<Begin Segment 11>

LD: What is your most vivid memory from that experience? If you had to pick one thing you think you'll always remember, what do you think it is? The most terrible thing and the best thing.

HF: The most terrible thing -- and, of course, it spilled over after the war -- was the devastating effect of malaria in particular, because I was a victim of thirteen recurrences of malaria, and ended up in the hospital practically every time the incidence, that is, the recurrence, occurred. So from that standpoint, I think the disease was the worst experience that I had. In terms of what I remember most fondly of the whole campaign, I believe that is the camaraderie, the companionship, respect for our fellow soldiers and particularly of the fellow Niseis that we had developed during the campaign.

LD: That grew over time.

HF: Yes.

LD: You helped rescue that group that was trapped?

HF: We happened to miss that, Calvin and I happened to miss that particular campaign because we were still in the rear echelon at that point in time working with the Office of War Information.

LD: You feel proud of what the Nisei were able to do there?

HF: Yes. Even to this day, I feel, on a private basis -- I'd never brag about these things -- but on a private basis that we are very proud of what each one of the Niseis assigned to Merrill's Marauders had accomplished in winning the war, that is, in winning the campaign in Burma. In particular, the value to which we were, well, we were exposed. That is, we operated behind enemy lines, we served as the eyes and the ears of the troops, and in this way I believe that we were very, very effective in saving the many lives, American lives.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1985 The Center for Educational Telecommunications and Densho. All Rights Reserved.