Gender

Male

Birth date

1918-12-25

Place of birth

Seattle WA, USA

Inducted

1943-05-22, Ft. Douglas UT

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

WWII - 442 Regimental Combat Team, I Co., 5/23/1943 - 11/29/1945. Re-enlisted 4 Oct.1949 at 5th Army HQ, Chicago, IL. Medical Service Corps, U of Illinois Dental School, 10/4/1949 - 6/16/1950. Dental Corps, 6006 ASU, Ft. Lewis, WA, 6/16/1950 - 7/17/1950. Dental Corps, 2nd Infantry Division, 2nd Medical Battalion, 1st Clearing Co, 9th RCT, Korea, 7/17/1950 - 7/11/1951. Dental Corps, 5017 ASU, Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, 7/11/1951 - 6/7/1952. Discharged second time on 17 June 1952 at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO.

Military specialty

WWII - #409 Medical Technician (Company Aid-man) Korean War - #3170, Dental Officer

Stationed

USA: Camp Shelby, MS; College of Dentistry, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL.; Ft. Lewis, WA, Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. Other Countries: Italy; France; South Korea; North Korea.

Separated

Camp Grant IL

Unit responsibility

To seek out and destroy enemy, also process wounded, channeling serious cases to MASH hospitals, and treating those less serious.

Personal responsibility

Render first aid & comfort to wounded & dying in both wars; Render emergency dental treatment, render general anesthesia during emergency surgeries by battalion surgeons. Interpret occasionally.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Rome-Arno Rhineland Northern Apennines Po Valley Pusan Perimeter Defense Naktong River Crossing Breakthrough and pursuit into North Korea, Kunu-ri and Chinese Communist Forces Retreat from North Korea, Hongchon, Wonju, Chipyong-ni, Inje, etc.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Silver Star, Bronze Star Purple Heart Good Conduct American Defense European-African-Middle Eastern with 4 battle stars WW II Victory Army of Occupation Presidential Distinguished Unit Badge with Oak Leaf Cluster (3rd Bn and 442 RCT) Meritorious Unit Citation (Medical Detach.) Combat Medical Badge Korean Service with silver battle star (5 battles) United Nations Service National Defense Presidential Distinguished Unit Badge (2nd Div) Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation 2nd Award Combat Medical Badge.

Living conditions

Like with Willie and Joe, Bill Maudlin's famous WW2 cartoon characters, life during combat was stripped down to the bare essentials, living from minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day in foxholes, hot and sweaty in summers, sleepless, often soaking wet, always dirty (water was too precious to use for washing up), freezing in winter, scared and miserable, eating monotonous and dreadful K or C rations cold, throwing away unuseable lemon and bouillon powders (Germans brought up hot meals to their front-line troops), and wishing to hell we were somewhere else. Between barrages and during lulls in battle, some would sit in their holes reading the latest 'Stars and Stripes' being passed around, or just day dreaming about home. To break the monotony, some would tap-tap-tap the edges of a quarter with a spoon, trying to flatten out the edges, boring a hole in the center to make a ring. It took a long time, but monotony was endless.

Most vivid memory of military experience

During basic training, mainlanders and Hawaiians couldn't stand each other, and often fought. There was no camaraderie. It took combat to develop a unified spirit, and finally weld the two groups together into an unbreakable bond of brotherhood, and into a fighting force, second to none. Being with a haole outfit during the Korean War, made me aware, more than ever, that the 442nd was a unique, proud, and great outfit, and what true 'esprit de corps' really meant. I Company was very special to me. After spearheading the rescue of the Texas 'Lost Battalion', we had to keep moving forward. By that time I Company was down to only a few men, cold, wet and miserable, close to the end of their endurance. I had a strong compulsion to throw in the towel, and go back to the rear to escape the horror and misery that was the Vosges. But the remaining men would look back at me, the surviving medic, and miserable and exhausted as they were, they would give me a grin and a 'Doc, you still with us? You OK? Rough, eh?' and pushing their 'gaman' to the limit, continue with the attack. How can one desert men like these? The best part of pulling back to the rest area was hot showers, getting cleaned up, eating hot chow, and catching up on sleep. And the best morale builder was mail call - letters from loved ones.

Missed most whilst in the military

Our loved ones, and the niceties of civilized life. And, of course, Japanese fare - rice and okazu, chazuke, takuan, sushi, sashimi, etc.

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

A better understanding and appreciation of Japanese cultural values that most of us pre-war Nisei tried to turn away from in our pathetic effort to be accepted by white Americans. Enough childhood lessons in behavior, ethics and values, drummed into us by our parents, stuck to become an armor against nightmarish stress and fears in battle, and sustained us throughout the war. I would like our youngsters to be proud of their Japanese heritage, as well as their birthright as Americans, and carry on the legacy left by a group of Americans, who did not turn their backs on their country that had put them and their families behind barbed wires, but stepped forward to put their lives on the line, to defend their country and prove their loyalty, and establish a magnificent war record out of all proportion to their small number.

Additional information

I volunteered in 1943 for a selfish reason. I had hoped that it would help get release for my father, a Russo-Japanese War veteran, who had been arrested and incarcerated soon after the Pearl Harbor attack. He spent 2 years in various federal internment and work camps before being able to rejoin the family in Minidoka Center. Little did I know then the profound effect our volunteering, and the combined effort of Nisei GIs in Europe and in the Pacific, would eventually have on our war against racism and injustices. Powerful veterans organization like VFW and the American Legion who spearheaded racist attacks against Japanese Americans before and during the war, and others like the 34th Division Association, joined our fight for redress. Combat medics, the company aid-men, went forward with the riflemen. They were the first to reach the wounded, often crawling on their bellys to give first aid. They had no sanitary facilities to cleanse their hands each time they handled wounds. As a medic, it has never failed to amaze me that in those pre-antibiotic days, serious complications had not occured more often from handling and bandaging open wounds with filthy, blood-soaked, unwashed hands, before casualties were carried back to the aid-station. Perhaps the sulfa powder, an anti-bacterial drug, that we used to sprinkle on the wounds in WW2 did do some good. However use of sulfa on wounds was discontinued during the Korean War. WW2 aid-men carried no arms, no Red Cross on helmets, which would stand out too much on combat patrols, and become easy targets for trigger-happy snipers. While German combat medics wore white vests with huge Red Cross, American aid-men wore only a white brassard with a red cross on their left arm, which soon became soiled and indistinguishable. Medics would often get shot at going to the aid of a wounded. Korean War aid-men, as well as Battalion medics, carried arms, usually automatic carbines, and no distinguishable Red Cross marks. Red Cross on ambulances were blacked out as the enemy did not observe the Geneva Convention. Our little medical unit was armed with several .30 caliber light machine guns and a 20 mm. heavy machine gun, to defend against numerous enemy infiltration, a practice unheard of in Europe. My wife helped the family relocate to Chicago, while I was still overseas. Unlike the West Coast, where hostilities against returnees were still rampant, Chicago seemed receptive. There was nothing left in Seattle to go back to, since my father's drug store had to be abandoned after he was arrested and taken away by federal agents early in the war. I was accepted to University of Illinois, College of Dentistry after my discharge. Upper-classmen invited the three Nisei freshmen to join their fraternity, unheard of in West Coast colleges, and became our 'Guardian Angels' against any discriminatory acts against us. This was one of my major reasons for settling in the Chicago area. Married the former Michi Katagiri on March 20,1944. Have two children, Christine (Tina) Sumi and Richard Darryl and two grandsons.

Practiced dentistry for 44 years.