<Begin Segment 24>

TI: Now, are there any battles that stick out in your memory that you participated in that you can tell me about?

SK: Yeah. You see, we all go together so it's hard to say this battle was one this battle... but this one particular time, my platoon sergeant got wounded so he asked me to take his place. So I became the platoon sergeant after that, and my second-in-command Matsumura was made staff -- no, my squad leader, and I believe Kash was made assistant squad leader at that time. But, anyway, we were (assigned as a) recon combat patrol to recon, reconnoiter, the area and if possible, fight. So this is wine-growing area so the fields are bare at that time, recon time, so we dispersed ourself and going forward, and we came to a narrow ditch. Well, it was a man-made water area, oh, about ten, fifteen feet in width and on the other side was a kind of flat area and that went up like this. We didn't know what was on the other side, but it was a long thing. When we reached there, my scout yelled, "Hey, look at the dirty looking goat." The goat was grazing along the edge of this pond, then I saw couple Germans stick their (heads) out and blast us. I got three guys killed right there and then. But, anyway, I told those guys, "Okay, go against the bank over there." And we didn't know what was going on the other side so we threw grenades and then we (waited for the explosion). Right after that we go over so that they won't have a chance to fire back. That was the intention. So we went over we saw Germans in the (dry canal) -- it was a man-made canal, that's right, like that see. They were (dug in) over there. Had they been awake, they would have been, we would have been fired (upon) when we were about 200, 300 yards away. They were asleep. One German I saw was dead in his foxhole, his shoes neatly placed on the side of his foxhole. One of our boys just shot him there, and there were a few of the soldiers running this way and we fired upon them. And we didn't know how many was killed, but then that was the first skirmish we had by our platoon itself. Usually it's two platoons going forward and one is in reserve, you see, so normally we don't have hand-to-hand combat at that time, but this particular time we were real close to the enemy.

TI: What was going through your mind when it was over? You had just lost three of your boys, you had just been in a skirmish, you've killed German soldiers, what kind of things do you think about at that point?

SK: It's really... just fire. That's all. No feeling. Our aim is to kill, you see, so that's what we did. I remember Kash using his BAR (Narr. note: Browning Automatic Rifle) to fire, but I felt that -- I did a crazy thing at that time, as I think about it now. His BAR wasn't taking effect because he wasn't using his tripod, I mean, bipod. Normally (...) a bipod (is used) and (...) the (rifle's butt) on his shoulder and fire this way, see, that would be more accurate, but he was firing from his hip. So I remember distinctly telling Kash, "Hey, use my shoulder." That was a stupid thing to do, but I felt that it would be more accurate for him to fire. Later I learned those guys running (away), (...) we got six Germans killed so I felt that Kashino's BAR did the trick.

TI: And he used your shoulder?

SK: Yeah.

TI: Now, why did you think that was a mistake, then?

SK: Afterwards I thought it was a mistake because if the Germans had fired back, I was... [laughs]

TI: You would have been Kashino's shield. [Laughs]

SK: Yes, yes, I tell you. But when you come to that kind of situation, you'll do anything, anything, to do what you are supposed to do. Oh, my goodness. But I think we laughed at it afterwards, but his accurate firing, I think, got the six running away.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.