<Begin Segment 19>

TI: And so what, about what was the date of this when you left Hawaii?

SO: Oh, that was end of August.

TI: Okay, so the war had just ended then.

SO: Just about gonna end, because war ended September 2nd, so that was the middle of August. The boat was going zig-zag.

TI: Okay. And you went to the Marshall Islands.

SO: Yeah, and unloaded the colored boys. The colored boys were with the Seabees, and those days, Marshall Islands didn't have any trees, just a bare island. And these colored boys said, "Oh, no. Not this island," a small island, and from the boat, you can see the other end, other side of the island. And after they unloaded them, then they put us in the, now, we're sleeping in the center.

TI: So what, I'm curious, on Marshall Island, what would people do there?

SO: There was a U.S. base to refuel the ships. So there were hundreds of ships, hundreds of ships on Marshall Island.

TI: So it was like a gas station almost for the boats.

SO: Yeah.

TI: Okay. So you dropped off, you said, like, African American soldiers?

SO: The colored boys were assigned with the Navy Seabees, so they unloaded them. The boys were complaining, saying, "Not this island." And then, now, we're sleeping with the crew, because that was a cargo ship. Then now, the boys were, colored boys were sleeping in the front of the ship, so now they put us in the front of the ship. And then, you know, sleeping in the front of the ship, then I got seasick again, because the boat was going up and down. And then the cargo ship, there's no fresh water. So we had to take a, take a bath with salt water, and they issued us brown soap. That's the only soap that worked with the salt water, so that's how we used to bathe on the ship. And then, now, they wanted to assigned us some work, like shifting ammo from the front to the back. Then they asked, "Where's your sergeant?" "No sergeant?" "Where's your corporal?" "No corporal."

TI: This is for all the ninety of you.

SO: Yeah. Said, "What kind of outfit is this?" the Navy officer tells us. They're just rushing us. Then we got to Samar Island, Samal, in the Philippines, and that was a Navy replacement depot. This was a huge Navy replacement depot. Just to go eat lunch, first thing you get up in the morning, then when you go for breakfast, you have to walk one hour. Then you eat breakfast, and then takes you another hour to come back again. Then after you rest one hour, then you go back to lunch. [Laughs] And then, I don't know whether all these Seabees are ignorant, like the Filipinos, you don't blame 'em. They asked us if we were Hapon.

TI: Oh, from Japan, Japanese?

SO: Yeah.

TI: Even though you were wearing an American...

SO: I said, "Can't you see our uniform?" They're all confused, because Japan occupied the Philippines, and now, Americans took back Philippines, now they're occupying Philippines, so they were all confused, the Filipinos. Even the Seabees were ignorant. You know, they come from the middle states.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.