<Begin Segment 15>

AL: What was your rank?

AN: At that time, sergeant.

AL: And what would you do, what was your role in the military?

AN: Well, at that time I was a sergeant as a squad leader. So I went as a... I guess a three stripe or four stripe, I forgot. Anyway, I was a squad leader.

AL: Who was your commanding officer?

AN: I forgot his name. I knew him real well. Captain Ault, A-U-L-T, Captain Ault, I think.

AL: I've seen his name in writing. I don't know anything about him, but I've seen that name. Did you know Colonel Kim, Colonel Young Oak Kim?

AN: Yes, I knew him. I knew him later on in life, right here in Las Vegas, as a matter of fact. He and I had a good visit before he passed away, about a year or so before he passed away. He was living with his niece or nephew that lives here, so I called him one day, I said, "I want to talk to you," and he came over. And we sat down and chatted for about three or four hours.

AL: How come you wanted to talk to him?

AN: Well, because I know of him, what he did in the war, how he came into our unit and so forth, and how, what good leadership he had.

AL: So how did he end up in your unit, and what made him a good leader?

AN: Well, as far as I know, he just volunteered like anybody else. And, of course, the army said, "But you're Korean." He said, "Doesn't make any difference, I want to go through that outfit." He came in as an officer, and he did well, really well. As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the heroes of the 442nd.

AL: How come?

AN: Because of his combat record, because of his leadership, because of his desire from the heart to serve with us like anybody else. And he did well leading his people. He was a good officer. I wasn't an officer then. The highest rank I had was a tech sergeant, a platoon sergeant. The platoon sergeant as far as I'm concerned is the heart of the operation, in a company. You heard of lone platoons fighting? That's the fighting arm of the company, and I was one of the platoon sergeants.

AL: How long were you at Camp Shelby?

AN: Let's see now. Probably about... let's see now. Maybe about six, seven months, I guess.

AL: Where'd you go from there?

AN: I finally went directly overseas.

AL: To where?

AN: Italy.

AL: And I know from reading your biography and the little bit I know about the 442nd, you have a long history, and you were in a lot of those key battles. So I do want to hear about them, but I was going to ask one question. You mentioned in your book that you went to Vatican and you saw the Pope. Was that before you went into combat?

AN: Yes. As we... see, the 100th and we joined at that period during Rome, we landed over there, and then we joined together. It was during that short period, we had a break to go, couple of days off, so I went to the Vatican, I heard so much about the Vatican. And it just happened that the day I went, the Pope came out and blessed all the people. So it was a real treat for me to see him.

AL: That was Pius XII?

AN: Huh?

AL: I think it was Pope Pius XII, I think, during World War II.

AN: Yeah, I think it was Pope Pius.

AL: So what was it like to see the... I mean, I've seen it, it's huge.

AN: Yeah, it's huge.

AL: What was that like?

AN: There were thousands of people. I guess everybody knew when he will come out, the time of day, and he'll come out and give a blessing to all the people. It just happened that I was there that day. And so when I went to the Vatican I saw the thousands of people there milling around. Then I found out that, oh, they're waiting for the Pope to come out. So I just stood with them and waited.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.