<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Okay, so before we go there, let me just sort of summarize where we are. So after Puyallup, went to Minidoka. Halfway through your senior year, you had enough credits to graduate. You then left camp and eventually went to Des Moines, Iowa, to Drake University. Then you were... after a year of school, inducted into the military. You served in the Philippines?

FM: Well, initially, when we first, when I was first inducted, (...) all the Niseis at that time, and this was in late '44, were placed in enlisted reserve corps. And what they were doing was gathering a bunch of us together so that we could train as a company for replacement for the 442nd. We were in the infantry. As a matter of fact, I was in school (...). And when we went to be inducted, I went with my friends, there were two or three friends from school that I went to induction with.

TI: So these were non-Japanese?

FM: Yeah, they were Caucasians. And the guys were saying, "Well, I'm going to join the navy or the air corps," or whatever. And in fact, this one good friend said, (...) "Okay, we're gonna join the navy." So I went there, and we were gonna be inducted. And I'm seeing on my sheet of paper that we're carrying, and I had this big AO, and it was eight and a half by eleven sheet of paper, and it was AO about that big, covered the whole sheet of paper. And I said, "I want to join the navy." And he said, "No, you can't. See this?" And I said, "What does that mean?" "Army only." And so I could not serve in any other part of the service (...) except army.

TI: And was that because you were of Japanese ancestry?

FM: Japanese, yeah.

TI: Did he say that? Did he explain that to you, or how did you know that?

FM: No, when they said army only, then I realized, okay, that's it. And my friend went to the navy, and I was placed in the enlisted reserve corps from about September... October, November, December, I think about three months I was in the enlisted reserve corps. When there were enough people, enough Niseis gathered together to become large enough to support a company in training for the 442nd. (...) We got together in St. Louis, and we were there for a bit of time, that was January of '45. We were there an exceedingly long time, like three weeks we were there, just sitting. And then I think what they did was they realized they didn't need a replacement for the 442nd.

TI: Because the war in Europe was winding down?

FM: Yeah. (...) We were separated and went all different ways. I unfortunately went to the infantry, and the rifle-carrying part of the infantry. And I trained with guys that (...) learned to be infantry military. When we finished in April, they were scheduled to go to the Pacific. Then, of course, they wouldn't send me there. I wasn't the only one, but they were maybe three or four Niseis in that company. (...) They asked me what I wanted to do, and they had... guys were getting discharged from the company, oh, what do you call it? The permanent people there. They needed people to become part of that cadre, and so that's what I did. Most of my time in the service I stayed in Camp Hood, Texas.

TI: Helping to train people?

FM: Yeah, train some incoming guys. (...) I didn't want to go to Fort Snelling, although they were looking for people to go there.

TI: Now, why did you say that? Why did you not want to go to Fort Snelling?

FM: Well, my Japanese was so poor. It's amazing how much I lost from that year and a half or two years that I was there. I didn't learn Japanese too well to begin with, which I regret, really. I wish I had learned that better, then I maybe would have had much more of an inclination to go to the MIS. My brother did, he spent quite a bit of time in the MIS, older brother.

TI: So this is George?

FM: George, yeah. But anyhow, finally they sent me there. They just put me on orders to go there, (...) when I took the test, there were classes one through, I think, fifteen, and I ended up in class thirteen. The lower ones mean the...

TI: The weaker Japanese.

FM: Yeah, weaker in Japanese. So I (...), finally, went to class for two months, that's all. And then when the decided again that they didn't need as many interpreters and translators and things like that (...). Anyhow, that's when I ended up going to the Philippines, and I did, toward the very end of my army career, military career (...). I kind of enjoyed... (...) being there, but I think it was good for me to see other parts of the world. Shortly after the war in the Philippines at that time, this is 1946, it was even less than a year after Japan had surrendered, and nothing had been rebuilt yet by any means. (...) I was in Manila, and (...) the whole area was just a shambles. They had just kind of swept the streets, and that was about it. I worked for a while in a printing plant, and then I came home.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.