Japanese American Military Experience Database
Bill Izumi Nakagawa
Separated on 18 July 1946 (WW II).
Separated 30 November 1951 (Korean War) at Camp Cooke Army Hospital, CA.
On April 9, 1945, high on a ridge, overlooking the small, peaceful village of Pariana, Italy, our contact patrol of four carefully scrutinized the partially-wooded terrain below for any signs of soldiers, German or otherwise. Only about an hour before, we had been heavily pinned down by the murderous and familiar 'wooshing' impact of the dreaded 88's, which were zeroing in on us from way down the flat Italian countryside below. We knew where the German guns were firing from, since we had seen small puffs of smoke (as the guns fired) and a few seconds later, the shells had landed and burst forward with terrifying screams upon impact.
Later, our squad leader, Pologee Matsunami, came rushing towards me and shoved a walkie-talkie in my hands, and said that we were going on a contact patrol. We took off hurriedly to our rear as shells from the 88's were exploding all around us. Now, as we gazed at the tranquil, panoramic scenery below, it was then hard to realize that a war was going on, for it was so quiet and so peaceful, as a Sunday morning back at home, somewhere far away in the United States.
Suddenly, the calm was shattered by the slow staccato of our BARs' and rifle fire from our own brave men who were charging down those slopes. Then, almost immediately, our ears caught other sounds....the German machine pistols with their familiar brrrrrp, brrrrrp, now responding to the surprise attack that was thrust upon them. Momentarily stunned in silence in our grandstand location, we were quietly yelling, 'Come on boys, go get 'em.' Traces of tears were rolling down my cheeks as we silently watched and prayed. As the heat of the battle raged on, we spotted a lone German tank, which was alternately maneuvering and firing as it retreated hastily down a road, away from the village where it had, evidently, been stationed for defense. It eventually rumbled and escaped noisily down to the lowlands where the original 88's were firing from.
When the battle was over in approximately thirty minutes, we then made our way down cautiously toward that village. About halfway down to our destination,our squad leader said that he and our BAR man, Yasumitsu Nakano, would go down to make contact with the unit who had just taken the village, while my buddy, Mac Mimaki, and I were to wait for them to return.
After they left us, we came upon a lonely and seemingly-deserted farm house with an adjoining shed. We threw rocks at it to see if we could stir up anyone, or anything inside, and since we heard nothing, we methodically covered each other as we cleared the building, as we had done so many times during our basic training days at Camp Blanding, Florida. After waiting there in the shed for about two hours, we heard some foot-steps and shouting, and upon learning that it was Pologee and Nakano, we were glad to see them safely returned. When I learned that they had just contacted FOX company, I was quite overcome with joy, pride and apprehension at the same time, for my brother, Dick, was in that same rifle company that we saw charging down that hill!
Pologee, my squad leader, later asked me to contact our CO, so that we could report to him that we had acccomplished our mission and that we wanted to rejoin them. As I communicated over the walkie-talkie to get their location to rejoin them, I inadvertently mentioned 'The Meadows', whereupon my CO, Lt. Gurkovich at the other end, reprimanded me by saying, 'Watch what you say over the radio.', 'Watch what you say over the radio'. His message came over quite clearly, even though I heard shouting, machine guns and rifles firing in the background. As they were in the middle of a firefight, the lieutenant told me to do the best we could to catch up with them. That evening we dug in with K Company who had followed I Co., and finally the next morning, we rejoined our own I Company who had advanced a few miles further than where we had left them by 'The Meadows' when we went on that patrol.
Many years have gone by since that memorable incident during World War II, but that particular event, which was forever recorded in my Book of Memories, I shall never forget.
'2ND PLATOON HILL'
In the early dawn of April 14, 1945, our platoon spearheaded an attack above the hills of the City of Carrara, Italy, while the rest of our Company were stationed in town, enjoying hot showers and hot meals. From across the ravine, and from two locations near the ridges of the huge mountain, we were immediately fired upon by German machine guns and mortars, pinning us down on that small dirt trail. We saw where the machine guns were firing from, for we had observed them through our binoculars that was taken from a dead German officer by Pologee Matsunami, our squad leader, when FOX Company had captured the village of Pariana a few days before on April 9.
Little did the Germans know then that we had them previously under close surveillance the day before our Attack. When I was on the observation post with the German binoculars the day before our attack, I remembered seeing a soldier going out from his nest, walking a short distance against the skyline, placing his rifle against a tree, and squatting down to do his business. After he was finished, he picked up his rifle and went back into his camouflaged nest, which I could clearly see, even though it was far away. We found out later that that was an ENEMY MACHINE GUN NEST!
Now, back to the situation where we were pinned down and receiving artillery, mortar and machine gun fires, we observed that the main machine gun firing was coming from that nest where I had seen the German soldier going out and back into the camouflaged position. I asked Mimaki to watch my shots and to guide me to the target, so I began to fire one shot at a time, I could see the dirt kick up as I kept on firing. As my buddy told me to shoot higher and higher, I finally saw that I didn't see anymore dirt flying, so I knew that I was ON TARGET. I then immediately emptied 2 clips into the nest. Shortly thereafter, the nest caught fire, whereupon a lone German soldier came running out, running from bush to bush. He eventually escaped, but the rest of his buddies were not so fortunate, as we had silenced his enemy gun position. I then saw and heard Tatsuo Sato call out for our Medic, for he had been wounded and was bleeding from his left arm. I went to him, who was nearby, and cut open his shirt, sprinkled Sulfanilimide powder and bandaged his arm. I told him to go to the rear and saw him walking back...that was the last time that I ever saw him.
Then, as Pologee, my squad leader, yelled out for us to 'Dig In', I started to dig a foxhole with my small shovel that I had on my combat pack. A few seconds later, I heard a dull zip and thud, a bullet kicked the dirt by my shovel! I immediately thought that my hands or fingers had been hit, but seeing no blood, I continued digging again slowly. Another zip, and this time I slowly looked at my hands for it was then that I realized that I was being targeted by a sniper...I WAS IN HIS SCOPE! I then threw aside my shovel and started digging with my hands, like a gopher. That was the last shot that he took, thank God; otherwise, I could now have been playing the harp in St. Peter's Band.
Pologee came by later and asked Mimaki and me to go back to the rear to bring up the rest of our packs, and as I went back on the trail where our assistant squad leader, Terumi Kato, was supposed to have been, I saw a huge hole, approximately 30 inches round by 12 inches deep, about 3 feet away where he had lain. Evidently, a mortar shell or an artillery shell had landed there. I also noticed his tommy gun lying there, so I picked up his weapon and ammo and went up front to rejoin the squad, now all dug in in a defensive position. I learned later from my buddies that Kato had been injured very seriously where he had fallen.
Shortly afterwards, Kash Kashino, our platoon sergeant, ran by and said to keep alert and to stay awake that night for a possible counterattack. I didn't sleep all night, but about 5 A.M. the next morning, all of a sudden a machine pistol opened up on us, spewing deadly lead all around us, with branches, leaves and dirt flying in all directions, also in my face. It seemed as if it went on for about 15 miniutes, when I clearly heard German voices approximately 15 feet away, commanding our BAR man, Yasumitsu Nakano, to get out of his foxhole. Since it was so early in the morning, half dark and half light, I couldn't see them, although I was the nearest one to them. I didn't know then that the two Germans had also captured our platoon guide, Sgt. Mike Takemoto. As the Germans took our boys down the hill in the dark, I could hear them clicking their bolts to test their machine pistols, and as I heard their voices getting fainter & fainter, they made their escape down the hill. And all that time I had my fingers on the tommy gun, a weapon I wasn't too familiar with, but I knew where the trigger was. In our 17 weeks of Basic Training in Florida, we had learned to fire many infantry weapons, such as the 22 rifle, 30 caliber carbine and M-1 rifles, 30 and 50 caliber machine guns, 57 mm anti-tank gun, the Bazooka anti-tank gun, 60 and 81 mm mortars, and throwing hand grenades. We hadn't learned to fire tommy guns in our Basic Training, and here I found myself cradling Kato's tommy gun! After we led this attack and took very heavy casualties, we were told to hold and wait for replacements, which by the way, never came. Some of us now, intimately, refer to this site as our '2ND PLATOON HILL'.
I've written two books on my Army experiences in WW II and the Korean conflict: 'From Barracks to Bullets:Jerome to Combat' during WW II and 'My Second Tour of Duty' during the Korean conflict. The books are available to see at the Japanese American Museum.
