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-01-0040

<Begin Segment 40>

TI: Any thoughts when you made it back to the States?

FS: No, no, I didn't think much about it. I was home. And I, it was just a relief to get off that old tub. But we, but we, I can remember that for the people who, the first meal you get a steak. And it was a tough old cut, it was a tough old steak. And I drank a, I think I drank a quart of milk and I got sick. [Laughs] We had not had milk for, for all the time we were overseas. So that, and we, we were processed there, we were shipped from, we were sent, individually you get, we didn't just move as a group, some of the guys were going to California and others, but anyway, they, so they said, well, I said I'm, I wanted to be discharged at Fort Lewis. So now I could go back to Fort Lewis, on the coast. But I, so they, from, God, I can't remember the name of that, just a military installation at Newport News, but they shipped us, they were gonna send me by train from there to, to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, where the, where the air force had a, had a landing, a landing thing, and then I was going to fly to Fort Lewis, but I, this incident was really, it stuck in my mind.

We were, I was on the train by myself, we stopped in Washington, D.C., and actually, from that railroad station, you could see the capitol building, I'm sure. That must have been the Union Station. And I was sitting there looking out the window, and this, this GI came out, I think he was a buck sergeant. And he stopped, and he looked at me, and he looked at my patch, and he says, "Hey, you're with the 442nd." I said, "Yeah, yeah," he says, "Were you at the 'Lost Battalion'?" and I said, "Yeah, I was there." He says, "I was in there."

TI: So he was one of the two hundred men that you rescued.

FS: Yeah, yeah. And you know, I, it's one of those things. I, I could just feel myself getting really, I was angry, God, and I turned to him and I said, "Do you know how many men we lost, we lost getting you guys out of there? Do you know how many of my friends died in there?" And, well, he said, "You know, if you guys were in there, we'd have come after you." And I shook my head and I says, well, he said, "Anyway, I want to thank you," and he put out his hand, and I turned away and looked out the window. I, I've never been really proud of that, but I, at the time, it was just too fresh. I just could not, I couldn't even shake his hand.

TI: And, and it was a feeling of anger?

FS: Oh, yeah. I was just hot under the collar.

TI: Was it, was it something he said, too?

FS: No, no, it was just the fact that here was a guy we had rescued, and, you know, and he was thankful. He was thankful, he wanted to thank me. But I, what, what comes to mind is seeing this friend shot in the head, and the guys that we left behind on that hill, and I thought... it was, it was irrational, I know it was irrational, but at the moment, there was nothing I could do. I just was just... if he'd have said one more thing, I'd have punched him, I think. I was just... it was kind of hysteria.

TI: Now, if you were able to see that same man today...

FS: Well, I, first of all, I would shake his hand and apologize. It was, it was really, it... God. It was, it was not good, but...

TI: Well, this is, this is powerful to me, because it really helps me to somewhat understand a little bit just the, how, how -- what's the right word -- wired you guys were. I mean, you were just like angry.

FS: Well, you know, it was, it had, it had been a year. But just the, it was just, just... here, this, out of, this guy's, "You rescued us, thank you," and I should have said, "Hey, you're welcome," but I was just angry.

TI: Do you think the other men of the 442 felt in similar ways?

FS: I, I don't know. I don't know.

TI: Now, when you share this story with some of your, your comrades, the people that you fought with, I mean, what do they say?

FS: They, they understand. They don't say, "Hey, I'd have done the same thing," but when they say, "Yeah, okay, that happens." And I... it was just, I just, I think about that nowadays, as an old man, I think, "God, that was not very nice."

TI: Well, thanks for sharing that.

FS: Yeah, yeah.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.