<Begin Segment 23>

MN: We were talking about Cedros, Mexico. Now I want to ask you about your military service. What year did you receive your draft notice?

JM: '51.

MN: But you were able to get a short deferment. How were you able to do that?

JM: I was a skipper of the ship and I had a contract, so I can't break the contract. If I did, ten men will be unemployed, so the union lawyer wrote a letter for me, asked for deferment until after. So they deferred me. I went in February of '51, but all my buddies, got inducted before, so I was all by myself, and they all went to the language school in Presidio, so they became linguists. So when I got inducted I went to Fort Ord and I was on a special (group) where it was a short term, six week training. Then they shipped me to Fort Bliss, Texas, for artillery. In the meantime, they needed somebody to operate the landing craft at Fort MacArthur because all the soldiers they were getting from Oklahoma had never been out on the ocean, so they sent me a letter -- in fact, I went to navigation school in San Pedro -- so when I got a letter from the commander (from Fort) MacArthur, (I was in) Fort Ord, but they won't process the order 'cause I'm on order to go to Korea. So I went to Texas, went through the (artillery training, I) got shipped to Japan and was ordered to go to Korea the next day. Then I got a letter, I mean, they contacted me, asked me if I spoke Japanese. I said yes, I speak Japanese, so they pulled me out of the order, sent me to Tokyo to take the exam. Nine point was passing, I had nine point one. I barely passed it. [Laughs] So I got sent (to) Tokyo and took the training school for, I don't know, three months. My grade jumped the highest in the class because what I did was I took all the military terms and wrote it on a piece of paper, so every time I ate or go to the toilet I used to study that, and I memorized all the terms. So when we graduated we got a call from Sendai, they needed one linguist. They looked at my record, and I got selected. All the rest of the guys (went to) Korea. They sent me to Sendai, and from Sendai they sent me to Chiba for another class in, for interrogation. I don't know why they sent me there 'cause I wasn't (going to) go to Korea (but) I went there anyway.

MN: What were you doing, when you said, you said they sent you from Sendai to Chiba-ken, what did you do in Chiba ken?

JM: Chiba? They had a class for interrogation.

MN: So you weren't interrogating, you were taking an interrogation class?

JM: Yes. I was assigned to Military Intelligence in Sendai, and we were investigating the Communists coming into Japan, a lot of 'em from Russia.

MN: Did you work on a boat when you were in the army?

JM: No. They wanted me to operate that landing craft.

MN: At Fort MacArthur.

JM: Yes.

MN: Which, I guess, for those who may not know, that's in San Pedro. What was the Blue Sky, then? Which ship was this?

JM: It's owned by this Slavonian man. It was a hundred foot boat. We used to carry about a hundred ton of yellowtail (tuna).

MN: This is the ship that you went to Cedros? Is, is that...

JM: We leased the boat for one year, and we fished for sardine during the sardine season, then we went to Mexico for yellowtail.

MN: Now, when you were in the army in Japan, were you dating also? Did you have time to date?

JM: When I was in Sendai, yes.

MN: Tell us about your dating life.

JM: Well, my friend, he got orders to ship to Korea, so he asked me to take care of his girlfriend, so I was taking care of her. So I didn't date too much. We used to work on the translation for the military, I mean, medical terms, so we used to go to the hospital, see the doctor, and we asked for translation. I met this nurse, she had a very high position for a young girl. Then they gave me a (furlough), so I went to Wakayama, went to my grandfather and my grandma, and I came into Tokyo. My friend was in Tokyo, so I stayed overnight. That night I got an excruciating stomachache. When I was in Wakayama they had a big party for me, and I'm not supposed to eat raw stuff and they had sushi and all that stuff. Oh, I had a terrific stomachache. They couldn't take me to the army hospital, so (my friend) called a Japanese doctor. He came over, gave me a shot of morphine and that knocked the pain out. Oh, that really worked, so I landed up in hospital for two weeks, so when I got back to Sendai they were lookin' all over for me 'cause I'm on order to ship out, that day. So I shipped out. I didn't have any chance to talk to anybody. Then right before I (went on my furlough), I heard this surgical nurse really liked me, so I took her out one day. Next day she got busy, so that was it. Then I got shipped out, I didn't have time to call her. (...) When I got home I got a letter from her, she said, "Why didn't you tell me that you're going to leave?" I didn't know. She wrote in Japanese and I can't write in Japanese, so I never answered. That's my experience.

MN: So you left a broken heart in Japan.

JM: [Laughs] I didn't, I didn't think she liked me. But she showed me a burn on her arm, cigarette burn where a doctor was her boyfriend, he found out that she liked me, so he burned her arm.

MN: What year were you dishonorably discharged? I mean what year were you honorably discharged, honorably? [Laughs] I'm sorry.

JM: [Laughs] I was wondering what did I do?

MN: I'm so used to talking with troublemakers. [Laughs]

JM: '53. Beginning of '53.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.