<Begin Segment 25>

TI: So let's go back and talk about sort of the rest of your involvement in Europe. So you're, were Pisa, you had the incident with Pete Fujino.

JS: Yes.

TI: Now, were you shipped to France?

JS: Yes. After Pisa, we were shipped to southern France. And in southern France, the Allies were really pushing the Germans back, and we had to, we couldn't just march, we had to board trucks in order to catch up with where the front lines were. But the, I think the most important encounter was the rescue of the "Lost Battalion." And I'm sure that you've heard stories of that, but in that engagement, we survived, but I, I had trench feet, 'cause we had feet that were soaking wet for days, and hadn't taken off our shoes. And so once we were relieved from that after rescuing the "Lost Battalion," that evening I, when I took off my boots, the feet swelled up and that was the end.

TI: So let's go back to the rescue of the "Lost Battalion."

JS: Yes.

TI: And what was your squad's role in that rescue?

JS: Well, you know, initially, my recollection was that we were in support. We were not the spearheading platoon, but I do have a recollection of seeing someone from Seattle. And of course, everyone knows Shiro Kashino and his role. But as we were going up this hill, and it was like the hills in Washington, they were, it's a forest, the trees, like fir trees. But as we were moving up this hillside, for some reason, there was this guy standing there, it happened, it turned out to be Shiro Kashino. And I don't know what his role was, but he was telling our lieutenant and captain, "Your company's over here, line up your areas here." And so to me, when I got up there, Shiro said, in a quiet voice, he says, "Oh, hi, Turk," and I said, "Hi, Shiro," and we, of course, he was with a different company, he was with I Company. And so, but the thing was, the amazing thing to me was here's this individual, he's a noncommissioned individual, GI, he's telling our officers in our company where we should go. So it seemed to me as if he was kind of directing that hill as if he were the commander, but he wasn't. He wasn't the commander, in fact, he had been busted before. But, so I came away with the impression that that's an outstanding soldier.

TI: And the officers felt comfortable taking orders from Shiro?

JS: Yes, exactly.

TI: Because he a reputation for...

JS: He had a reputation, yeah.

TI: ...had the respect of...

JS: Nobody, not one the officers said, "What the hell are you doing?" or anything like that. They just accepted his word that we should be over here. So that's an amazing, to me, was an amazing role that I saw personally.

TI: And so you're now positioned on the hill, then what happened?

JS: Well, then, of course, it's... as I say, we were kind of in support; we were not on the leading edge. But we were close enough to the German soldiers that we could hear them and they could hear us. But it was a miserable time because it was raining and we were in foxholes, and the foxholes would fill with water. [Laughs] And it was just not comfortable. But, so we did not, or company or our squad did not actually come up to the Texans. So we were just part of that whole force.

TI: But were you engaged in firefights as you were advancing?

JS: You know, yes, we were. Because it wasn't like you could see them and you'd fire, but you could hear them, the Germans.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.