<Begin Segment 30>

TI: So you were at Walnut Grove for a few years, and then you left. So why did you leave Walnut Grove?

WM: Nothing, job, no job over there.

TI: So where did you go?

WM: Sacramento.

TI: And what did you do in Sacramento?

WM: Sacramento, I was work one year, farm, then '50, Uncle Sam called me.

TI: Okay, so Uncle Sam called you to a draft, there was a draft?

WM: Yeah. The first one to go, '50.

TI: And so this was the Korean War time?

WM: Yeah.

TI: And so where did you do your basic training and what was that like?

WM: One place, only one month, Texas. Just for how to shoot. That's why when they said, say, go overseas, I thought we were gonna go Japan. Then they sent me to Korea. I like to go to Japan, more better.

TI: So only one month of training, basic training, then you're shipped to Korea. And what kind of...

WM: Artillery.

TI: And at this point, what was going on in Korea? When you got there, what was happening?

WM: Just standby, not action.

TI: And during the time there, did you ever see any action in terms of...

WM: Only one time then.

TI: And so why don't you describe that? What was that one time, what happened?

WM: They come in and they say, "Everybody watch it," and they didn't bother us after that. Standby. And we got to move around all the time.

TI: And so when you were based in Korea, did you ever get to do trips to Japan, to visit Japan?

WM: One week, TDY, less.

TI: And so when you went to Japan, where did you go?

WM: My sister was there, older one, Bessie, working for government. So I went there, Tokyo.

TI: And what was it like for -- so what year was this then? This would be 1950?

WM: '51, '51.

TI: And so what was Tokyo like in 1951?

WM: Better than Korea. [Laughs]

JS: When did Bessie go to Japan?

WM: About four years she stayed there, working for government.

JS: So right after the war, after camp?

WM: No, after war, she was in Washington, then went to Japan.

TI: And do you know how she got that job in Japan?

WM: If you're working for state or something, they gave, you're working, they send... like me, I work American field then I go TDY, I stayed in Okinawa one month, work. That's better deal. Nobody bother you.

TI: So because, so Bessie got this job, and what was her job again? She worked with...

WM: Secretary or something.

JS: Interpreter.

WM: Interpreter.

TI: And do you know who she was the interpreter for?

WM: [Shakes head] She (didn't say anything). That's who's she's working with... five years?

JS: Head of the army? Oh, so she was recruited, or she worked for the army.

WM: [Referring to wife] She knows more than me, young.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.