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SY: So you ended up going overseas and you spent, so it was toward the end of the war. It was after the "Lost Battalion."

YN: Yes, well, if you look at it in terms of a football game, in the Super Bowl, if you play something in the Super Bowl you get the ring, well, I came in on the fourth quarter. The war was going on from the first quarter on, and so the Congressional Gold Medal which I received really is more highly deserved by those folks who were in there from the first quarter on, and I take my hat off to many of them because they are the real heroes.

SY: So by the time you got there, what was the situation?

YN: Well, by the time I got there, I couldn't get there right away because as we were about to go from Baltimore to New York for the ship that would take us, somebody got measles, and then another person got measles, and then suddenly the whole battalion got quarantined. So every day we would march to the officer looking for us, we would have to show our backs and our behinds, and he would point to the hospital or back to the barracks like that, until everyone got the measles we were quarantined. It seemed like it took about three weeks. I'm not sure exactly how long, but it seemed like a long time. And it was very, very cold in Baltimore, so those of us who were not used to ice and snow, you can hear these mess kits hitting the ground because people would fall down and all this. And by the time we got to Hyack, New York, to board one of these victory ships to go overseas, the "Lost Battalion" had been rescued and the 442nd had gone into what they call the Champagne Campaign. It was still dangerous, but it was not as dangerous as the "Lost Battalion" (battle). We landed in Le Havre, France, and were transported in a cattle car because it was disguised as a cattle car, not a troop car, to the southern part of France. That's when I was assigned to a unit to supply some ammunition and some other goods. Then we were put on these landing crafts and ordered to Italy. Mark Clark, the General of the Fifth Army, had requested the 442nd to come back to Italy because for six months the army could not penetrate the Gothic Line, so Mark Clark thought we could do that. So when we got there we were ordered to attack the enemy from these tall mountains, and we had El Paisanos. They were the resisters of the German and fascist leaders who wanted to help us, and they guided us in the dark up this very, very tall mountain. One of my buddies, whose name was Tak Nakamura -- fortunately his name started with a T and mine was a Y -- so he was the lucky guy who got this heavy mortar plate which weighed more than forty, fifty pounds on his back, and he thought he was leaning against the cliff and he leaned this way and the cliff was over here and he fell this way. [Laughs] And fortunately there was a small terrace right below, but have you ever seen a turtle with its shell down? It cannot get up. And so he couldn't yell at us because that would give us away, so we hear, [whispers] "Psst, psst, hey, I'm down here." And finally it occurred to us, gee, Tak isn't here, so we had to go down and right him up, but he wasn't hurt. So we managed to get up, and by the time we get up to the top we surprised the German soldiers, and they began to give up and it was just a...

SY: So you were involved in this one campaign, the Gothic Line?

YN: Well, in a total way, yes. I was tangentially involved in these others, and I've been given credit for being in three campaigns. That's what the battle scars mean. So the army keeps track of all kinds of things, and I was quite surprised when, at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony there was a presentation of the Bronze Star Medal, which is given for infantrymen who did some exceptional work, is a lower medal (than) the Distinguished Service Cross or the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I thought it was a kind of generic medal. I had received one in the mail before, so here I was asked if it was okay for them to look through the records because they thought I was entitled to the Bronze Star. Well, they had a descriptive notation of what I did in that particular Gothic Line. So anyway, the Chief of Staff of the army, Odiniero, put these things on, and the strange thing about it (was that) announcer had a list that was different from the general's, so the general was putting the Bronze Star on a person whose name didn't match the Bronze Star. There is a name on the back of the Bronze Star for every recipient, but he didn't know that. But he went through and so when it came to Yoshio Nakamura and he put it on, it was some handsome guy that didn't look like me at all who got it. [Laughs] So at the very end, when this was all over, we were told this kind of snafu. There was a exchange of these Bronze Stars and I got the right one. But I can show you what they are.

SY: Do you have it right there?

YN: Yes, I do have it here.

SY: Okay, bring it up now. Yeah, I think we just have time to get through the war.

YN: Well, I'll show you what these various ribbons are.

SY: I'm surprised that they gave you a Bronze Star after.

YN: I have this on because I can't fit into my uniform anymore, so I put it on my cap, the ribbons that normally go onto the ribbon, to the...

SY: Uniform.

YN: Uniform. And this is the Bronze Star citation, and here's the General giving me the Bronze Star. But of course, he's giving me...

SY: Someone else's.

YN: Someone by the name of Tada, to me. [Laughs] But it didn't matter, but anyway, that's the...

SY: Can you just hold it up? Yeah.

YN: Yes. This is the citation. The Bronze Star looks like this. [Holds up medal]

SY: So exactly what does it say as far as why you received the Bronze Star? You say it's a lesser...

YN: Well, it says here, "For meritorious achievement while serving with Company M, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, on 10 April 1945 in Carrera, Italy, against an armed enemy of the United States, Private Nakamura's exemplary performance of duty in active ground combat was in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon himself, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Army of the United States."

SY: So you had to have been recommended for this by one of your officers?

YN: Well, apparently it was written in my record somewhere, so when they went through my record, apparently they discovered that they didn't give me this. But I did receive a Bronze Star, but I think it's because of the combat infantryman's badge. Every soldier who has a combat infantryman's badge earns a Bronze Star, but this is not a generic (one). So I was quite surprised by that, and then --

SY: You don't remember the exemplary service that prompted it?

YN: No, I was surprised that... I knew I was there.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.