<Begin Segment 14>

ME: What are some of the psychological effects? What stays with you?

TA: Well, I think I can turn it off and on. If you ask me, I can tell you what it, but it doesn't bother me at all today.

ME: How did you deal with your friends dying on the battlefield? Do you ever get over that?

FM: No, well --

FM: No, really tough.

TA: You kind of, kind of forget, you remember, you forget it. But the hardest thing is that when you, for me anyway, was when I came back and one of our good friend, came back, and I went to see the family. And the sister asked me how he died, and I just couldn't explain to him, and just had to tell 'em well, he just went right away and things like, but it's really, but I guess, I guess, we just time, as time go by, then you kind of remember. But same thing forget about it.

ME. Were you going to comment on --

FM: I was going, going back to the first day of battle. 2nd Platoon were also moving up on, I don't know what section of the hill. But we move up, about half way up the hill, and we couldn't move any further. So they told us to drop back because they going to shell, shell the hill there. Well, by doing so, it, my [Inaudible], I saw this German guy standing right up by the machine gun. So at that time I was assistant squad leader, so -- assistant squad leader are required to carry what they call a anti-tank gun, bazooka. Something like a got bazooka --

KA: Grenade thrower, yeah.

FM: So I attached the grenade thrower to my rifle, and just as he stood up I fired about 3 or 4 feet over his head because the missile is really slow. You can see it going. And it don't go straight. It's sort of a, at a arch. So I fired about 3 or 4 feet over his head, and I can see the thing going, tzid-tzid-tzid-tzid, like that. All of a sudden, boom, and nothing. I didn't see that guy at all. Then we pulled back. And 3rd Platoon went up after everything was settled out, and one of the 3rd Platoon guys told me that they saw the machine gun, and they saw half of the body was gone from one of the guys out there. I think it was Joe Okamoto that told me.

ME: Got him good.

FM: Yeah. I know I got one guy, anyway.

ME: What did that feel like, taking another human's life?

FM: Well, it's theirs or mine. At that time it was, "We in combat now, so..."

ME: You just don't think about it, then?

HY: It's got to be that way, otherwise --

TA: It's not as simple to shoot at somebody and get them because I'm telling you, you fire so many rounds of ammo, bullet, but I don't think you can hardly hit anybody. Because most of the time it's, it's, you fire at them they're running away. It's not like in the movie, you point-blank and you firing away. So although you good marksmanship, but it's not easy to hit somebody.

FM: Yeah. I had one occasion where point-blank, about 10 or 15 feet, where I shot the guy in the foxhole. And I saw blood dripping off from his forehead, and his chest there in real close range. And that, that's stayed with me for a long time.

ME: Can you still see that?

FM: Yeah, but if I, when I think about it, I can still see him, yeah. Yeah.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.