<Begin Segment 14>

TI: So back to Manchuria, so you are going through training, and then what happens when you're done with training?

IS: Oh, when it was over? I had signed up for Officers Training Corps, then right towards the end, we took a test and stuff, and I guess it was all a formality. Everybody who applied for it was accepted, I think. And there were about a hundred of us who were brought together. And we left... this town is called Hailar, it's only about a hundred miles from the border, the Soviets, and we went up through this mountain range to do this training. And that only lasted one week. I think that's when Japan, I mean, the Soviets entered the war, after that one week, because we only trained in the officers' training program for just about one week. And then all of a sudden it was called off. And we were sent back to our own unit, which were also up in the mountains. They were digging trenches or caves, to put, they said, guns in. I mentioned about that briefly --

TI: Right, artillery guns, or big guns.

IS: Yes, yes. But we didn't have any guns.

TI: Because all the guns were sent to the Pacific.

IS: Yes. Well, I heard later that a lot of 'em did go to the Pacific, but a lot of them were sent to Kyushu, getting ready for the landing. They said a lot of soldiers from Manchuria did come to Kyushu, were sent to Kyushu in preparation for the Allies landing. That's what I read or heard.

TI: But then about this time was when the war ended?

IS: Yes. We were up in the mountain about... they came in, what, eight days later, Japan surrendered, after Soviets entered the war. And after they entered, Hiroshima... yeah, Hiroshima happened, bombed, then the Nagasaki was bombed, then two days after that is when Japan surrendered.

TI: And so describe the surrender process. What happened?

IS: Well, we didn't even know about it. We were up... but when I put things back together and go back and say, "Gee, what happened then?" We were up in the hills digging trenches in caves, and then that afternoon, somebody says, "Hey, look down there in the valley." They see a Soviet tank. And the officer looking through their binoculars said, "Yeah, that's a Soviet tank," and said they're on a reconnaissance or something. And they said, "Well, probably tomorrow we'll get into battle." I don't even remember, I had a rifle, I think, and I don't know if I even had ammunition for that. But anyway, so that night they said, "Well, tomorrow probably we'll get into some kind of fight." So they sort of had a little party. That's the first time I drank beer, because there was no water, no tea, no nothing, but there was beer. [Laughs] That was the first time I had had alcohol. And I said, "Wow, this thing tastes good. What am I missing?" I thought to myself. But anyway, then we went to sleep, and in the middle of the night, they wake us up. And I think what happened was when, that day is when they had the broadcast, the Emperor's broadcast was that day. So actually, the war was over already, but, of course, we didn't know that.

And then, high in the mountains, we walked down, and like in middle of the night, they wake us up and we start walking. And then we arrive at this village. And then we all lay down and sleep, those who can. And I go to sleep, and then daybreak, a train comes in. And then that's... we were all told to scatter and get on any train, they're freight train with all the refugees on it, woman and children and a few men. And then the train moves, stops at a station, moves, stopped. At one of those stations where it stopped, I get off. And then one the... I'm standing close by, but there's a civilian who has a big sword, and he has a rifle. And he talks about hearing the Emperor's broadcast, and something about surrender. That's the first time. But it's something so far-fetched to a Japanese or a Japanese soldier, that Japan wouldn't surrender. I mean, we'd all be dead if Japan was going to surrender. So I jumped back on the train and I said, "Hey, some civilian was talking like this." And he gets angry, he says, "That can't be." Then, that evening, we were all told to get off that train. And I guess these women civilians, refugees on the train, probably are people from northern part of Manchuria who were evacuating, so they must have heard something, too. But nobody on the train -- at least I don't hear any talk about the broadcast, other than what I just heard from that one civilian.

And then we arrive, and we walk to a, from the station we walked to a place that was sort of a convalescent set-up for, there's a big hospital close by, and they said, "This is a place where soldiers who are recovered somewhat can do some other outside work like farming, to do some farmwork for exercise." And that's where we stopped that night. And then the next day, we're told to gather, and we take our rifle and go to this hospital. And that's where we're told to, they say, they don't say "surrender," they said, "return." They called it buki hennou, which is, "buki" is "weapons," and "hennou" is to return. And if it was the other way around, you would say, "Surrender your weapon," but the Japanese, they're doing it so it's not surrender, it's returning. Anyway, so they called it buki hennou, and we throw our rifle in and I said, "Gee, what a funny thing." And then we walk into the building and then I see papers scattered all over and some marked "top secret," or "very secret," like that. And I say, "What a mess. What's this all about?" And still, it doesn't dawn on me that Japan had lost the war. Even after I threw my weapon away, we're told to "return" our weapons. Because otherwise we wouldn't be here, you know. We had to be fighting. And then that night, that evening, we're told to gather because we're gonna start marching again to this big town that's close by, Chichiharu, which is a big town, big city. And then we walk and I see these scenes about, there's one where a cart is on fire. And there's this burning, and we come close to that. And it's, well, it's all chaotic, you see things like that. And then there's, I see some, he's not Japanese, but a Manchurian man that's been [makes slashing motion] with a sword and he's dead, his body's lying there. And then, finally, we keep on marching that night, and then when daybreak come, Soviet big trucks and amphibious landing crafts, they pass us by, and the Russian soldiers waving at us. See that, and still nobody mentions that Japan lost. Or nobody says, "We must have lost," or anything like that.

TI: But at this point, are you, do you suspect that that's what has happened? Even though it's not said --

IS: No.

TI: Because here you have no weapons, the Russians who are your enemies drive by in trucks with all of their weapons, I mean, so what are you thinking?

IS: [Laughs] That's a good question. I just can't imagine that we lost. Can't think, can't believe it, because we're alive. We're supposed to fight 'til we die. And then we finally reach the town, it's a big city, Chichiharu is a big city. And then, you know, then the gates are open and we walk in, and then they close the gate. And then I guess I say in the book, and I guess that's when we sort of start saying something must have happened, that Japan must have lost. And then I hear gunshots at nighttime, and we spent one week there and then leave.

TI: And then that's when you get on the train.

IS: Train, yes.

TI: And then you have this pretty dramatic passage in the book where you're all waiting to see which way the train will turn.

IS: Yes.

TI: Because if you turn left, that means you're going back...

IS: South.

TI: South towards Japan.

IS: Yes.

TI: If you turn right, then you're going to Siberia.

IS: North, yeah. Or we're going the wrong direction.

TI: Or the wrong direction, away from Japan.

IS: Away from home, yeah. 'Cause we all think that we're gonna go back to Pusan to southern Manchuria, through Manchuria and then into Korea and to Pusan.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.