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LT: You trained all year in 1943 and you left for Europe in April 1944.

KY: No, I want to go back again. Eisenhower didn't want us, and we waited and waited and waited. Finally, Mark Clark in Italy was running out of soldiers, so he gave us a chance to prove ourselves, because they didn't know, we had no history as soldiers. (So) they broke up the first battalion, and then (with the) 100th Battalion went to Africa first, and they did so well in Africa, Mark Clark asked our Defense Department to send all the guys you have, and our commander says, "This is all I have." And that's the reason why they increased the draft and the Japanese Americans, 'cause they wanted us to be a good fighting crew.

LT: You served in Italy and in France, and as you said, you were a member of Charlie Company.

KY: Yeah, about, just before... well, I'll go back. Just before we came overseas, I got transferred to an (combat engine co.), because they were running short on that.

LT: And what was the role of the engineering company, and what was your particular role?

KY: See, in my MR, when I was in high school, I learned how to weld. MR says I had welding training, and the engineers needed more welders. When I got there, they didn't need any more welders, they just needed bodies. [Laughs] So when I got there I didn't do one bit of welding.

LT: What did (combat) engineers do?

KY: Okay, the (combat) engineers was the, like a pioneer company. You laid mines, you disables lines. You built roads, you built bridges, yet as an infantryman. If you're asked, you had to fight. But the combination in Italy or France was real tough. When we first went to Italy, the mines, I had no problem with the mines. I'd just pick one up and disable it, threw it to the side. Pretty soon our guys were being blown up by grabbing the mines. So I got nervous about that, too many guys being blown up. So I took a cord, twenty-five foot cord, tied it around the mine, got twenty-five yards down wherever, or behind a tree, and pulled it to see if it was booby-trapped. Then they have a habit of putting the mines near a foxhole, so our guys were going into the foxhole to pull the mine, get blown up. So I never did that myself. I tied it and get back twenty-five yards and pulled it. I got to a point where I was real nervous and shaky tying the knots, because some of those mines, just a very few vibration, they would explode. So we had to be real careful when you tied the cord around the ring or wherever.

LT: I'm guessing that you know people who were injured or killed because of that?

KY: Oh, yeah. Just blown up.

LT: So when you're dealing with mines and your life is on the line, what is it like minute to minute to keep going? How do you keep going?

KY: You know, that's one thing I said to myself: "I'm going to make it." I may be hurt, but I'm going to make it. And I kept talking to myself, "You're going to make it." And of course, I was injured and all that, but still, I'm here. I have a lot of friends who didn't make it, and I really feel sorry for them. Not for him, but for (their) family.

LT: What was your role as an engineer at night?

KY: You know, at night, we had to use our bayonets and probe to see if there were any mines. And you have to keep probing. And sometimes you only make, in one hour you may only go ten yards, because there's too many mines.

LT: And your role was to make it safe for the troops afterward?

KY: Yeah. One of our job is to make it safe so the infantry could move out without getting blown up. And at night, we would take a white ribbon from the start, where we started, the whole field, so they could walk right through it. So wherever they saw this white ribbon, they knew it was safe to walk through. That was a scary job, but that was one thing we had to do.

LT: Do you remember how many mines you dealt with during your time there?

KY: Oh, hundreds, thousands. Lot of mines. We're known as sappers, mine sapper is the name that we acquired.

LT: What does that mean?

KY: I don't know what it means. Sapper, S-A-P-P-E-R. Sap. [Laughs]

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.