Gender

Male

Birth date

1929-8-21

Place of birth

Compton CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1951-1-3, Los Angeles CA

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Support

Units served

330th MIS. 2nd Div. I.P.W.

Military specialty

Interpreter

Stationed

Maryland, U.S.A., Japan, Korea

Separated

Camp Stoneman CA

Unit responsibility

Interrogation of P.O.W.'s

Personal responsibility

Same as unit.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Army of Occupation Medal; Korean Service Medal; SVC Star; United Nation Service Medal

Living conditions

We slept in tents & bathed in the stream. We ate regular G.I. hot meals and played volleyball and softball.

Most vivid memory of military experience

All the POW's were sent to Kojido island in Korea. I understood that there were 80,000 POW's there. There was one regiment of G.I.'s, about 3,000, to guard them. P.O.W.'s were kept in numerous compounds. Each compound contained approximately 2 to 3 thousand P.O.W.'s. We were sent there to separate pro-communist and non-communist. We had a hard time getting them out of their compounds. G.I.'s used tear gas to get them out. After we got them out, we found that they had tunnels dug from one compound to another and they had all kinds of hand made weapons. That was when one of the G.I. Generals went in the compound and was taken hostage.

Missed most whilst in the military

My regular civilian life.

Most important thing, personally, to come from military experience?

I feel I served my country best I can. I would like everyone to know there is nothing better than peace.