<Begin Segment 20>

TI: So, let's, let's go overseas, then.

JS: Okay.

TI: So tell me about your experiences of traveling and arriving in Europe.

JS: Well, we went by Liberty ship, and we landed... and that was a difficult trip, so many of us did get seasick. But after a few days, and then you got your sea legs and it wasn't as bad. But we... and, of course, on your way over, you have to do your calisthenics, because you're still in the military, you don't play around, you have things to do. And most of it was keeping fit. But we landed in Africa first, and I think that was to fuel up and so forth. And from Africa we...

TI: Now, do you recall, sort of, the approximate date of when you were shipped over?

JS: Yes, I think it was in May.

TI: Which company were you in?

JS: I was in L Company.

TI: And so that's which battalion?

JS: 3rd Battalion.

TI: 3rd Battalion, okay.

JS: Yeah. There is an interesting story about my being in L Company. I actually trained in Camp Shelby with C Company, that's in the 1st Battalion. But some of the boys went over, were shipped out earlier as replacement for the 100th, who had, who was already in combat, and so there were losses and they needed replacement, so some of the boys, I don't know whether it was through volunteering or can't remember, or whether they were picked, but some of the fellows from the 442nd were sent to, as replacement for the 100th. So they were in Italy before we were, the whole Regimental Combat Team. But because of taking the soldiers from the Regimental Combat Team, what they did was they sent over, instead of three battalions of infantry, they sent two. And they took the 1st Battalion and sent the individuals to the 2nd and 3rd, to make, to fill the complement of individuals. And Pete Fujino was in L Company, and so was Ken Higashi, who's here today here. But I trained with, in C Company in the 1st Battalion. But just prior to being shipped overseas, they took the men from the 1st Battalion to fill the quotas necessary for the 2nd and 3rd Battalions. And just by coincidence, I ended up in L Company. I didn't have a voice in it or anything, it just happened.

TI: So was that hard for you? Because here you'd trained with a certain group, and then kind of last moment you're switched to a whole different group.

JS: Yes. So you're not familiar with all the guys, but there is an interesting aspect to this. When Pete Fujino, he was one of the first to volunteer from our camp, and I don't know how his mother knew that I volunteered also, but she knew that I was a friend of Pete, 'cause we worked on the coal crew and fooled around together. She asked me to kind of look after Pete. Pete was one year older than I was, and he was, I think, 5'11" and weighed 170 pounds, he was a big kid for a Nisei. And I told her, "Well, I don't even know if we're gonna be together, but I'll do the best we can." But the coincidence is this: when I was shipped to, from the 1st Battalion to the 3rd, I ended up in L Company, which Pete was already trained with. Not only that, but I was assigned to the 2nd Platoon and Pete was in the 2nd Platoon, and I was assigned to the 2nd Squad, and Pete was in the 2nd Squad, so we became squad-mates.

TI: And how large is a squad?

JS: A squad is, let's see... let's see, I can't remember now, but maybe about twelve.

TI: About a dozen.

JS: Yeah.

TI: And then a platoon is about twice that size?

JS: Yeah. Well, a platoon is four squads.

TI: Four squads, so about, close to fifty, and then a company is about 200 at full.

JS: Yeah, right.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.