<Begin Segment 26>

TI: Earlier you mentioned, when I was asking about your brother Gene, you said by being Gene's younger brother, it helped you out in Manila?

TU: Yeah. Because, see, we were in the Santa Ana Racetracks, and then we were being assigned, our guys were being assigned to various units. And the guy that was doing the assignment was a friend of Gene's. And when it came time for me to appear before him, he had my dossier, and he looked at that thing and he said, "Hey, you're Gene's younger brother?" I said, "Yes." And he said, "I'll give you a good deal." [Laughs] And a "good deal" turned out to be my assignment with the Engineers Headquarters. So I didn't quite appreciate what he said, but later on I thought about it and I said, "Gee, I should have gotten the guy's name," because I should have thanked him for a good assignment.

TI: Now, so what made your assignment a "good deal"? What made your assignment a good assignment?

TU: Well, I was with the engineers, they're not the infantry guys up front, engineers come later. And I'm with the headquarters. Headquarters wouldn't be situated up front. The up front guys would be taking a beating, and the headquarters were back in the back echelon. So I thought, gee, in a way, it's a good assignment, but in a way it's not. Because you're going to be under the control of all the brass, generals and colonels. [Laughs]

TI: But probably safer, though. Safer but...

TU: Exactly.

TI: ...more brass.

TU: Yeah, you had to be alert around the soldiers, I mean, the officers, you had to salute them. They could chew you out if you don't.

TI: When you were there, where was your brother? What kind of assignment did he have?

TU: I think he was in Mindanao, in the Philippines. 'Cause I asked this placement officer, "I'd like to go see him." He said, "Oh, no, can't go out there. He's in the boondocks still fighting."

TI: So he was out in the jungles with the infantry people.

TU: Yeah, he was with what they call 158th Regimental Combat Team. He stayed there with them for a long time, taking part in their invasions or battles all along.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.