to you, when you heard that? What did you think?

FS: I think, you know, it really doesn't sink in. The war is over, and God, you think, "Geez. Well, I made it, I think I made it."

TI: So no, no cheer amongst the troops or anything?

FS: No, we didn't cheer. I think I went back and took a nap or something. It was, I, there had to be a sense of relief, but you're... well, what was I? Nineteen years, twenty years old? [Laughs] You don't get really retrospective at that age.

<End Segment 37> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.