Do you have, have you kept in contact with some
of the people that you were in the services?
Used to have quite a few of them but now then
just Christmas cards is about all of them
and not many of them.
There's one about three, there's about three or four.
And we gone, we went to a couple of army reunions.
Here locally?
Well, one of them was in Hot Springs, Arkansas
and one was in Eureka, Arkansas and one was
in, somewhere in Iowa.
Was enjoyable, very enjoyable. Right.
And you got to just reminisce with the other
people and.
Well, it was, yes.
Yeah, I'm gonna make some coffees and stuff.
And the way, we didn't know anything about
these reunions until one night we were in
the bed and just about asleep, the phone rang
and a guy picked it up and he says, hey, Amy,
you know who this is?
I said, yes.
You did recognize.
This is Jim Shulkin.
The guy that was playing the drums on the Dead Buffalo.
And I said, Shulkin, how did you get my number?
He said, I knew you from Texas, down near
Houston somewhere and he said, I called all
the places.
Oh my goodness.
So how long.
That's how we knew.
You hadn't seen him since the war. No.
But I recognized his voice just that quick.
Isn't that something?
So we went, and since then, he's had some real,
of course, you always make that real
close friends.
Oh, yeah.
You know where you go, you know where you go.
But there's one little red-headed boy lives up
here now that we used to go by at the Sea
Orange Square, but we haven't a long time, now
he's about the only one that's left, and
he just isn't supposed to, but he's about to go through.
Everyone else is probably so scattered.
And there are not many of them left. No.
Oh, I think it's the last one we went to.
There was about 20 of them. Really?
Well, is there anything else, a story or
anything you might just think of that you want
to share?
Have you ever ridden in a submarine in the war?
No, no.
No, I never.
You never did water.
No, no.
It had nothing to do with the water, except the FBI.
Up there in the, up there in the hills where
the war took place, there was a, the people
lived up there, and they were called iguruts,
and there were a little bitty people.
Japanese people? No.
Native, native people of the Philippines,
burrito people, I don't know, there wasn't
any taller than that thing right there. Really?
About three feet tall?
Yeah, and then teeth was red, and they eat kimonos.
That's wild sweet potatoes, and figs.
And they had, we'd watch them go down in the
water, they had some kind of a little old
thing arrow with something that stretched, and
they'd get down on that water, they'd
follow that fish, and it seemed like they must
have had gills, and they'd shoot that
fish in the head, and they'd come up to the
top, and hold that fish up.
You never seen any people?
And they'd sit down on rocks, they just had
g-strings, or men and women, and they'd sit
down on them big old rocks, and just, they had
skin like alligators.
I guess so, if that's all they ever were.
Yeah, gurus, and they'd want to carry your bag,
they'd want to carry your stuff, you know.
But they didn't have anything to do with the
war, I think.
No, no, no, of course, we would give them
something to eat. Yeah.
Okay, right, something new to them, you know.
So, is it just a whole tribe of people that
were real little Bitty people?
Well, where you go, you'd see something, you
know, and they didn't go to town, they
didn't live in town.
No, they lived out in like, in tribes and stuff. Tribes.
And monkeys, huh?
And monkeys.
You saw lots of monkeys?
Yeah, you'd be there at night, watching,
listening to something.
You know, I seen a monkey come down to teach,
Argh, Bap, Bap, Bap, Bap, Bap.
You didn't know if it was somebody or a monkey
half the time, huh?
They was entertaining in the day time.
Well, I guess.
You know, jumping in the woods, chasing each
other, you know, look at you.
And it wasn't that big.
Yeah, little Bitty monkeys?
You know what they call them.
But now, they didn't see any snakes. Really?
They were probably all bombed off.
It was, the terrain was very, very rough.
Some places, it was just so straight up.
You'd have to climb that someplace? Yeah.
You'd have to climb that someplace?
Well, you'd have to pull and limb and pass and
equipment up, pull. Yeah.
Either that or go a way around.
And if we knew if we went a way around, that's
where the enemy was sitting. Uh-huh.
Expecting you to come the easy way. Right.
You had to go the hard way. Hm.
And the Japs was funny.
They were crazy and all that stuff.
would try to infiltrate it was infiltrate
through your lines it's nice
they drive them caribee down the road and they
get in amongst them Caribee
cariboo well it didn't take long we knew it to
shoot get kill all them
cariboo because there's somebody in them that's
pretty sneaky
did y'all ever sneak in on them did you ever do
that no no no y'all bust out
I'd like to go back to what I tell you while
ago much 22 year old boys crazy
yeah one particular time I'm thinking about now
we we weren't going to go
around up in that little neck up in there we're
gonna go on this way
but we've killed in some time there two three
of us well we go to go see that
what's in there wait three hours what that way
there man come in there's a
bunch of Jabs in their tent in their little
sack not here but little grass
shacks well we just shot a few times we come
back we were going the other way
and then he'll become a happy huh that was good
well yeah good have been ran
back here we've seen them before we got up in
that computer and you know right
crazy things like this right but you know I've
often talked
and they're human beings just like anybody else
yeah but while he's over
there you had a build-up in you you know no
more than shooting a dog yeah but now
that's one of the things that bothers me even
though yet right now that you see
Japanese fine cultured people right right and
we kill a lot of yeah one
thing I aren't one thing I got her sent home mama
yeah if I roll him over just to see what is in
his hip pocket and got his wallet
out and a little bit of change I had to change
in the other hand enjoy and I
left in his wallet and he had a picture of a
soldier and his wife I guess our
girlfriend yeah and I said to Mama I said mama
this is smart every bar for
word Mama this old boy won't ever see this gal
anymore because I didn't let
him at it you know yeah well they can think
like that it hurts you know right
you're looking back here because they are human
being but then they're just
you know you had a different thing at all well
I mean that's you really didn't
have a choice being drafted in there and but
you didn't think nothing of it right
I mean after you're defeating your country and
so but now then we buy
everything they make yeah make good stuff
okay well I guess that's all I have to ask as
far as the medical attention you
personally were never hurt but from what you
could tell of the medical help that
was all real good if people got hurt they would
go into these medical tent
oh yeah yes oh yes they were evacuated quick
and taken to the general hospital
and the care there was very good and was there
you were talking about chaplain
they had an army chaplain was he there stayed
close there's always one close
yeah now we went back it wasn't long after this
this happened we get close to
the end of the war and we come back I could
show you on them pictures there
right where it was we would come back and set
up a little place there the
chaplain came around this is right after come
out here and I want to talk to him
won't talk to him told him what the situation
right he said it was great
great now he asked where I was from what not
what church what not he said I was
get a letter to him and let him know your
situation right well I never see
the letter mom but she said this picture got it
ready something so he would
actually send letters to your hometown he did
on this case I'm sure he did
though real nice right and his name was John L
John's John John John L John Oh
John yeah John John he said he went to
by the seminary Fort Worth that was probably
real helpful to everybody to
know that the chaplain was there oh there's a
chapel at where are they when
we did and occupation I went to study with a
church every Sunday and my man
went all cool with it yeah would you would you
make them or they would don't
know I told her what happened yeah and then
they just started going with you
they will go in there sit right with me yeah
that's good how many men did you
say you had well for the first argument we had
to hold the whole company you
ever have trouble with any I don't know except
I don't know when I own our post
before I would make first thought it went out
now post card and ammunition
down and the Mexican was sleep
I've got him brought him back in at the CP we
had the little CP set up call the
company back to health and they sent a deep the
driver to come get him and he
agreed to go back with them he got back and
they will put him in stock a well
they let him with what my ball they let him
sleep the rest of the night there
right you know that was slipped out that night
left he snuck off and left lived
out there with the Japanese people I mean
whether yeah the Japanese people
familiar well boys with some of the boys would
see him I want to be only he would
always tell them he said I'm gonna kill
sergeant Ross really but doing what he
did well I was scared to go on me yeah after
that but they tried it and I didn't
go this time they tried him and sent him to the
stockade so he was in the
stockade when I left now what is the stockade
jailhouse okay the jail he was
a Mexican named Vasquez I just did in my book I
was writing up on the blacks
Hispanics and women during the World War two so
apparently he was a Mexican but
he was a legal Mexican oh yes American American
he was probably drafted also
probably was or if they thought they're not all
right yeah he was just oh yeah
so you had a lot of did you have all racials in
your company no black that's
what I wrote it wrote on to they had their own
separate at the time separate
camps and everything at the time yeah how is
your feeling about that I didn't
well I didn't see any like people fighting the
war I heard there was one
division somewhere over Germany only do but
there was some I've
seen some over there but they weren't in my
outfit and laugh and those black
servicemen they captured the women over there
women like them real Japanese yeah
because when I got on the ship to come home and
there was a bunch of nigger way
a bunch of women follow them old nigger boys of
them knock down and get the
boo-hoo me oh really odd well if Niggas had a
whitewash a black white white
watch why he was always told him they would
they was special they were night
fighters they were trained for night fight okay
so when you actually got to
come home and she met you in San Antonio I
guess you remember that clear as a
bell the first time you saw her oh yes tears
and everything I guess where
it was coming down the stairway at the hotel what
I guess it was yeah
separation center human