Gender

Male

Birth date

1927-9-21

Place of birth

Hilo HI, U.S.A.

Inducted

1946-2-14, Honolulu HI

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

Peacetime

Unit type

Support

Units served

7775 Signal Service Co.

Military specialty

502 - Administrative in Communications - Signal Corps

Stationed

U.S.A., Germany

Separated

Honolulu HI

Unit responsibility

Maintain communications via telephone, teletype and radio.

Personal responsibility

Communication Sergeant - writing SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures) for the various operations.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

When Gen. Omar Bradley visited, we were selected as the honor guard based on our impeccable service record. About 1/4 to 1/3 of our outfit was from Hawaii and of various racial extractions.

Living conditions

Lived at the repeater station in Bremen, Germany but dined at HQ. We had showers. As part of reparations (I believe), we had a cafeteria with waitresses. Slowly things got to be more GI. When we transferred to Bremerhaven, Germany, everything was strictly GI. Reveille, mess hall food, weekly inspections, etc. Athletics - golf, swimming, basketball, volleyball, etc. was our entertainment. We also had a club for drinking and shows.

Most vivid memory of military experience

My furlough to Paris, Rome, Milan all over Switzerland, Holland and Denmark. In Italy - St. Peter's Cathedral with Michaelangelo's masterpiece, the original 'Last Supper', the Catacombs in Rome, and the Cathedral of Milan. Denmark: Tivoli Gardens and the breweries; Paris: Eiffel Tower, Arc d'Triumph, Versailles and the Louvre; Holland: the tulip gardens and Chinese restaurants; Switzerland: The Alps, and the cleanliness and punctuality.

Missed most whilst in the military

Family, girl friend and rice.

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

That I was kind to the Germans who worked for me at the repeater station and that I be-friended a number of children who did not beg. I visited a couple of living quarters in the ruins - cramped and spartan but clean.

Additional information

My primary purpose for volunteering for 3 years after I was drafted was for the GI Bill to go to college; the secondary purpose was to travel in Europe. Japan was close enough so I could manage it on my own. Discrimination in the army - my position called for 6 stripes (Master Sergeant) but I had only 3; the directory clerk (Caucasian) called for 2 stripes but he had 4. The clerk outranked his boss! They offered me another stripe if I re-upped but I told them I had to pursue an education.