<Begin Segment 28>

KL: Well, I think we probably have a couple minutes to continue, and I'll ask you, you were drafted out of Topaz. So when did you leave?

ST: To the army?

KL: Yeah.

ST: June of '45.

KL: Where did you go? What was the process of entering the army?

ST: Oh, I went to Texas for basic training. When that was finished I was in New York, and they came up with this idea of if you volunteered to reenlist for a certain period of time, you'd be sure to get out then, so I enlisted for one year. So I was drafted in December and I was discharged on Christmas Day in '46. And I had a one-year vacation in Germany. [Laughs]

KL: In between time, huh?

ST: Yeah.

KL: So did you enter a segregated unit, or were you part of a regular army unit?

MS: It was regular, wasn't it?

ST: I think we were all Japanese.

MS: Even then?

ST: Yeah.

KL: Yeah, I'm not sure of, how it worked that late in the war. But you remember only Japanese Americans?

ST: I wasn't segregated. I was with the 9th Infantry Division.

KL: What did you think of military life?

ST: For me it was all right.

KL: What kind of stuff did you do in basic training, what was a typical day?

ST: Well, out in the rifle range and marching.

MS: Some things never change.

KL: My dad was in the air force and he still folds his socks very carefully because of that training.

MS: Is that where my husband got it? I get so sick and tired of having to fold his socks all the time.

KL: Yeah, my mom's style is different than my dad's. So what did you see in Germany right after the war had ended?

ST: Devastation. I went to Munich and it was just flattened out, you know?

KL: Did you meet any civilians?

ST: Yeah, met a girl there.

KL: What did she say about her wartime experiences?

ST: Well, she was too young, I guess. Must have been about fifteen maybe. Elizabeth Ziegler.

KL: Did she speak English?

ST: Oh, yeah.

KL: Did you talk to her about your farm or Topaz or Tanforan?

ST: Maybe.

KL: How did you meet?

ST: Her mother was my laundry, did my laundry, you know.

MS: You didn't do your own laundry?

ST: Yeah. I had all kinds of cigarettes, that's what we used for money since I wasn't a smoker and they issued cigarettes.

MS: Didn't know you had a girlfriend in Germany.

KL: Did you talk to any of your fellow soldiers about your background and being incarcerated in Topaz?

ST: No.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.