<Begin Segment 18>

SF: Do you think it's mostly the combat per se as opposed to all the stuff that you do in training where you're trying to build unit cohesion and all of that. I mean, it's really the fact that you're out there getting your ass shot off, and you can trust the other guy.

SI: I think so, yes. I think so. I think that it's the special kind of relationship that you build up in a situation like combat where... you don't get this type of interpersonal relationship in academic, business, or social contacts. So as one thinks about it, it really is a quite unique and special relationship that you have. Even after these fifty-some odd years and not seeing each other very often, but often enough to keep in contact and the experiences and things that we hash over, over and over again when we get together, are I suppose in many ways therapeutic. And, of course, I think we each and all benefit from these in our own way, in different ways. And there are few people, few, who absolutely refuse to have anything to do with the war. It was an unpleasant experience, it was a horrible experience, it was something I wish never had happened, and refuse even to acknowledge that they are veterans or went through whatever they did.

SF: What percentage of the 442 guys fall into that category? Were they...

SI: I think it's very small, very small. I couldn't say, but I would say less than ten percent. My gut feeling is... well, it might be a few more because there are some people whom you contact, but absolutely refuse to have anything to do with...

SF: Could you tell or could you predict from how they related to people in the unit that they would fall into this category after the war or, it's not, you couldn't do that?

SI: Yeah, I think you can. I think there's a basic underlying personality, behavior, whether it's... probably the way they were brought up or their experiences and contact as they were growing up and, under their situation, I suppose if you really delve into it, you can understand just why they behave this way. But I think for the most part, most of my colleagues -- especially, those are the only ones I get to see -- really... I don't think they relish having been in the military during the war, perhaps a few do.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.