Banco de Dados da Experiência Militar Nipo-Americana
Jiro "Jerry" Watanabe
Camp Grant, IL - Basic Training
Scott Field, IL - Hospital (Pharmacist)
Camp Grant, IL - Service Company
Camp Blanding, FL - Basic Training
Camp Savage, MN - MISLS (Japanese Education)
Ft. MacClellan, AL - Basic Training
Ft. Snelling, MN - MISLS
Camp Aiea, HI - Enroute to Japan
Philippines - Staging Area for Japan
NYK Bldg, Tokyo, Japan - ATIS (Interpreter)
Camp Zama, Japan - Discharge
Pharmacist
Sharpshooters Medal
American Theater Ribbon
Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon
World War II Victory Ribbon
American Defense Ribbon.
Meals were excellent especially at Scotts Field where I ate with the hospital (Hospitals get extra ration for patients and we ate their food). When I was made steward of the officers club at Camp Grant, I ate officer's food, which was even better, and at MISLS we had Nisei cooks who managed to serve rice and shoyu plus regular army food.
Everywhere I went we had USO for entertainment. In St. Louis, there were only 12 of us. At most bars, if we bought a drink, some patron would buy us a matching drink. We had it made in St. Louis.
1. When the war broke out I had a German American as my company commander. He called us in and told us, 'I am an American of German descent, but I am American as anyone here on the post. I know you feel the same.' We had only 12 Japanese-Americans in our group and all 12 of us literally 'worked our butts off' for Lt.Col. Fields. He, in turn, saw to it that every time promotions came up, we got our share. (I did not know that the Army had ordered all Japanese out of the Air Force) but Lt. Col. Field probably said my men are Americans, and kept us at Scott Field.) The trouble came when he was promoted to full colonel, and assigned to a bigger post. The next commander probably said 'What are the Japs doing in the Air Force, they could sabotage the entire hospital'. The next day we were shipped to Camp Gant to join a service company.
When we arrived at Camp Grant, most of the Niseis who were kicked out of the West Coast had good permanent jobs, and the only openings to us were menial jobs like 'firemen' who put coals in the barracks to keep the building warm or cleaning officers quarters during the day, and working at the officers club waiting on tables at night. I was assigned to the later job. My morale was very low, but I learned that the Army was trying to form a new combat team (442nd) with volunteers. I decided to volunteer but was told that we Nisei who were members of the service company were classified 4F - not fit for combat duty. I complained to my chaplain but the only thing he could say was,' Every cloud has a dark side, but if you pray and wait, God will find you the sunny side.' In the meantime, we Niseis who worked at night were not being paid while all Caucasians recived extra pay. Being that I was best able to express anything, our group (there were six of us) wanted me to bring up the matter with the officer-in-charge, Capt. Ebby. When I made my protest he said 'You were ordered to work here. To protest is mutiny! I can have you court-martialed.' Our camp commander, Gen. Willis, got a whiff of what was going on and 'chewed out' Capt. Ebby for causing discrimination. This changed Capt. Ebby, and for my protest, he found great respect for me. Eventually, he became a Major and promoted me to be the steward of the club. With all the tips I received, plus my army, club, rations and quarter (what non-com officer living off camp gets) pay, I was making better than if I had a civilian job. The sunny side of the cloud did come.
When the 442nd established a name for themselves, the Army decided to look into Japanese who were serving in service companies. Senator McCarthy (not sure of spelling) of New Jersey, a member of Armed Forces Committee came to Camp Grant to look and have lunch. I saw to it that the Senator received top treatment. I must have done too good of a job. Next day the Herald American of Chicago (a Hearst newspaper) had a headline something like 'PAMPERED JAPS AT CAMP GRANT TO BE TRANSFERRED TO COMBAT!' Sure enough, day after the headline, we received orders to move to Camp Blanding, FL. To add salt to the wound, all soldiers with technician rating (I had T/4 from pharmacy) were busted to buck private, and 'promoted' to PFC and sent to Camp Blanding FL for basic training. Needless to say the morale of the soldiers was really low. I understand some thirty odd Kibeis were thrown into the stockade at Ft. McClellen for protesting. My feeling then was: 'I don't blame them, some of us may do the same thing.' Fortunately at Camp Blanding, our company officer, Capt. McDonald (not sure of spelling) understood our situation. When he gave us talk on military courtesy he would remark, 'All soldiers are required to honor all congressmen except that $%&%^*$%^%$ Senator McCarthy of New Jersy,' and he went out of his way to be good to us. No one in our unit would want to strike against such an officer. I was so disgusted and afraid I might do something radical that will make me sorry later on in life.
Knowing John Aiso from my Hollywood days, I wrote him a letter inquiring what chances I had of joining MISLS. He sent me an order through the Army to transfer me to Camp Savage. After transfer, I found the school in the midst of plans to transfer to Ft. Snelling. Classes in existence were all too far advanced and I failed to keep up. Most of soldier-instructors at Savage had not taken basic training and during the transition, Mr. Aiso decided to have them take the basic. He said, 'If you are willing to take another basic, he would let me start in a new class.' It seems most cadre for basic training are made from soldiers who had done well in previous session and held over for the new session. Only the expert instructors remained on permanent staff. You could see what hardship the cadre must have had to give training to master and tech sergeants when they were only corporals and buck sergeants. Few MISLS instructors were goof-offs and since this was my third basic, I joined the goof-offs. I think I knew all the tricks of being a gold-brick. One first aid session, the instructor gave lesson of tourniquet. I was relaxing under a tree but the instructor thought I was asleep. He called on me to explain just what he had taught. I not only told him how to make a tourniquet, I showed him where the tourniquet should be applied to have the best result. The instructor was amazed and said, 'You might as well go back to sleep.'
I also knew a new gun will always stay clean as long as it is not used. I made sure I was issued a new gun. Raw recruits love to shoot their rifles, and after firing, the gun must be cleaned. I managed to say my gun isn't functioning just right, and managed to borrow other peoples gun. Noncom officers knew what a goof-off I was and tried their best to catch me goofing-off. On one 'wet' gun inspection (the barrel is left covered with oil) the inspecting officer who knew I was a gold-brick gigged me for a dirty gun, and took my week-end pass away. After inspection, I went to see him and ran a rifle-patch to prove my gun wasn't dirty. Being a new unused gun, it should be the cleanest rifle in the squad. The officer apologized and returned me my week-end pass. Near the end of training I apologized to my nom-com officers and told them that this was my third basic and that I joined the goof-offs because I was there to pass the time away. We made up and one of the buck sergeant remarked, 'You are the best gold-brick I had ever hoped to see.' I could go on and on, but since I am running out of space, I'll quit here.
Will I volunteer? My answer is, 'No,' although I tried to volunteer for 442nd and was refused. Writing a letter to inquire about joining MISLS was just an inquiry but if you say that was volunteering, I will not dispute.
If drafted would you serve? I surely would. And I'll do my best to serve. The more you can serve, the better the reward.
