<Begin Segment 13>

LD: Did you guys do anything for fun? What did you do when you had some time off?

HF: Well, after the campaign in North Burma, of course, a lot of 'em spent lot of time shopping in New Delhi. That's where our recuperation center was after the campaign. And we took the spirit of the time as a time for enjoyment, enjoying each other's company, and, well, trying to see what our next assignment was more than anything else. But in that interim, as I recall, a lot of 'em bought some semi-precious stones to adorn themselves, others whiled away their time gambling. Poker was their favorite game, and they would play poker by the hours. I got burned early in my college career, that gambling was not for me, so I didn't gamble. Instead, of course, my interest was playing the ukulele, and this is what I did.

LD: You took the ukulele with you?

HF: Yes, throughout the campaign. It's a funny thing. Well, I couldn't take it through the campaign itself, I had it deposited in the rear echelon. But I retrieved it as soon as I came out of the campaign.

LD: Retrieved your...

HF: Belongings, including the ukulele.

LD: You would play the ukulele where?

HF: And then I would play the ukulele in the, well, recuperation hospital. As I recall, music was sorely lacking in the bashas as we called them, makeshift shelters that we were housed in for the evacuation hospital. And like it or not, they had to listen to my ukulele and my singing. [Laughs]

LD: This is when you were recuperating.

HF: Yes, that's right.

LD: You were in the hospital for how long?

HF: Over a period of time. I was in and out and in and out. Malaria is a funny thing when it hits. That is, first of all, you come down with it, and then the bad form -- there are different forms of malaria, by the way. But I happened to contract the worst form of malaria. And this form happens to hit the malaria victim on a recurrent basis. So there will be cycles of fever and chill and aches, and this happened to me about thirteen times. I didn't go to the hospital every time it occurred, but I would say about half the time I ended up in the hospital.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1985 The Center for Educational Telecommunications and Densho. All Rights Reserved.