<Begin Segment 14>

TI: I guess it's good being good at basketball.

GN: Basketball all the way. Then I went to, I had to go to Germany, I was assigned to go to Germany. So I went to Germany, and when I got there, they put me on a train all by myself. Normally you travel with a bunch of army, right? But they put me alone on the train to go to Frankfurt, near Frankfurt there was another base named Hanau. In Hanau there was an opening for a typist for a chemical unit. So I got there, there was a jeep waiting for me. So I got off, the jeep takes me to the chemical unit, and guess who's waiting for me there? The company commander is a Japanese Hawaiian.

TI: Oh, interesting.

GN: And he's taller than I am, and his name is George Togashiki. So I met him, he was nice.

TI: So a company commander, what rank was he?

GN: Captain.

TI: And what rank were you at this time?

GN: Still a private. I didn't even have a stripe, nothing.

TI: So the company commander came to greet you?

GN: No, no, he didn't greet me, but after the jeep ride, I went to see him at the office.

TI: Oh, you went to go see him, okay.

GN: So then he greeted me. And he told me where my room was and there was about how many people, there were twenty-four people in one room, sleeping, I don't want to sleep in here. Oh well, that's the way it is. And after the next day, we went to the office where I was going to be working, and the captain took me there personally. And went in the office, and everybody, "Attention," there was a captain there, saluting, but the captain says, "This is your desk," and it's got a thing with my name on this, says, "Private George Naganuma," said, wow, it's all for me, I couldn't believe it. So I had the first desk there. He told me, "This is where you're going to be working," and showed me around. That's my start in the army, and it was great working in the office. Every morning I would go there and make the coffee and they will have coffee, and just type all day. Just type all day, and all these guys outside, they're working in the snow, you know, all the other guys, all of us, just typing, bookkeeping and inventory. And the sergeant's here, and then the lieutenant's sitting there. No one bothers you, just type all day long. It was beautiful. Then lunchtime comes, we get on the jeep, go to the mess hall, come back, type again, the jeep takes you back home. Go back to your barrack, you change to civilians, go out and go see a movie, go bowling, whatever. It was a wonderful life, the army.

TI: So it was just kind of giving you a job.

GN: Yeah, like a job. And the PX, everything is cheap.

TI: Now, did the army ever discover how good an artist you were? Did they ever ask you to draw anything?

GN: Oh, yeah, that did happen at the second training, I forgot to mention that. They asked if anybody knew how to draw, so I raised my hand, I can do something. So all the noncommissioned officers has a, where they all have a meeting place where they have drinks and whatever. They wanted me to paint horses, horses and things on the wall, so I said okay. So I painted, that's what I did. So I didn't have to march or do anything, I'd just go straight to their room and paint every day.

TI: Just like a mural.

GN: Yeah, so that's what I did in there, I painted for them.

TI: So I think of all the people I've interviewed, you might have had one of the best military services --

GN: I did, I did. I tell everybody, that's a paid vacation. Oh, my goodness. Even in the basic training, it was...

TI: I've interviewed lots of men about...

GN: Basic training, all this shooting and everything, they wanted somebody to paint signs. So nobody, I raised my hand, I painted sign, I put numbers, and all these stations, shoot or they'd throw grenades or whatever, while they were doing that, I'm painting. So the art and the basketball really helped me. And then I joined a basketball team in Germany also, and then we won the championship on the base again, I was on a winning team again, I couldn't believe it.

TI: Again, you're a good basketball player.

GN: No, I was not. Then they gave us uniforms, then went to travel, went to Stuttgart, there was a tournament there from all the bases in Europe, they had a tournament there. Wow, unbelievable.

TI: Because military service is playing basketball and doing art.

GN: And they'd send us to go skiing, too. So we went skiing, and when President Kennedy came to the base nearby, they sent us to go see him on a bus. So I saw Kennedy.

TI: What an experience.

GN: Yeah. Paid vacation, my goodness. My uniform never got dirty, my boots were always shiny, and the guns we shoot once a year, and that was it.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.