World War Two was going on during this period of my life. I had attempted to enlist in the Navy and then the Army after my 17th birthday but was turned down because of my eyes. I even tried the Merchant Marines (civilian sailors on merchant ships). I flunked every eye test I ever took in the military. I registered for the draft on my 18th birthday, took my physical and was classified 2A due to my bad eyes (limited duty, and no overseas assignment). I applied for immediate call-up and was ordered to report to Jefferson Barracks for induction. I reported on January 4 1946 and was sent to Leavenworth Kansas to wait for assignment to a basic training unit.
When you were waiting for assignment in the army of that day you were on some sort of work detail until you got assigned. At Leavenworth I was on KP (Kitchen Police) for about a month. Most of the time I was washing dishes the old fashioned way-by hand. My hands got sore from being in soapy water for long periods of time. After about a month I was assigned to a basic training unit at Ft. Crowder near Joplin Missouri. My basic training platoon had a Japanese-American (Nisei) sergeant. His favorite trick was to announce reveille in the morning and then immediately start turning over the double-deck bunks, dumping the poor soldier on the top bunk onto the floor. We soon learned to get out of the bunks before he got to us. We had several incidents where people were injured.
On a night march with rifles on the shoulder we were ordered "to the rear march" several times. One soldier had his rifle a little low and it hit the soldier behind him in the head. On another night we were "falling out" of the barracks a little too slow, so the sergeant ordered us to repeat the operation. The door of the barracks led to a small porch, which had a turn and then a few steps to the ground. Somebody did not make the turn and fell down. He was trampled by the soldiers behind him and ended up in the hospital.
The end of basic training was a field exercise where we simulated combat situations. My platoon assignment was to capture a hill. With our Japanese sergeant we took the hill in a bonzi charge, running and yelling all the way up the hill. I will never forget it.
I did not receive assignment to a regular unit because I had applied to attend the Army Photographic school. So I was transferred to a "holding" company at Camp Polk in Louisiana where I was assigned to more work details. There were several ex officers in this unit who were enlisted status before the war and reverted to this status for retirement. One was an ex general. They waited with the rest of us, but of course they did not pull work details. After several months at Camp Polk, I was transferred to a "holding company" at Ft. Dix in New Jersey. More work details, but I was seeing the country. After a few months more of work details I decided to give up on the Photo School and volunteer for overseas assignment. That did the trick. I was immediately assigned and shipped to Japan. We took a train from New Jersey to Seattle Washington. Saw more of the country. At Seattle (Fort Lawton, an Army post in a city park) we waited until our ship came in. The troop transport General Frederick Funsten, arrived and we went aboard.
As a private I was down in the hold where the bunks were 3 or 4 bunks high. After the first day the hold got pretty bad with the seasick solders, including me. I was so sick I could not eat. However, after a few days that went away. The ship went first to Inchon Korea (to be made famous 5 years later when MacArthur invaded at this place) to unload unlucky troops. We then went to Yokohama Japan. Boy was I seeing the world. We went to Zama Japan, a redeployment depot to wait for assignment. The first day the 11th Airborne Division came by and tried to get us to join up. Airborne was all-volunteer. I thought it was a good idea and asked them "what about my glasses?" Their reply was that they would tape them to the sides of my head so they would not come off when we jumped out of the airplane. They said to come back at 10 o'clock that night, sign up, and I would be off to Hokkaido in north Japan where they were stationed. At 10 o'clock, I was under about 4 blankets and still freezing so I gave up on the idea of being a paratrooper. The next day a truck took some of us to downtown Tokyo. The truck pulled up in front of a office building, the San Shin Building.
The 71st Signal Service Battalion was the Signal Corps troops for General MacArthur's Headquarters. I found out that I was assigned to the Heavy Construction Company who did not even live in the San Shin Building, but were quartered on an island in Tokyo Bay. I also found out that there was a Photo Company in the Battalion. That sounded a lot better than heavy construction. I went to the Company Commandeer of the Photo Company and told him about all of my extensive experience in photographic laboratories. He bought it. I was assigned to the Photo Company and ended up running the night shift in the General Headquarters (GHQ) Photo Lab. I was assigned to a room with four other GI's, one was Vincent Darges, MacArthur's personal photographer throughout the war, another was Mrs. Mac Arthur's personal photographer.
The night shift at the Photo Lab was a good deal. I sat at the Final Approval desk, and approved all prints coming out of the Laboratory, and thus got to see all of the photo's made in the Lab. If I wanted a copy I would reject the photo and send it back for another print. I would also go through the files for the entire war and have copies made of prints that looked interesting. To kill time, we would take portraits of each other in the studios used for formal portraits of Generals. I had an assistant, and translator, named Samnule Ingakok, a Siamese. He had been in Japan all through the war and was a great source of interesting information. He introduced us to some Japanese including one family who had several of us to dinner several times. We sat on the floor and were served by the daughters. They kept our Sake glasses full and it was an insult to leave it full.
I learned to drive a car (Jeep) while I was in Japan - on the wrong side of the street. This made for problems when I came back to the states. I can still remember driving down the parade grounds in front of the Imperial Place at night on my way to the Lab - quite a thrill -and then pass a honey bucket cart.
The Emperor lived in a palace behind a massive moat. A large open space was on one side and a street on the other.
One of the events that stand out in my mind are the GHQ Reviews before General MacArthur in the parade grounds in front of the Imperial Place in Tokyo. We had these several times during my stay. Our Lieutenant would hold us back from the company in front of us so that there was a good space between them and us. As we approached the reviewing stand he would increase the pace so we looked real sharp when we passed the stand. It seems that every time we were in a review the band would play the Colonel Bogie March as we went by the stand, which made it easy to step out real sharp.
MacArthur made his Headquarters in the Dia Ichi Building in downtown Tokyo, directly across the street (and moat) from the Imperial Palace.
General MacArthur walked out of the GHQ (Dai Ichi building) at 4:00 PM every day with his guest of the day. A small crowd of G I’s and Japanese would be in attendance (including GHQ photographers).
One night the Armed Forces Radio (AFR) station decided to do their version of Orson Wells War of the Worlds broadcast., in which he simulated a news broadcast of an invasion by creatures from outer space. AFR had total control of the station and was able to effectively simulate an invasion of monsters landing on the beach between Yokohama and Tokyo. They played their regular programs but interspersed news items about disturbances on the coast. These news items got more frequent and more descriptive as the evening went on. We, in the Photo Company, heard the broadcasts and finally went up on the roof of the San Shin Bldg but could not see anything. Finally Darges said he was going to take a jeep and find the monsters. We all wanted to go with him but he said no, it was too dangerous for us young guys. It took a long time for Darges to live that one down.
I was sent home in August of 1946 because I was coming up for discharge.I was discharged on September 8 1947 at Camp Stoneman California.