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BN: So after the military training and other leave, and then are you deployed at that point?

NN: Yeah, I was sent overseas. And we get sent to Okinawa to get your final orders, and then when we got to Okinawa, I guess it was my first time I ever was in any foreign country. And then you get a leave. I mean, they'll let you out for the day, and then every... what I learned at that time was every military base, there's a honkey-tonk town right outside the base even in Japan at that time, that was there to cater to the needs of the U.S. servicemen, so right outside the base of, I think we were in Naha, that there was little village they called Kenville, and this was where, like, they had hostess bars and American eating food kind of places like massage places, tailors and all this kind of stuff. So went to town, it reminded me of going to Tijuana back then. And it was pretty... in hindsight, it was real, it was pretty ugly, especially for the young woman. So I was at Okinawa for maybe a few days, and then I get orders to go to Japan. They sent me to Iwakuni, Japan, and my MOS is like a clerical, and I get clerical because at Dorsey, I took a typing class, so probably the only one to type. So I lucked out in that sense, so I'm Okinawa, and like in this office, I'm figuring, you know what, I'm kind of at home. And that was, but I'm still on a military base, but they have this town outside the military base in Okinawa, it's another honky-tonk town, and I think at the end they call it Three Corners because it tees off or something like that, you know. I remember the first time I have a leave, going to a bar and a club, and all these young beautiful women stand up, "Irasshai." "You talking to me?" kind of thing. I stayed in Okinawa about five months, and what my parents, they sent me the address of the Nagtanis in Japan that lived in Hiroshima, around Hiroshima in the country. So I was able to go to visit relatives one day. And they still remember that. They said, this Marine came one day, come by...

BN: Just to back up, this is near Iwakuni, right? Because you said you were five months in Okinawa?

NN: No, no, I was five months in Iwakuni.

BN: Iwakuni, okay. Was that the first time you'd been to Japan?

NN: Yes. And then I also got to firsthand experience the term, "the Ugly American" where all the, especially all the Caucasian Marines, they would complain about, even on base like all the Japanese nationals that work on base, how come they can't speak English, blah, blah, blah. They would talk about Japanese as if I'm not one. So it started to eat at me somewhat, but they would never use the word "Jap," at least in front of me. But then I was very conscious about my attendance all the time, that someone was going to slip. I guess it got to a breaking point where when I came over from Okinawa to Japan, some of the people that I came with that we got the same orders were a couple of white guys, and they were assigned to the mess hall, they were cooks. And one was pretty tall, and the other guy was just big, not sumo sized, but he was big. And so I knew them because we came over together, and I see them on base, and, "What's up?" kind of shit, right? But then one night, I'm at a bar, nursing a drink, and these two guys come in. I think they see me and they say, I'm pretty sure they said, "What's up, Jack?" I'm going, "What did you say?" He says, "What's up, Jack?" I said, "No, what'd you really say?" It's kind of like that Robert De Niro movie, Taxi Driver, he said, "You talking to me?" [Laughs] "What'd you really say?" He said, "What's up, Jack?" I said, "No." He finally said, "Okay, I said, 'What's up, Jap?'" So I got my drink and I hit him with the cup, right? And then all hell broke loose, you know, we're fighting in there, and then they called the MPs. So we're still pissed, so we said, "Okay, we'll meet you at (Three) Corners." So we go there, and then I had this other guy that I worked in the office with that kind made sure the other big dude didn't jump in. So me and this guy, we're fighting for about... I mean, you fight for two or three minutes, it feels like forever. [Laughs] So it was only about two or three minutes, but he's so big that I couldn't put him down, but I'm quick, so he couldn't catch me. So da-da-da, and doing that for a while. And finally, we grabbed each other, and then by this time, all the steam's out of both of us and he kind of says, "What are we doing this for?" "I don't know, man." So we parted ways. And then the next morning, I'm getting my food, and this fucker's serving me. And I'm going, "Oh, shit, man, I got to do something about this." But shortly thereafter, I get orders to go to Vietnam. So ended up in Vietnam for, I guess when you get sent overseas, you get thirteen months, so I did the remaining seven months in Vietnam.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.