<Begin Segment 2>

BF: So what camp were you...

WM: Tule Lake.

BF: Tule Lake. And how long were you there?

WM: Well, actually, I was not in camp that long. I think about five and a half to six months. Total.

BF: Oh. And you went into military service?

WM: No, from there I went to college in the Midwest. Left Tule Lake in, in the fall of 1942. And by the fall of 1944 I was drafted into the army and trained as an infantryman.

BF: And did you see combat?

WM: Oh no, then what they did is they sent me up to Fort Snelling to study Japanese. So I missed all the bullets flying around. And by that time the war had ended and I was shipped over to Japan with the U.S. army of occupation.

BF: What was that like, serving in the occupation forces?

WM: Well, I don't know what you mean by what it was like, I mean, it was just another job as an American soldier. With different reactions from the Japanese, the Japanese looked upon me as a, just an American soldier, in fact, they were surprised that I could speak Nihongo.

BF: Really?

WM: Yeah.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.