Tom Kawano's History

              My immediate fate was unknown. I guess the army didn't know what to do with us. We all spent
about two months at Angel Is. Earlier, I mentioned that I thought it was strange that only the
Japanese-Americans were taken off the list to be shipped-out just days before Dec. 7,1941. Ever
since Dec. 7th, I have been suspicious that the army/government knew about Pearl Harbor or, at least,
an imminent Japanese strike somewhere against the U.S.
After Angel Is., we were all split-up. A Kibei guy and I were transferred to Ft. Ord, near Monterey,
CA. I was assigned to the East Garrison. While I was there, the base was almost empty because most
ofthe troops had already been deployed in the early months of 1942. At that time, I felt real lucky to
be in the 32nd Infantry. To be honest, it wasn't as good as being in the 442nd.
In March 1942,1 was transferred to Ft. Custer, MI. When I got there, we all seemed to realize that the
army still didn't know what to do with the Japanese-Americans that were already in service before the
U.S. entered the war. There were many of us at Ft. Custer and we all got to be good friends; many of
us have remained life-long friends. I worked in Supply and earned extra money setting-up pins in the
bowling alley. I also got married there to my wife, Mary (Imachi), on Apr. 17, 1943. Arrangements
had to be made for her to be able to leave Topaz, UT Relocation Center and travel to MI. She worked
for Col. Shank's family—cooking and cleaning—and made friends with the small group of wives
there at the base. (Col. Shank was the commander at Ft. Custer.) I was at Ft. Custer for two years.
Mary and I were treated well. We had excellent times with our friends. We hoped it would last
forever.
Finally, we got word that we were going overseas. First stop was Camp Blanding, FL, where we had
a 13-week refresher course. I learned new things like taking apart and reassembling machine guns.
Next, it was onto Cp. Shelby, MI, where I was joined to the 100th/442nd RCT. During this time, Mary
and I were able to visit my family at the Jerome, AR Relocation Center. My oldest brother, George,
got permission to travel from the Poston, AZ Relocation Center to Jerome so we could all have a good
visit. Our next stop was Ft. Meade, MD, which was right near Cp. Patrick Henry—this was the place
where we actually shipped-out for Europe on Aug. 23, 1944. Many of us from the Ft. Custer group
were all on the same ship: Bill Fujimori, Frank Morimoto, Dave Nagao, Mel Tominaga, Kam Toyota,
and Robert Yatabe—just to name a few. It would be two weeks before we reached our destination
and I was glad to be with friends.
After zigzagging across the Atlantic, we landed in Naples, Italy, on Sept. 7th. I had more than a few
days of miserable seasickness on the journey. By the end ofthe month, we were shipped by large
front-loading transport to Marseilles, France. Septemes was the staging area a few miles from
Marseilles. It was a muddy mess there because of all the rain. Everyone was suffering from the cold
wind and rain. Capt. Leonard told me that I was assigned to Co. K. I was glad to see George Nishi
again and happy that he would be my platoon leader. I knew George from when we were teenagers.
We got to be great friends. Another good thing happened at Septemes. I had heard that Dick Otsubo
was also there. I first made friends with Dick three years before at Ft. Leonard Wood. Ever since
then, we had been writing back and forth. I found him and we got caught-up on things. It sure was
good to see him again.
By mid-October, the regiment had traveled north through the Rhone River Valley. The 100th and 2nd
Division had gone by truck and the 3rd Division, which Co. K was in, went by train. It wasn't a
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Tom Kawano ~~ Military History
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