<Begin Segment 16>

Off camera: Can I ask a question?

KP: Sure.

Off camera: You said that you studied microbiology at the University of Utah because the army got you interested in it. I was wondering what you did.

TF: Well, see, after the war, we were moved to northern Italy, where M Company had to process German prisoners. And being the medic, you don't do that kind of stuff, so I got to do other things like take the truck and go to the water and swim or do whatever, and it was a good time for me. And I noticed that when the thing came through, one of the fellows somehow got hold of a microscope from these German troops. And I guess when you're the victor, what you take is yours. Because I don't think anybody said anything. But as we're going, we joined the 3rd Battalion by that time, and by the time the 442 was coming home, we got transferred to Folgia. And here's the guy with the microscope, and I think they looked at him and said, hey, the guy must be a bacteriologist. And so they made him, I don't know about the chief, but he was the only guy in the lab who knew that kind of stuff. And in retrospect, he only had one semester of college in bacteriology, and I figure I didn't know that much after a year. [Laughs] And so when you're majoring in bacteriology, it's a lot different than just having one course. But then since he was the lab man, I used to go in there and I used to enjoy seeing what he's doing and everything. So that's where I got my interest there. And then the German prisoners and the medics, we sort of associate with them. And they were always pulling this stuff about, "Don't read that crap. Stick to the real stuff." And so you'd get into a little better, what would you say, habits. And so that's how I got interested in that.

KP: The Germans spoke English?

TF: Oh, yeah. The Germans were good soldiers. In fact, the medical students were, actually medical students when they were captured also. And they were more disciplined than me. After all, I was told I shouldn't even think about college. [Laughs] But the whole idea that after the war, whether you're prisoners or not, this is okay. Because like after we got the, war over, and we processed the prisoners, or M Company did, I was transferred to 3rd Battalion medics. And there I figured, well, they're going to know I don't know anything. Well, there's a staff sergeant there named Masuda, who took me under his wings. And he started teaching me, doing it this way and that way. And one day they brought a burn patient in, who got burned working on the steam boiler, you know. And they happened to be a German prisoner, and I don't know if you know this, but it seemed like if they were a prisoner, they'd send 'em to the hospital. So they bring 'em in, and then I look at Terry, that's Masuda, and then he looks at me and says, "He's your patient," knowing full well that I've never seen a burn patient or did anything with them. But the encouragement and support that he gave, he gave me instructions as if I was teaching him how to do everything. It's kind of hard to say it, because what I'm doing is what he's telling me as if I'm showing him. And gee, I guess the prisoner is grateful that he's getting helped. And then after treating him for about three weeks, he's in real good shape, and he's real happy. And the sergeant says I did fine. And yet, I really don't know what I did other than the fact that I did what he was telling me as if I was showing him. So this is the kind of experience I had, just support and accomplishments that come about.

KP: I've got one question about the 442nd, and that is, were you in the 442nd the whole time, or you got transferred out?

TF: Oh, no. We, from the day I hit camp, Manzanar, I knew that if I was going to go into the service, I'm going to be cannon fodder. And then there was a fellow in Block 5 who was kicked out of the army because he just happened to be Japanese. And then in '43, they called them back to be part of the 442. And so with that, I knew that when we were getting called, we're going to be 442. So no matter what happened, I just figured that's where we're going to go in, that's how we ended up. The fellow who was in Block 5 just died this spring. And the sad part about it is he was in the I Company in France where they saved the "Lost Battalion," 36th, and I Company lost more people than they saved. But it's the idea that when you're given a task, you know, you're going to do it, loyalty above all.

KP: So were you in the 442nd for all your military career?

TF: Yeah. Well, when the 442nd went home, we were then assigned to other places. I was assigned to this hospital in southern Italy.

KP: So you were no longer segregated.

TF: Yeah. You might say no longer segregated, and yet, you might say we were, because there was a lot of us so-called new recruits who weren't veterans of the 442 who went. So the rest of us are actually still there. But eventually we got to go home. And I don't know if I should tell you, but I don't think I'm really disloyal. But when I came home, they tried to talk me into joining the reserves. And after about a half hour of saying, "No, no, no," they finally gave up on me. And I didn't have any qualms about it because technically I didn't like the army per se. I liked the 442 because of their attitude, is that, I don't know if I mentioned it, but in the 442 it seemed like top man first. So if the squad had to go and dig a ditch, the sergeant went first. Or if you're going to charge, the lieutenant don't tell the other guys to go, he goes first, and then the next guy, so everybody's willing to keep going because somebody else isn't telling you to go first. And so the esprit de corps was really high there, that therefore if somebody's hurt, you don't worry about getting shot, you worry about you don't want to screw up, you know. So that's the kind of stuff that, I don't know if it's true or not, but that's the way I felt. And so it's, the whole thing was the good experience.

KP: That does not make you disloyal, I'm just telling you that.

TF: The which?

KP: I think you're very loyal. That doesn't make you disloyal.

TF: Oh, yeah. Well, loyalty is a matter of to your country and to your friends, and loyalty is a dog to you. It sort of works that way.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.