<Begin Segment 22>

SF: So after you worked on the Great Northern, then you got drafted. Is that right? Into the army?

TS: Yeah. I got drafted, yeah.

SF: When did you get drafted?

TS: '45? I think it was after the war.

SF: So in -- then you took basic training and then...

TS: Yeah, I -- I got, yeah. That was a disappointment. I was in Spokane. And in my whole life, I had been to Portland, Oregon, raised there, and I visited there. But I had never left the state of Washington, except to Portland. And here, now I'm going in the army and maybe I'll see someplace. So I go to Fort Lewis, and we -- at the beginning -- and they have a formation in the morning and they tell you one morning. And I says, "Oh, I'm gonna go to Fort Meade, Maryland, for basic training." And I was so happy. But the other white guys that came from Spokane with me -- some of 'em were also set for Fort Meade -- and they were really sad because they had to leave home. But I was so happy because finally, I'm gonna see something besides state of Washington! [Laughs] But the following morning, the orders got changed. I was gonna take my basic training in Fort Lewis. So I was still a stick in the mud. So I stayed there for a year until they had a general demobilization or something.

SF: So after you took basic at Lewis, then you just kinda hung around post and did menial jobs or...?

TS: Well, they stuck me in the, in the medics. I worked in the, first in the -- what do they -- the body thing? What do you call it?

SF: Mortuary, or...?

TS: Oh, no, no, no, no. I mean, where they...

SF: Oh.

TS: Fix bad backs, and make...

SF: (Orthopedic) Clinic?

TS: So I, I got no training, okay? I go into this clinic, and they say, "Well, blah-blah-blah, you work with this guy." And he was looking at feet. He'd have people sitting on, [slaps chair, raises hands] high above you, and they'd take, have the shoes off, and they'd look at their feet. And then you'd mark on a piece that you got pes planus, which means...

SF: Flat...

TS: ...flatfeet, blah-blah. And some of 'em were bad, I guess. And he says, not suitable for hikes or -- what do you call -- ? Marching, and some had very little -- so you'd distinguish between 'em -- says, I mean, those you don't say anything much. Then you have -- what's the other thing -- ? Some would have growths and stuff on, athlete's foot and stuff.

SF: So you worked in this clinic, basically, as a kind of a record keeper, a clerk, or...?

TS: Well, I don't know what you'd call it. All I know is that when I -- I got pulled outta basic after about ten days, got stuck in the medics, and I'm looking at guys' feet first. And pretty soon I'm in the eye, ear and nose, throat, and I'm working on the -- when they do the sinus thing. And looking at all their goop that comes, operating on their tonsils and stuff. And I was like, God bless it, I hope I never get sick in the army and have guys like me lookin' at, who don't know a damn thing. I'm not kidding. That's awful.

SF: Yeah. That's amazing, 'cause don't they send the medics to get training at Fort Sam Houston?

TS: Yeah, or someplace. Yeah. But I guess maybe there was a shortage or something. But I just, I was glad I never got sick.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.