Gender

Male

Birth date

1926-5-25

Place of birth

San Francisco CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1952-4-18, Los Angeles CA

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Support

Units served

511th MISC

Military specialty

Linguist

Stationed

USA; Japan; Korea

Separated

Camp Stoneman CA

Unit responsibility

Strategic intelligence information gathering.

Personal responsibility

Interrogation of POW's during the war.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

'52/'53 Fall/Winter Campaign - Spring/Summer Campaign '53

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

National Defense Service Medal; Korean Service Medal w/2 Bronze Service Stars; United Nations Service Medal; Korean Presidential Unit Citation

Living conditions

Generally good at the parent unit which was a former hot springs resort hotel built by Japanese north of Pusan. On TDY, it was just the same as any other Army units and mostly consisted of squad tents w/bunk beds and sleeping bags. Usually make-shift showers were available. Also, movies were available wherever or whenever possible (early release).

Most vivid memory of military experience

Assigned to interrogate possible double-agents (or enemy agents) disguised as a man and his wife with a child (not real). One was a girl about 14 yrs old of Turkish Japanese extraction. These incidents took place after the cease-fire of 27 July '53. They were known as 'Line Crossers'.

Missed most whilst in the military

Relaxation in my own preferred environment and good food.

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

I hope the information I gathered through interrogation helped in some way to save lives of Americans and bring about the cease fire on the peninsula.

Additional information

Many of us who had some knowledge of Japan or its language were pressed in this specific assignment after 8 weeks of special schooling in Japan and sent to Korea. Of course all Koreans of our generation spoke fluent Japanese. But when the Chinese entered the war, we had to use Koreans who were tri-lingual (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) as interpreters. I retired from the U.S. Post Office after 30 years of service and now take trips domestically and to other parts of the world.