<Begin Segment 21>

MN: Okay, so now you get to Fort Blanding in Florida, nine weeks. You got to be chosen as a squad leader, though. How did that happen?

DM: Well, I was kind of tall for the group, so the squad leader would be the man up in front of the squad, which eight of the soldiers behind you when we march. That's what we did, trained, march all day, have rifle practice and that kind of stuff, jump barricades. That was part of the basic training. About the eighth (week), these people from Fort Snelling language school came down to question all the soldiers about how proficient they were in Japanese language. So I was picked to go to Fort Snelling in Minnesota. In fact, it was in outskirts of... what's that town in Minnesota? Minneapolis.

MN: How did you feel about going into the MIS?

DM: Well, I didn't care to go. I wanted to go with the rest of the troop to, they were bound for Europe. And when I got to, after I got to Fort Snelling, they checked us out and separated us into Class A, B, C and D. I was put into Class D, which was called the "dumbbell class." So must have spent about a year in Fort Snelling before I was shipped overseas to the Pacific.

MN: So what was your study habits like at Fort Snelling?

DM: It was classroom with an instructor. I guess their object was mainly to teach how to read and write Japanese, which I never got too far.

MN: Did you meet other Niseis from the Imperial Valley at MIS school?

DM: There were a few. I can't remember who they were, but there were some.

MN: What did you do on your free time at MIS school?

DM: Gee, what was there to do but to go to movies? Movies and that's about it. Explore the town of Minneapolis, and across the river was the town of St. Paul. That's why they call it the Twin Cities, I think. And the food was pretty good. I still remember Sunday dinner was always ham. What's that sauce they put on the ham? Raisin sauce. Raisin sauce and ham on Sunday, I still remember. That was our Sunday dinner.

MN: Let me go back to Fort Blanding for a moment. When you were at Fort Blanding, your unit was all Japanese Americans?

DM: No, it was all Japanese American, yeah.

MN: And where were they all from?

DM: All over.

MN: Also from Hawaii?

DM: I don't think... yeah, there were some Hawaiians. I met a lot of Hawaiian people in camps, I mean, Fort Snelling.

MN: Now I know during basic training you have to do the target practice, and on the farm, you're shooting at moving targets. How did you do at target practice?

DM: Of course, we used real bullets. I think we were issued a medal for class 1 rifleman or something. Of course, if you're going to war, you have to learn how to shoot a gun.

MN: So you got a medal?

DM: Oh, yeah, everybody got a medal, whether it was Class A or Class B.

MN: You got a Class A?

DM: Yeah.

MN: What kind of rifles were you issued?

DM: It was M-1, which was a single, bolt action single shot. Bolt action means put a bolt in, you had to pull the trigger, pull the bolt to cock and everything.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.