Gender

Male

Birth date

1919-9-20

Place of birth

Oakland CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1942-11-19, Twin Falls ID

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

Naval G-2 Hqs Adm Halsey - 103rd Inf. Regt. ; 43rd Inf. Div.; 379th Inf. Regt. ; 79th Inf. Div.

Military specialty

Interpreter Combat Infantry

Stationed

Camp Savage, Ft. Snelling, Camp Shelby; New Caledonia; New Zealand; New Guinea; Phillipine (Luzon); Biak, and Japan (Gunma-ken).

Separated

Fort Logan CO

Unit responsibility

Combat

Personal responsibility

Regimental Interpreter

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

New Guinea and Luzon, P.I.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

American Service Medal - Asiatic Pacific Service Medal - Philippine Liberation Ribbon with L Bronze Service Star - World War II Victory Medal - Good Conduct Medal - Bronze Star Medal - Bronze Service Arrowhead - and Combat Infantry Badge

Most vivid memory of military experience

It could be humorous but our outfit, the 103rd Inf. Reg, landed at Aitape during the new Guinea campaign in time for the evening meal. The area was secured by the 32nd Inf. Div. and we were fed by them. Around midnight, I developed the 'G.I. Runs' - so I left our tent and headed for the latrine dressed only in my shorts. Near the latrine, I was challenged by a guard with his rifle pointing at me asking for the password. I tried to explain to the guard that I had landed with my outfit just a few hours earlier and we weren't given the password, for the night. He appeared to be just as scared as I was for I knew he was looking down on a J__ in a combat area. Since it didn't seem to me that I wasn't making much headway with him, I started to cuss him up and down with every four, five or six letter words I knew at that time. I told him that I was going to drop my S___ right in front of him and I was going to make sure that our General was going to make you (the guard) clean it up later. Then he lowered his rifle and let me proceed. Yes, I was sweating. P.S. I didn't get a chance to thank the guard the next morning.

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

I volunteered for the U.S. Army from a concentration camp in order to serve the country of my birth.

Additional information

Post war - thanks to the G.I. Bill I continued and finished my interrupted education at the Univ. of California as an optometrist, now retired.