<Begin Segment 9>

PW: So tell me about the first campaign they sent you on.

LS: Well, I remember it well. It was either July 4 or 5, right about then. There was a push to go toward the Arno River north of Rome. So Italy was kind of open rolling fields between cities, not many trees. So we were assigned one area, 2nd Battalion, and the 100th was put in reserve, and the 3rd Battalion and the 2nd were in the lead. Well, our company commander, like the first time in combat, the hills were kind of like this, and he led us right down the middle, which was the easiest walking, and we're all pretty much bunched together, which we shouldn't be. And we're following the gaps, and all of a sudden the Germans start firing, and they're firing from this side and that side, so we're scattering and there's no cover. Right away, Captain (Ensminger) got shot in the head, just like that. Lieutenants have to take over. I'm the 4th Platoon at that point, and the 4th Platoon, that's what we call heavy weapons in the company. I was with the 60-millimeter mortars, we have the machine gun. We're supposed to be behind the embankment so that we're not seen, but we can fire our mortars which go up and then come almost straight down. We're out there in the front right with the infantry, wide open. And my lieutenant, Lieutenant Zukowski, he got hit. So within an hour, we lost our company commander, we lost our 4th Platoon leader, and everybody is scrambling. Well, battalion commander, Colonel Hanley, saw this, and he radioed back and the regimental commander sent the 100th up front. They come up, but they didn't come up where we were, they came up high, and they attacked the Germans. And by that time, the Germans were starting to come down and chase us out, and then they slaughtered the Germans. I don't know how many trucks and jeeps, guns, soldiers that we captured up there. And then, of course, as the 100th came in, we pulled back. But that first day, we lost a lot of men. That's the first time we'd seen bullets flying, actual bullets.

PW: And then following that, was there, were you immediately sent back out, or did they put you to rest? How did that work?

LS: Well, we didn't really have rest. I think we were on the line for maybe four or five days. We just had to reorganize. We learned a lot that first day.

PW: So tell me then what happens with your company and with the 442/100th?

LS: Well, we maintained progress up to the Arno River, to Florence and that area, and there were some pretty heavy battles around the Arno. But the invasion of Europe at Normandy was in June. The 5th Army, which we were in Italy, was supposed to invade southern France at Marseilles sometime in July to kind of coordinate with Normandy up here, we'd be in the south and push the Germans north and east and then gradually to the German border. Well, because the 36th Division couldn't get organized, it was end of August before we finally made the invasion. So by that time, most of the German forces down there in Southern France had been sent to Normandy to help them. Now, when we came in, we came in on what they call LSI, the boat, flat bottom has a front end that drops down and they jump in the water. Well, we didn't have very much opposition, it didn't take long when we started going forward, north, and pretty soon, the air force wiped out a whole bunch of German equipment. So it made it really easy. By that time, a lot of trucks were unloaded and brought in, so we could ride trucks and they started trucking us further north. Well, gradually, we're approaching eastern France. So that's how we got to that area called the Vosges Forest, Bruyeres, Biffontaine.

PW: And I know this is where a very famous battle happens, too.

LS: What's that?

PW: I know that this is where, in Vosges Mountains -- I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right -- this is where there's a major campaign.

LS: The reason is because, up to this point, we hadn't been fighting in trees. On the 15th of October is when we were attacking Bruyeres. And there's an area that's open and a road that goes in Bruyeres, the city. And so we're heading that way. Then there's hills with trees. All of a sudden, we get fire from up there in the trees, the Germans were shooting down at us. We have to change, we can't go this way, so we have to start climbing into the forest to try to dig the Germans out, otherwise we can't proceed. Well, this was the bloodiest I think that the 442nd ever had. Primarily because the Germans were always on the upper side shooting down, and our artillery would be mounted on what they call half-tracks, they could move around quickly. There weren't many roads that they could use, there weren't many opens spots, but there was enough that they could set up their artillery. And they used what they called the .88 millimeter rifle. It was the anti-aircraft gun at high velocity. And instead of shooting at airplanes, they were now shooting at us, and they would shoot into that forest. These trees, the logging industry was the number one industry in that area, so these trees had all been forested, they'd been planted years before, now they're getting big. Some of them are like eighteen, twenty inches in diameter, maybe forty, fifty feet tall, straight, nice timber. The artillery come in, and normally when the artillery comes in, it comes towards you, it hits the ground, explodes, and goes forward. You're okay if you're over here. Well, when it hits a tree, the artillery shell bursts like an umbrella, it goes every direction. Not only that, but the shreds, the timber, the limbs from the trees would be cut, break, fall down, so you're getting hit by not only artillery shell, but the lumber. I recall, I just happened to be looking, we're pinned down, and most of... you take whatever cover you can get, just hoping you don't get hit. And I saw this one Nisei crouching by this tree, and the artillery shell hit maybe twenty feet above him and broke off a big chunk of a limb and it came right down and just smashed. A lot of boys got hurt or killed that way. It was the reason there were so many casualties. And it took eight days, we had to fight, there's been a lot of pictures shown of trees broken down, the soldiers climbing the hill. We had to go through the hill, there were hills A, B, C and D, and then come down in Bruyeres itself, and then chase the Germans house to house. It's not a very big city, but still, they're in the houses shooting out of the windows, you had to chase them out. And most of the people were still living, but most of the houses had cellars and the people would live in the cellars. But it was just a bloody battle.

So about that time, it started to rain, (...) we finally got through the city of Bruyeres and the railroad track, which was the main supply line for the Germans, we had to capture, so we did that, and we're beyond, heading into whatever that was in front of us. We were told, "Keep going." Well, on the 23rd, they pulled us off. And normally, when you have that many casualties, you're off for two or three weeks until you recover, and they bring in reserves to replenish your men. Well, in our case, you had to be Japanese. You couldn't call the replacement depot and say, "Send me two hundred soldiers," which any other group could do. In our case, you had to have a Nisei. So by this time, the draft had started to enlist the Japanese, so now they're going into Camp Shelby and being trained. Well, it took six months at least to train them, to send them, so we couldn't get any replacements at that time. So we were like, at least fifty percent capacity because we had so many casualties. So on the 23rd of October, we're off the line. All this time, no hot food, no change of clothes, very little ammunition left. Because to get the people that had to bring food, water, ammunition to us through the hills, they'd have to carry a five gallon can of water, because you needed water. And that is awfully heavy. And so it would be the cooks, band members, truck drivers, whoever they could get to bring all that up. And ammunition they strap around them, and that's heavy. Well, you can't move unless they come up behind you at night, you hope to get some kind of... we ate a lot of k-rations, that's a dry box, but you have to have water and you have to have bullets. So they would continually be bringing... and then the wounded, they have to carry back.

So on the 23rd, after eight days, we were finally off. They had what they called a shower truck, and there was apparently a river that they could pump the water from, heat it, and then shower. And you would go into the first truck and take off all your clothes, get in that shower, and they had a square, called a lye soap, really ugly stuff, but it would take the paint off your car. So you would wash yourself off with the lye soap, and you go out the other end and dry off, and you'd get a new set of clothes. Well, the next, the cooks were there set up with their kitchen, they had these metal, what they call metal trays, aluminum trays that you eat out of. So at least we got a hot meal, hot coffee. Well, that's the 24th. That night, we were told, "You have to get ready to go back up." We hadn't even had time to clean our weapons. So on the 25th, we started out again, and where did we go? Back into that forest, and it's raining, it's sloppy, and half of our manpower's gone. And we're told that there's a battalion of American soldiers that are trapped. We find out that they're at least five miles beyond where the rest of the soldiers are. Military tactic, you never go beyond your reserve. You always keep a chain of supply, so that they can bring munition and bring wounded back. If you go too far, you're isolated. Well, General Dahlquist wanted to be the first American general to cross the German border. At that point, we're like 45 miles, maybe, from the German border. And just north of us is General Patton, he wants to be the first American general, so there's a big race. General Dahlquist kept pushing that one battalion, and the battalion kept following orders. Over five miles between here and there, and the Germans let them come, and then surrounded that battalion. Well, they might have started that with five, six hundred men, but they were down to two hundred and eleven men. After a week, they'd been cut off, they had no water, no food, no medical supplies, and very little ammunition. The day that the 442nd reached, they said, they made a last stand, that was going to be the end. If they weren't rescued, they would be overrun by the Germans. So we saved the battalion. I personally didn't get there, because I was in the hospital.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.