Densho Digital Archive - Shoichi Kobara Interview (denshovh-kshoichi-01-0021)

<Begin Segment 21>

TI: So after two weeks at Seabrook, you get your draft notice, and then you said you went, I'm sorry, to New Jersey or someplace?

SK: Well, Seabrook is in New Jersey. So then they gave us notice saying we have to report to Salt Lake City. So we came back to Poston and got sworn in in Salt Lake City.

TI: Okay. And then what happened after that?

SK: Then I had to go to basic training in Camp Blanding, Florida.

TI: And about what time was this? Do you know what year, or roughly the time?

SK: Let's see. It had to be around... end of '43, I think, '44. '43, '43, I think.

TI: Okay, the end of '43.

SK: 'Cause basic training, we had to do, is sixteen weeks. Because we had to do...

TI: Maybe the end of...

SK: '43. Because I only was in the service for eighteen months. And when I got out, it was in '45.

TI: But you were being trained as a replacement troop for the 100th/442 at this point.

SK: Yeah. So we had to do everything, from rifle to Howitzer, shooting, Howitzer.

TI: And so as a draftee, were you one of the early draftees?

SK: No, there were others. There were, about the time I was there, there was quite a few Japanese there.

TI: Okay.

SK: Some were way -- few weeks, a month ahead of us. Some of 'em went overseas right away.

TI: But at this point, at Camp Blanding, they were mostly draftees there.

SK: Yeah.

TI: Okay, so you were training... okay, so what was basic training like? How long, and what kind of training were you getting?

SK: Well, we had sixteen weeks, so we started our rifles, and all that, machine guns, everything. Mortars, .60, .80 mortars. And then we had to shoot the cannons, too. That's where I got that ringing in my ear, shooting the Howitzer. We didn't put any cotton in our ears.

TI: Okay, so after sixteen weeks, then what happened?

SK: They shipped us, I forgot... up north to get ready to go to Italy and France. And then the recruiter came because they were needing more intelligence for Japan, training. So they gave me a thing to fill out and answer some questions, "Okay, you're gonna go to Camp Snelling," to go to school there.

TI: Now, did you want to do that versus go to Europe?

SK: Yeah, I thought the less I had to go to combat, the better. If I go to training a long... eventually the war might be over.

TI: So did you, as a replacement troop, did you guys know the casualties that the 100th and 442 were taking in Europe?

SK: Yeah, we used to hear rumors and stuff. But then toward the end, used to hear about how they fought hard. 'Cause one of my high school classmate, Tom Shiratsuki was same grade as I was, he volunteered. And I thought he went into the 442, but he was put into the 522nd artillery. And he, when he came out after World War II, he was a captain already. But after World War II, I haven't seen him. He went to Korea, too.