<Begin Segment 40>

RP: You didn't, did you have a military background at all?

RM: Uh-huh, Korea.

RP: What happened? Where did you go?

RM: I go into Korea.

RP: Uh-huh. Which unit, I mean.

RM: Third Ack-Ack Third Division Ack-Ack, Antiaircraft. We didn't have antiaircraft subject to blow up so we had this, we had to fire into the trenches. We had fifty, a half-track with fifty calibers, four fifties, and a half of light chassis tank with two forties. And that I think it was three per each squad or something like that.

KP: So you had the half-tracks with the...

RM: Fifty caliber.

KP: Four... yeah, okay. So that was the same, same half-tracks that were patrolling around Manzanar?

RM: No, these, these are antiaircraft.

KP: Okay.

RP: Oh, they're antiaircraft guns, on a half-track.

RM: Yeah, they have antiaircraft guns from World War II.

KP: Right.

RM: And they used 'em over in Korea, too.

KP: They're, they're four guns all together is...

RM: Yeah, makes a lot of noise. I gotta check my hearing pretty soon.

RP: So what unit were you in, attached to?

RM: The Third Division. Third Division, Third Ack-Ack.

RP: Okay, right.

RM: Company C.

KP: And were you drafted?

RM: Yeah. I got out of school. I was, finished school and went.

RP: High school.

RM: No, college.

RP: Where did you go to college?

RM: Pierce.

RP: Pierce? So did I. Uh-huh. What did you take there? Were you taking nursery classes or agriculture?

RM: Yeah, horticulture. But they give you a lot of different things there. Floral hard-cuts, too. Yeah, we had guys that were, were there from World War II teaching us.

RP: At Pierce?

RM: Uh-huh.

RP: How long did you spend in Korea?

RM: Sixteen months or something like that. I don't remember. I gotta look at my card. It's all right. Came out sergeant first class. Made more money.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.