Gender

Male

Birth date

1915-7-10

Place of birth

Fillmore CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

, Ft. MacArthur CA

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

7th Med. Co. A, 7th Div, Fort Ord. CA
Reception Ctr, Camp Wolters, TX
522nd Field Artillery Bn, Btry A

2nd Tour: Btry C, 223rd FA Bn, Camp Cooke, CA
Btry A, 48th FA Bn, Korea

Military specialty

Truck driver, Clerk, 1st Sgt.

2nd Tour - Unit Administrator

Stationed

U.S.A., Italy, France, Germany

2nd Tour:USA; Korea

Separated

Camp Grant IL

Unit responsibility

Defeat enemy.

Give fire support for a stabilized front.

Personal responsibility

Drive ammunition truck.

2nd Tour: Administration of Unit; Supply Officer; Mess Officer; Disbursing Officer

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Rome-Arno
No. Apennines
Rhineland
Central Europe

2nd Tour;Korea

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

1 service stripe - 3 overseas service bars
American Defense Ribbon
American Campaign Medal
Good Conduct Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon w/4 bronze battle stars
WW II Victory Medal

2nd Tour
Korean Service Medal w/2 Bronze Stars
UN Service Medal
Bronze Star
National Defense Service Medal

Living conditions

At war: we slept in trucks, farm houses, pup tent, open ground, in slit trenches and for a 2 month period, a winter castle near Nice, France.

2nd tour
We slept in prepared bunkers with dirt floors and walls with wooden ceilings made of ammunition boxes covered over with 3 to 4 feet of soil.

Most vivid memory of military experience

While transporting troops mopping up the stragglers at end of fighting, we came upon just released Jewish people just outside of Munich. These people were like skeletons with skin on them and so hungry that they tried to open 'C' ration cans with bare hands.

2nd Tour
The noticeable difference between this and WW II was that since the Korean conflict was a holding action, the incentive and morale was entirely different. It was like we were marking time.

Missed most whilst in the military

Didn't worry about missing anything, just wanted to get war over and get home.

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

That I came out of the war without a wound or serious illness.

Additional information

Peter Fukasawa was discharged from the second tour on 1 Nov. 1953 at Fort Ord, CA. The National Guard Unit of Illinois, Btry C, 223 rd FA Bn, at Rock Island, IL, of which he was a member, was federalized into active service on 15 Feb. 1952 for his second tour.