Gender

Male

Birth date

1921-8-24

Place of birth

Marshall TX, U.S.A.

Inducted

1940-11-25, Marshall TX

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

'F' Battery, 132nd Field Artillery Battalion, 36th Infantry Division
'A' and 'B' Batteries, 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team

Military specialty

5-1197 Nuclear Weapons Employment Specialist

Stationed

USA, Italy, France, Germany

Separated

Camp Fannin TX

Unit responsibility

Artillery Support

Personal responsibility

Executive Officer-Battery Commander

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Rome-Arno
North Apennines
Rhineland-Central Europe

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Silver Star, awarded as Forward Observer with Task Force O'Conner
3-Distinguished Unit Citations
EAME Medal
American Defense
WW-II Victory
Army of Occupation.

Living conditions

We slept mostly on the ground, unless we were able to find any kind of shelter such as a barn, house, or cave.
When we were at the Battery position we had a mess section that prepared our meals (good) or ate 'C' rations or any thing we could get.
We bathed in creeks, lakes, houses, or in our steel helmets if nothing else was available.
Our main entertainment was sitting around and having 'Bull Sessions.'

Most vivid memory of military experience

One of my early vivid memories of my experience with the 442nd Combat Team was the day we arrived at our assignment at Camp Shelby, Mississippi and found that we were assigned to a unit that was composed of all Japanese American soldiers. As time went by I found that I had never been associated with a more disciplined group of men in my military career. Even today as I look back on my service with the 442nd I cannot remember any time during those three years that I ask or told one of our men to perform some task that it was not carried out without further advice or even checking to see that it was done, because it always was. As far as I know there was no serious disciplinary problems in our whole Battalion. We learned that when an order was given, to be sure that was really what we wanted.

Missed most whilst in the military

Family and friends

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

I was very immature at the time I entered service and was fortunate that my unit at the time had a number of older, more mature men in it, most of whom had come through the Depression and knew how to handle a bunch of young guys that needed to be taught discipline. I even today cannot imagine showing disrespect to my old gunnery sergeant who probably saved me from getting into bad trouble in later life. I would like my family and friends to know, and I think they do, how much it meant to us to have them supporting us at home.