Gender

Male

Birth date

1913-2-3

Place of birth

Los Angeles CA, U.S.A.

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Other

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

232nd Eng Combat Team, 442nd Regimental Combat Team
U.S. Coast Guard - Licensed Chief Engineer 1940 - 1980

Military specialty

Bull dozer operator
Semi-truck and 2 1/2 ton truck driver
Diesel engineer/mechanic
Coast Guard - Chief Engineer

Stationed

USA: Camp Shelby, MS
Other Countries: Italy; France

Separated

Camp Atterbury IN

Unit responsibility

Army - By-pass blown bridges, mine sweeping, filling craters, Jeeps & ambulance, remove trees from highway, also on-line fighting

Personal responsibility

Take orders from Sgt & Lt.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Rome - Arno Campaign
No. Apennines Campaign
Po Valley Campaign
Rhineland Campaign
Last push on Italy

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Europe - African - Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon w/ 4 Bronze Stars
Good Conduct Medal
Distinguished Unit Badge
World War II Victory Medal
2 Purple Heart Medals

Living conditions

Slept in hole with snow & mud.
Got water in helmet wherever running water was available.
No entertainment.
Meals were terrible.
Also clothes we wore without changing.
Lived like pigs.

Most vivid memory of military experience

Mine sweeping and probing for mines, up-line fighting, by-passing blown bridge, removing booby traps.

Missed most whilst in the military

Home, family, food

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

I think 442nd Combat team did a great job. It benefitted the rest of the Japanese who were put in camps and who moved more freely and found better jobs.

Additional information

After I got discharged from Army 1945, I went back same job in 1946 as chief engineer for the Coast Guard and retired in 1980. I'm taking it easy and enjoying my grand-children also get together with my buddies in Hawaii and Las Vegas.