<Begin Segment 11>

TI: And so after, so you did some MP duty, you're waiting to get shipping orders, and then eventually you get your shipping orders?

TO: Yes. I think they formed this whole unit of ordinance battalion. The guys that could fix, repair guns, big guns, all kinds of guns and equipment. We were battalion strength, and we came out to Camp Beale, California, with shipping orders to the Pacific. And we were there, I think, a week or something, getting ready to ship out. And my whole unit shipped out and they left me all alone. And it was kind of interesting, the battalion strength, you have, you're taking a pretty large area, number of units. And, of course, they had mess halls in these different areas. But once they shipped out, they closed the mess hall where I was at, so I had to walk about two miles to go to the mess hall. I was in this area all by myself.

TI: And why were you left?

TO: I didn't really know. I didn't really know at that time.

TI: So no one ever explained to you while why you were...

TO: No, no.

TI: And so did soldiers get individual shipping orders?

TO: No, no, the unit.

TI: So the whole unit, but then they singled you out.

TO: They singled me out.

TI: How did they single you out? Did they just call your name?

TO: Well, yeah, they just... I don't recall how they did, but apparently the guys that went, they called their names because my name wasn't called. I think that's the way it was. But then, I think it was probably about... quite a while there, probably maybe a month or so. And when these guys left and we went to the central mess hall, then I saw some other Nisei, couple, three of them. Then as time went on, there was more and more of us. I think there were about a dozen of us.

TI: That were essentially being left there.

TO: Yeah, just like I was. And then we got the, we knew what was gonna happen, we'd probably be replacements or sent to the MIS or to Italy to join the 442, which eventually that's what happened. But then from there, I think about a dozen off us, we were shipped to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, all the way across the country. And that was kind of a fun thing, you know, on the train, and it was kind of boring, but we ended up in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. And I think there was another group of guys there. And I think we were in Fort Jackson for possibly another month or so, I think. And then, by then, there was a couple hundred of us that came from different parts of the States and then they put us all together and shipped us up to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and they shipped us to Naples, Italy, to join the 442nd.

TI: So this group that was at Fort Jackson, they were all Niseis?

TO: Yes, all Nisei. Yeah, there wasn't any... I think there was one hapa kid from New York City. But the rest of us were all Nisei.

TI: And this is, the war in Europe had ended by then.

TO: Oh, yeah.

TI: So why would they send you to Europe if the war was over?

TO: Well, I guess they, the 442nd was still there and all the guys that were, had the points, they all came home. So they were in desperate need of replacements, and the 442nd had not come home yet. You know, the colors were still there, so there was still a unit there. I think I was with the 442nd before the colors came home, so probably, probably about six months.

TI: Yeah, so while you're going from, like, Fort Jackson and going to Naples, you're with other Niseis, what did you guys talk about in terms of the 442? What did you know about the 442 at this point?

TO: Well, by then, some of the guys' brothers were in there and friends, and we... but we didn't, other than they were really a great unit and all the bravery and things. But there wasn't that much publicity that, just word of mouth type of thing. There wasn't all these numbers of Purple Hearts, and that thing was never compiled at that time, so we didn't know too much about it other than we knew they went through hell, that was about it.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.