I was drafted in the Army in 1945 and was sent to Camp Maxie, Texas for 16 weeksof combat training. I was then sent to Luzon in the Philippines. Upon my arrival there, the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo, Japan,but not in the Philippines. Theyhad to send in higher ranking Japanese than the commanders of the units and order them to stop fighting. We then prepared to move to Japan. There were 21 troop ships and three destroyers for our escorts. Mine sweepers had gone on before us.

We docked at Nagasaki, Japan where the second atomic bomb was dropped. After some time had passed, we started north, finally arriving at midnight at the southern tip of Honshu island, in the city of Shimonoseki. Two months after arriving there the regimental headquarters burned down, burningup everyone's records. That is why there is nothing on the backof my 00214. While-there our biggest job was destroying Japanese weapons.Thousands of Koreans from all over Japan were sent to Shimonoseki, and from there to Korea. The Koreans had been workingin Japanese defense plants. It was quite a job keeping orderamong them.

I returned to the states in January 1946. The ship docked at Seattle, Washington. The city was snowed in with the exception of one railroad due east from which the snow had just been removed. We lefton a train goingeast to North Dakota and then south to Camp Chaffee. We never saw the ground the entire way as it was snow covered. I received my first discharge at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas.

Upon arrivinghome, I started lookingfor a job. I soondiscovered that there was none to be found. The government gave veterans $20.00 a week for 52 weeks after discharge while they tried to find work.There were around eight of us veterans who were looking for work and one of them suggested that we go to California to work in the gold mines. They all left, hitchhiking to California, but I did not go because I could not leave my mother who was very old. When I could not find work, I told my mother that I would rejoin the Army and send her my money. I joined the Airborne because it paid $50.00 more a monthfor jumping.I was sent toFt. Benning, Georgia for Airborne training. After parachute training, I was sent to glider school for loading gliders. Theymust have a perfectly balanced load, or it could cause the tow plane to crash. After finishing with that school, I was sent to Japan.