<Begin Segment 27>

SK: But I guess being an officer had, had its privileges, too. We went to resort areas -- like (cannes while) the enlisted man went to common areas, so it was all right. But when it comes time to lead men, it really hurt me because I'm telling these guys, "Hey, you going die." You know what I mean? I give them an assignment and even as a platoon sergeant, when I asked those guys to go out and carry out a certain duty, I waited until the last man came back, made sure that everybody was well. One time I sent this squad out and the squad sergeant wasn't there so I said, "Hey, what happened to Kiichi?" "You know, that bugger, he got shot up, and he was supposed to be the first one out, but he told the medics, 'Go take the other guys first,' and he was the last man to be evacuated." So this is the type of guys we had, really tough outside and inside, too.

TI: It sounds like one of the things you found as an officer, there is a lot of heavy responsibility for the men, and you felt responsible to try and keep them as safe as possible.

SK: That's it, yeah. The loss of hair is because of that. [Laughs]

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.