<Begin Segment 31>

YK: Then in September, I didn't know what I was going to do, because at that time, my draft had been deferred. At that time, you didn't know whether you're going to be called in one month or six months, so that was kind of hard to get a job with a landscape architectural firm. But you could volunteer to go quickly, so I volunteered for the draft and went into the army. Went to Fort Ord for basic training. And there, for the first eight weeks, you could never leave the camp. But we Japanese had an out. Since they didn't have Buddhist churches in camp, we got to get bussed to Monterey and go to Buddhist church there and they would treat us very nicely and even feed us afterwards, or we could go to a fancy restaurant and do some shopping. Then we come back, and everybody who has been stuck there with no place to go for eight weeks, said, "Can we become Buddhist, too?" And I would tell 'em, "No, you don't look Japanese at all." But anyhow, that's how we got around that.

And then my second eight weeks was in Virginia for a map reading class. But as soon as I got there, they said, "Oh, that just started last week," so I had to wait eight weeks to take a nine-week course. I was a barracks guard, and then I was with the post engineering, 'cause I had a degree in landscape architecture. But then they decided, okay, you have enough training, so I got shipped out to Germany on a troop ship from New Jersey. And I was sicker than hell for the nine days with seasickness. And on the tenth day, we're landing tomorrow, I finally felt better. Then in Germany at that time, they were shipping everybody to France in the (...) infantry, and they were going out on maneuvers and living in tents and everything. And so all the guys were crying when they got assigned that. So when I went to the line, the guy said, "Oh, you're from Long Beach." He's from L.A., I said, "Yeah. You wouldn't send a fellow Californian to France and the infantry, would you?" He says, "Well, we're supposed to." But he says, "Well, what can you do?" I said, "Hey, I'm a college graduate and landscape architect." "What can you do?" I said, "Well, I'm a draftsman." He looked in his book, "Oh, okay. We'll send you to Patch Barracks, Germany, draftsman. So it pays to know (somebody in the army). I became a clerk typist there for (the) training (office).

MN: And then you were there, and you were able to get out of the army a few months earlier and also fly back rather than take the boat back. How did you manage that?

YK: Well, in the army it's who you know and also what can you offer in return, so they told me, "If you want to fly back, you've got to see Foxy." So I went to see him, 'cause our, Patch Barracks was the headquarters for all 8th Army (troops in all of Europe). So all of us were working for officers and taking care of all the paperwork. So I went to see Foxy and he said, "Well, what can you do for me?" So I said, "Well, nobody likes to come to training every week. Sometimes I could overlook the fact that you were absent. And also, you got to go out to the firing range to shoot the rifle twice a year, and that's coming up, so I could say you shot a very good (score)." and he says, "Okay, that's a good deal. You'll fly home." Then they say you can get out three months early if you go see Eugene, so I worked out the same deal with him. So I learned in life, you (have) got to give and take.

MN: So when were you honorably discharged?

YK: Well, that was 1956.

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.