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MN: Now, before Bob Madrid passed away in September of '51, you and your brother Hank and Bob had a reunion. Now, can you share with us the first time you, were you reunited with your brother Hank? How did you meet in Korea?

RW: Well, that was a real surprise because, first of all, I have to go back, my brother Hank and I, as kids I was always jealous of him. He was always the better marble shooter and he was a better athlete. He was just better at everything, so we always had a little rivalry, and one day, since I'm the spoiled brat of the family, this was right at high school time, I guess -- I was yakkin' at my mom in an abusive manner, and he said, "Don't talk to Mom like that," and I just told him to shut up, next thing you know we're fighting. My mom had to break it up. So then after that we never associated or talked to each other much at all. It was just, you do your thing, I'll do my thing. But then when we went to Korea, of course, he got wounded before I got to Korea once. In fact, he was wounded precisely at the time that Jo Ann died, so we got two telegrams. Well, I thought that telegram from the War Department to my mother was a mistake. This telegram's addressed to Mrs. A. Wada instead of Robert for my wife, because I was getting telegrams from far away. Then I started to open it, it said from War Department. Then I took it outside the house because everybody was there because Jo Ann had just died, so then when I read that my brother was wounded, I just walked in the house and told 'em, "Hey, Hank's been wounded. They don't say what, how bad, but he should be okay." Anyway, my sister says, "Well gosh, it's sure good you were here so you could just calmly tell us, because otherwise Mom, everybody would've gotten real rattled, but you were so calm." Anyway, my brother Hank was wounded before I got there. Well, then when I got to Headquarters, it must've been one of the first few days I was there, and we had the tent flaps rolled up because it was hot and we were just sittin', talking, and I saw somebody's legs coming towards the tent and then some guy ducked his head down, looked in the tent, and I saw this Korean looking guy with a handlebar mustache, and I didn't think... who's that guy, what's he want? Then it dawned on me. "Hey, that's my brother." And I ran out, we shook hands, hugged each other. It was just a whole new life for us. From then on we've been awfully close. And it was an awakening, to see your brother way over there like that. It was something that, I guess, was just meant to be a way to bring us back together, and it did it instantly, just seeing him for that moment just brought us back together totally.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.