Leslie Oatman interview with Zoey Reisdorf and Matt Hudnall

Leslie Oatman interview with Zoey Reisdorf and Matt Hudnall

World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories

Oatman's Army service took him to Okinawa, where he joined the Army track team and participated in the 1948 Olympics in Tokyo. He served as a clerk and a quartermaster laundry. There were times of boredom, but he was happy to have a radio to entertain him.

Buena Vista University

3/10/2011

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video/mp4

English

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Zoey Reisdorf, Matt Hudnall

Leslie Oatman

LESLIE OATMAN

Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:00] Today is March 3rd, 2011, and we are interviewing Leslie Oatman at the Communications Center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Oatman was born on November 11, 1927. My name is Zoey Reisdorf, and I will be interviewing along with Matt Hudnall today. What were you doing before you entered the service?

Leslie Oatman [00:00:21] Well, I was working for Dick Smit (sp) in the lumber yard-- after I graduated, I graduated in-- in May [19]46.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:37] Where were you when you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

Leslie Oatman [00:00:41] What?

Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:42] Where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?

Leslie Oatman [00:00:44] Well, I was home, and my brother came from uptown. We lived in Alta, and my oldest brother came home, and he said that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.

Matt Hudnall [00:00:58] What did you and your family think about that? That was pretty big.

Leslie Oatman [00:01:05] Well, upset, because both my brothers was--was of age to go in the army and well, both of them end[ed] up going in army.

Matt Hudnall [00:01:13] You told us that your brothers were of age to go into the military?

Leslie Oatman [00:01:17] Yes. My oldest brother went in January of '42. And I think my other brother went in about '43.

Matt Hudnall [00:01:26] Okay.

Leslie Oatman [00:01:27] My oldest-- my oldest brother was in the invasion of Africa and Italy, southern France, and Germany. And he was killed between Mannheim and Heidelberg, Germany-- Germany. And my other brother was in the 10th Mountain Division.

Matt Hudnall [00:01:44] Interesting. So now what does your family feel about that?

Leslie Oatman [00:01:50] Well, we were rather patriotic. My great-great-grandfather was a Civil War veteran. He was-- he was captured at the Weldon(sp) railroad station, and he was a prisoner of war in Salisbury Prison, a Libby prisoner, see. Libby Prison. And see what the other one, Andersonville. And they released him because he got-- everywhere he went, he tried to escape, and they'd put him in a worse prison camp, and they finally released him because he was, you know, so bad he couldn't do nothing. He had to sign papers that he'd never go back in the army.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:39] So can you tell us any more about the-- your brother that served in Africa or--

Leslie Oatman [00:02:46] Not much. Just, he was in a searchlight division in-- in Africa and Italy. And when the Germans, the planes-- they don't have any more planes to shoot down-- they pulled the-- the-- the guys that were in there, the searchlight divisions, and they lined them up and had them count one, two, three. And they said every third one, take one step forward. And they put them in-- in the 63rd Infantry Division.

Matt Hudnall [00:03:19] Did your brothers ever writing[sic] letters home about their experiences and--

Leslie Oatman [00:03:23] Yes, but they-- we stored them at my uncle's place, and-- and mice got into it and chewed 'em all up.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:03:35] Where were you during this time? Were you still--

Leslie Oatman [00:03:37] I was-- I was going to school. In high school.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:03:44] And you enlisted in 1946.

Leslie Oatman [00:03:47] Yeah. June in 1946, I went in the army. We all had to enlist.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:03:55] What was-- what did you do after you enlisted?

Leslie Oatman [00:04:00] What did I do in the service? I went overseas in November 1946-- first part of November and arrived on Okinawa, I think maybe the 25th or 28th of November. I was seasick all the way over. [Chuckle] I got real sick, then and-- then I was a company clerk for about four or five months and Colonel Fickies (sp) came down and pulled me out of there and had me as his secretary for-- for about three months. And I went out for track-- for track-- on track team and I got on a track team and got to go down to Manila and got to go up to the Philippines and precipitated-- parcipitated [i.e. participated] in the 1948 Pacific Olympics in Tokyo and now Kinnick Stadium there. And well, I caught cold going up on a plane because I laid down [on] the bottom plane and I caught cold. And I-- I came in sixth. There were six of us running, and I came in sixth. [Laughter] But then when I came back, I went with a-- a guy, a good friend of mine, and he was assigned to graves registration. Well, I got stuck there for about three months. And then Colonel Fickies come down and picked me and took me up to headquarters at Buckner Bay. By the way, they had moved all of the-- the stockpiles of things-- clothes and such for the Quartermaster Corps from-- from Naha to Buckner Bay during that time. And anyway, I was-- I was up at the headquarters and 561st QM group with Colonel Fickies and Colonel Gardner (sp) for about two months. And then Colonel Fickies had me go down and train to be a chief clerk and a quartermaster laundry, which I was there for-- until I got just come home to get discharged. That was-- be about, maybe, 12 months or 14 months. I can't remember how long.

Matt Hudnall [00:06:32] Since you were around the colonel and stuff during those times did you hear any news about what was going on in Japan? What what was it like? What did you hear?

Leslie Oatman [00:06:41] Oh, they-- they had-- they had rumors around that there was going to be a war in Korea, and that's where it ended up happening.

Matt Hudnall [00:06:49] Okay. So it was pretty nasty stuff. Were they talking about what was going on? Exactly. And-- and did they not-- did they believe that the war was going to end or did you think you were going to have to see battle?

Leslie Oatman [00:07:03] No, it was ended. The war had ended when I went in.

Matt Hudnall [00:07:07] Okay.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:07:09] What was the training like before you--

Leslie Oatman [00:07:13] In basic training? Well, I was sworn in at the camp-- what's the one up in Minneapolis?

Matt Hudnall [00:07:25] Snelling?

Leslie Oatman [00:07:25] Yeah, I was sworn in at camp-- at Fort Snelling, and I went to Fort Dix and took Signal Corps basic there. And then they shipped me overseas.

Leslie Oatman [00:07:36] Okay.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:07:43] Ask-- sorry. How was your encounter with the Japanese people?

Leslie Oatman [00:07:49] They had non-- non-fraternization. And, well, in the quartermaster laundry there was 400-- well, 350 to 400 Okinawans working there. And part of my duty was to pay them with a Okinawan interpreter with me all the time and to check them over for burns. And if they had severe burns or they had Chinese rot, I had to take them up to the island hospital and sign 'em in up there to get them fixed up so they could come back and work. But as I say, we had a non-fraternization. We weren't supposed to-- to have anything to do with the Japanese at the time.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:08:42] Then did you travel around [unintelligible]?

Leslie Oatman [00:08:44] No. Well, I got-- I got up to Baguio. They had just on R&R to Baguio. That was the summer capital of the Philippines. And a beautiful place. Kampai (sp) Kampai was the place up there. And-- but out-- out-- out-- outside of that, the people were so destitute that they-- they were almost starving. I mean, they were that bad. It wasn't too good a deal. Even in the Philippines, you-- they-- they don't have much for an economy. In the southern part of Okinawa where I was on-- we was-- we was stationed on the southern part, and they had that cut off with-- so that you had to have a pass to go up to the northern part of the island. And-- and the Okinawans couldn't pass unless they had a government pass and work for the government. And it was completely flat. There was no buildings there. It all blew up.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:10:06] What else do you remember about the trip over to Japan other than seasickness.

Leslie Oatman [00:10:11] Oh, I got to meet a classmate of mine there, Don Hentz (sp). He was in the GHQ band, and he took me up to the EM (sp?) Club and-- and that was an experience because after being on Okinawa and nothing there, you know-- you-- you know, it feels a little nice to get to a nice bar. [Laughter]

Zoey Reisdorf [00:10:40] How did you and your friends and whatnot-- and-- [clears throat] I'm sorry-- and your buddies. How did you entertain yourself while you were.

Leslie Oatman [00:10:50] Played a lot of cards-- and they finally-- they finally got a skeet range up at Buckner Bay. And on weekends I'd go up there. Of course, I was only-- only a G.I. in that laundry, and there was five American civilians there, and one was a laundry sumer-- superintendent. And no, there was 125 Filipino scouts that guarded it. And well, the immediate laundry officer was a second lieutenant and he was a Filipino. His name was-- the last name was well, it was Lieutenant Batista. And he was a real fine person. But outside of entertainment there, I had no entertainment. I'd work there and then I'd go-- go back to my little square hole in the Quonset hut. [Laughter] And I-- luckily I got a hold of a radio, and that was my entertainment. Listen to the radio.

Matt Hudnall [00:12:01] Did any of the guys you served with over there have any prior experience in the occupation of Japan, or did they see battle? Did they have any stories that they told you?

Leslie Oatman [00:12:12] No.

Matt Hudnall [00:12:13] No.

Leslie Oatman [00:12:14] Most of 'em were all gone by the time I got over there. There was a few of them still over there, but they didn't say much.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:25] Do you have any other memorable or unusual events and experiences that happened?

Leslie Oatman [00:12:33] Not really.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:37] [Laughter] How were the weather conditions in Japan?

Leslie Oatman [00:12:41] You mean on Okinawa?

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:43] Yes.

Leslie Oatman [00:12:43] Mild.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:44] Mild?

Leslie Oatman [00:12:44] Yeah.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:44] Were they-- was it--

Leslie Oatman [00:12:46] In November or December, it got pretty chilly there one time. When we first got over there, we lived in a Quonset hut, I don't know, a few miles from where we worked, where our regular quarters were. Well, when-- wheny they moved the-- the other guys out of there, then we moved back in there to-- it was the 44-- 4474th platoon company. And they-- they didn't have no shower. They had shower facilities, but you couldn't take a shower because it was cold. They fin-- they finally got some heat in there, and so we could take showers. [Laughter] Got kind of smelly around there.

Matt Hudnall [00:13:39] At the time, how were the relations between you and the Army and other branches, like the Marines, over in Okinawa? Did you guys get along or--

Leslie Oatman [00:13:49] We didn't-- we didn't have any contact with them or the Navy. There was-- the Navy was on the north end of the island. I don't know where they had the Marines. I know-- I know they had a marine cemetery over there. And then they had a regular army cemetery. They had two different cemeteries.

Matt Hudnall [00:14:07] Okay.

Leslie Oatman [00:14:09] And they-- they-- while I was over there, they exhumed all of the-- those that were killed in the Battle for the Iwo Shima or Iwo Jima. I don't know which way they pronounce it: Iwo Shima or Iwo Jima. But Ernie Pyle was buried-- buried there. And they dug him up and and brought him over there to the island cemetery on Okinawa. And that's a story in itself. Then they dug him up and buried him in the Hawaiian cemetery. And his wife had him dug up and buried down, I think, Fort Worth, Texas. Then when she died, they dug him up and took him to his hometown and buried him.

Matt Hudnall [00:14:50] Nice little trip there.

Matt Hudnall [00:14:51] Yeah, well, I-- I watched that pretty close because I was in graves registration over there. And after I come back and, you know, I just kind of kind of watched it, you know.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:15:06] What did you do after the war?

Leslie Oatman [00:15:09] Come home and farm. Well, I-- I worked for a while for-- as a driver's license division clerk and well, I've done a few things here and there, worked as a part-time as assistant marshall over at Alta. Did that for about seven, eight years along with farming to make a living.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:15:45] What was it like when you came home? Was it hard to adjust back to normal?

Leslie Oatman [00:15:54] Oh, you got thrown into it. And that was it. There-- there was-- you just got thrown into it. You know, you just can't-- you can't explain it, really.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:16:10] Is there anything else you'd like to share about?

Leslie Oatman [00:16:12] What?

Zoey Reisdorf [00:16:12] Well, anything else you'd like to share about your experiences.

Leslie Oatman [00:16:15] That's about it.

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