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PW: So how many years were you at UCSF?

EH: Four years.

PW: Four.

EH: Yeah, that was a four years' program there. That was '58 to '62.

PW: '58 to '62. And so once you graduated from the pharmacy school, where did you go? Did you meet, did you start working, did you stay in San Francisco?

EH: No. What happened was I got drafted. After I graduated in 1962, and then you had to study and pass the state bar exam, the state pharmacy exam to become a registered pharmacist, so I did that. And a lot of my friends -- at that time, if you were a male, you were eligible to be drafted for the military service. But there was one way that you could avoid serving a long time, you could do a six months' tour as an active person. And then I think it was like four and a half years of... inactive, you only had to go once a month to a class. But I made a mistake and I didn't join that. So what happened was, in November, I got drafted, and I had to serve two years. So when you get drafted, you had to go to the beginning training, which was in Fort Ord in Monterey, California. And then an assignment that I was given, I was sent to Texas to San Antonio, Texas. There was a pharmacy technician school in Texas that trained students to become a pharmacy technician. So you're not a pharmacist, but the pharmacists need help running a pharmacy. But they needed pharmacists to train the technicians on their duties. So I was sent there to become an instructor there, which I did. So I served two years in the army there.

PW: And, of course, this is during the Vietnam war, we're talking about.

EH: Just starting.

PW: Right. So with that just starting, and this is an important piece of history as well, what was the energy like for you to join the army at that time?

EH: Well, I didn't enjoy it, but I had to do it because I had no choice. And so what I did was I took the state exam in Texas to be a registered pharmacist there, and I passed that. So I used to work part time nights and some weekends in local pharmacies in the San Antonio area. And I used to make more working part time than the military was paying me. And so that worked out okay. And Texas is a little different than California in many ways. I wouldn't call it interesting, but it was different.

PW: I'm remembering you saying that your father, when he was considering the graduate school in Texas, he was always hesitant because of the racism he was worried about. And again, with the Vietnam War, you're Asian, this is the Vietnam War. Was it ever an issue for you when you were in Texas?

EH: No, it wasn't, I don't know why. What was interesting down there, though, is that we were training, they called them the Green Berets, which were kind of like the seals are now. The Green Berets had teams like eight or ten guys, and they were going to specific assignments. So one of the people had to have some medic training. And one was a medic and one was a sniper and all of these other specialties that they had. So we had to teach the boys that were going to become the medic. So we taught them a little bit about what drugs to use and that kind of thing, because we're not going to teach them the medical part, but we needed some information on the pharmacy part and the drugs and that kind of thing. And that group was, they were crazy kids.

PW: How so?

EH: Hmm?

PW: How so?

EH: Oh, they were wild young men. I mean, they were willing to do anything. If we see them in the bars, then they're the ones that get into trouble all the time. They're very masculine, but they were interesting to handle, to deal with. Some of them were pretty intelligent, but they liked to drink and get into it.

PW: You're about the same age as all the guys that are going into the war.

EH: Little younger. Yeah, I was a little older than they were. Because most of them were right out of high school.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.