Gender

Male

Birth date

1929-7-15

Place of birth

Berkeley CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1951-5-15, Camp Kilmer NJ

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Support

Units served

3rd Armored Medical Company, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regimental Combat Team in Nurenberg, Germany. 1951 - 1953

Military specialty

Radio Operator in the 3rd Armored Medical Company, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regimental Combat Team.

Stationed

Fort Dix, NJ; Merrell Barracks, Nurenberg, West Germany

Separated

Camp Kilmer NJ

Unit responsibility

To transport the wounded from the frontlines back to the Field Hospital. We were an ambulance company, I was their radio operator.

Personal responsibility

Communications: Radio and telephones.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

I was not in a war zone. My unit was an Occupation Force until June 1952, then became a Defense Force.

Living conditions

Was living in a large stone and brick building (walls were a foot thick). Had showers, mess halls and great meals. Nurenberg is a big city with all kinds of entertainment. Restaurants, movie theaters, night clubs, museums, soccer games, hockey games, etc.

Most vivid memory of military experience

At the time I could not understand why the Germans were speaking German to their dogs and cats. And the fact that they were warming their beer instead of cooling it like we do.

Missed most whilst in the military

Next to my family and friends, I missed Japanese food the most. The cooks at the mess hall could not cook it the way I like it. I met a Nisei cook from another outfit who would invite me to have some rice. I took furloughs to Amsterdam, Netherland; and ate Chinese food 3 times a day, which was an adventure because the menus were either written in Chinese or Netherlandic, so I would just go down the list and try it all.

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

How much I missed them and the fact that we should not take our freedom for granted. The German people in 1952-3 still were not used to their freedom even though they were living in the US Zone. We would talk to them about Adolf Hitler, how he was a killer etc... They would look around and say, ' No, no, don't say that.', and run away from us.