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gky: Can you talk a little bit about going to SEATIC [Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center] and what that was like; how that was different for you from working in New Delhi?

RT: Well, what actually happened was in March, prior to March of 1944, Sergeant Osako and I were sent to the British forces in Imphal, Burma, and we were assigned to a British unit and we were there until approximately July of 1944. There we were completely surrounded by the Japanese forces and we were under siege for the longest time. When we were finally sent back to India, we learned that they had formed an organization called the "Southeast Asian Translation Interrogation Center," and this was an allied organization quite similar to the ATIS [Allied Translator and Interpreter Service] in the Southwest and in the Pacific. They had British officers, Indian officers, American officers, and men, and it was a allied intelligence organization commanded by an American colonel with a British lieutenant colonel as the executive officer, the next officer in command, and it was quite an experience for us, because our working habits are different.

Americans worked from early in the morning and went right through to lunch, and from lunch we worked until closing time. The British, they have what is known as "tiffin." They take time off to have tea at ten o'clock, they have tea at around two o'clock, and they work about the same hours as we do, except they take off more for teatime, and then they have their supper way late, about eight o'clock, whereas we have our dinner around six o'clock. So our working habits were very different, and it was quite an experience. This phenomena even occurred in a combat zone. We would be traveling down from one area to another and when it came tea time the convoy would stop and the British would have their tea and would not continue until after tea. And this was very strange to us because American forces did not take off for coffee or tea.

gky: Was that the most different thing for you?

RT: Oh, there were other differences. There was a greater distinction between officers and enlisted men. In the U.S. Army and officers would ensure that their men are served their meals before they take their meals. The British officers had no regard as far as that was concerned. I guess their sergeant major was supposed to take care of the enlisted personnel. Another difference is even in a combat zone, the British officers would have a orderly, or they called them batman, B-A-T-M-A-N, and the batman would boil their hot water and they would take care of their officers. In the American army, in the combat zone, there's no such thing as an orderly assigned to an officer. Strange as it seems, the British even have a folding canvas bath of small canvas, piece of canvas that folds up and the batman boils the hot water and puts it into the small folding canvas bag and the British officer bathed in that water that was boiled by the batman. The British soldiers and officers are quite different in their habits than the Americans.

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