Sexo

Male

Birth date

1927-3-26

Local de nascimento

Hiroshima JP, Japan

Inducted

1947-12-10, Fort Ord CA

Tipo de alistamento

Volunteer

Ramo das Forças Armadas

Army

Tipo de serviço

War,peacetime

Tipo de Unidade

Combat,sup

Unidades onde serviu

178th Language Detachment, 24th Infantry Division Headquarters
Public Information Office, 24th Infantry Division, Kokura, Japan
Co. 'L' 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Division
6901th Army Service Unit, Oakland Army Base

Military specialty

Linguist
Rifleman
Driver

Stationed

USA: Presidio of Monterey, CA
Other Countries: Tokyo, Kokura, Japan; Up and down North and South Korea

Separated

Camp Stoneman CA

Unit responsibility

G-2 in Japan was intelligence service and in PIO, (Public Information Office) news data
In Korea with the 24th Infantry Division to help repel the North Korean and Communist Chinese Armies advances into South Korea.

Personal responsibility

In the Korean theater of operations as an ammunition bearer for a light 30 caliber machine gun and 3.5 bazooka initially. Later on, I carried the bazooka and then transferred to headquarters platoon and drove a platoon jeep.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

North Korean invasion of South Korea.
Chinese Communist Army intervention into the conflict and the battles to push the opposing armies back into North Korea.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Occupation Medal (Japan)
Combat Infantryman's Badge
Bronze Star
Distinguished Unit Citation
Korean Service Ribbon with 3 Battle Stars

Living conditions

In Japan, we lived in relative comfort as far as military duty is concerned.
In Korea in the combat zone it was quite different living in foxholes and deserted homes and often subsisting on C-rations and whatever we could scrounge up.
On the front lines there wasn't any running water around so we went for long periods without washing or bathing and often hungry, in dirty clothes which started shredding after long periods of wear. To the common dogface, it seemed like days ad infinitum.
Getting to eat hot meals and have needed supplies was a luxury.
The most important thought was staying alive, to be able to see sun come up the next morning after being on combat alert the night before.

Most vivid memory of military experience

The agony and stupidity of war. The smell of decomposed human bodies and viewing of fallen comrades in the moonlit shadows of winter snow.

Trying to comprehend the capriciousness and perfidiousness of fellow soldiers was a task in itself. When we went back up to Taejon, Korea the second time around, there was a half covered grave with the corpses of the men of the town who had been rounded up and executed. The people were pulling the bodies with rope out of the grave while wailing relatives were brushing the sand from the faces of the corpses trying to identify them. It was truly a ghastly sight.

Missed most whilst in the military

The personal freedom. Everything was regimented in the Army and they treat people in a condescending manner. Some of the cadre personnel were really bad news!!

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

To have been able to experience the vagaries of war from the front line positions as opposed to being in the rear echelons of war. I truly believe nothing is gained or accomplished by the killing and destruction of wars. Only the megalomaniacal leaders and avaricious businessmen benefit from the utter destruction and chaos created by war.

Additional information

Just prior to being discharged and stationed at Oaklnad Army Base, I asked the Adjutant General section about getting citizenship papers. They told me to go to the INS in Oakland and apply.

I thought, 'Well, hell, if they're not going to help me while I'm in the service, I'll go apply later when I'm a civilian.' I found out later that it wasn't that simple a task. I would've had to have a bill introduced in Congress on my behalf to make me elegible for citizenship although I had been honorably discharged after 4 years of service. Something about the Oriental Exclusion Act enacted many moons ago.

Consequently, I went through normal channels later on when it was made available to all aliens regardless of military service. A subtle double standard, of sorts!!??