Title
Harold Peterson interview with Stephanie Puhrmann and Lindsey Peterson
Subject
World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories
Description
Peterson served in the Infantry in the Philippines and New Guinea. He drove a Jeep and achieved the rank of Corporal. He recounts a close call with a grenade and another close call with Japanese mortar shells. He discusses how the mail was sometimes very slow.
Publisher
Buena Vista University
Date
2/24/2011
Rights
These oral histories are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that a credit line reads: "Courtesy of Buena Vista University Archives, Storm Lake, IA." Prior permission from the BVU Archives is required for any commercial use.
Format
video/mp4
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
Interviewer
Stephanie Puhrmann, Lindsey Peterson
Interviewee
Harold Peterson
Transcription
HAROLD PETERSON
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:00:00] Today is February 24th, 2011, and we are interviewing Harold Peterson from Alta, Iowa at the Communications Center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Peterson was born on May 30th, 1924, making him 86 years old. My name is Stephanie Puhrmann, and I will be the interviewer along with Lindsey Peterson.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:19] We just have a few questions for you before we get started.
Harold Peterson [00:00:22] Okay.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:24] Your branch of service?
Harold Peterson [00:00:26] Infantry.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:27] Infantry. What was your rank?
Harold Peterson [00:00:31] Corporal.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:33] And where did you serve at.
Harold Peterson [00:00:35] South Pacific. Philippines. New Guinea.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:39] All right. Thank you. What-- what year did you-- when did you find out that you were going to be in the war?
Harold Peterson [00:01:04] In [19]44, I went.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:05] Okay. Now, were you drafted?
Harold Peterson [00:01:10] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:11] How did you feel about that?
Harold Peterson [00:01:12] Well, I was ready to go.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:14] You were?
Harold Peterson [00:01:15] Yeah, I was ready to go.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:16] Why did you want to go? Did you want to fight for your country?
Harold Peterson [00:01:19] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:19] Yeah.
Harold Peterson [00:01:21] Yeah. I shoulda' went in '42. I graduated in '42, but my dad had a bad heart. He was a farmer. Well, I deferred for two years to help him farm. And then in '44, I had a brother graduated, so then, he took over, and I left.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:35] Okay. Where did you do your training at?
Harold Peterson [00:01:39] Camp Hood, Texas.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:43] What did you think of training?
Harold Peterson [00:01:44] Oh, it was different, but it went all right.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:48] What was a typical day for you?
Harold Peterson [00:01:51] Down there?
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:52] Yes.
Harold Peterson [00:01:51] Well, we had a little bit of everything, you know. We took bayonet and rifle firing and hand grenades, and I had quite an experience with hand grenades down there.
Lindsey Peterson [00:02:04] Did you?
Harold Peterson [00:02:06] I supposed to keep talking or not?
Lindsey Peterson [00:02:08] Whatever you want.
Harold Peterson [00:02:10] Well, see, we had a guy there. He-- he'd been in the Army about nine days longer than I was. He-- we-- we called him a rag corporal. He had a corporal stripe with a band on it, you know, and there's about four or five of us left, the last bunch of the group and he's gonna show us, you know, how to do it, you know? See, so he said, "As long as you hold this lever down, and you pull the pin out, why, you're all right." And you are. I knew that 'cuz my father was in World War I. And if I put that-- push the pin back in, he couldn't do it so he relaxed his hand, and the lever flew off. Well, then, the hand grenade was live. So, what does he do? Floated straight up in the air and come right down between us. But then we took off. We'd only been in the Army about four weeks, but we knew enough to get out of there. So we took off, and I hit the dirt. Of course, I was smart and I had two hand grenades, you know, and they always show 'em, you put 'em on your belt. So I hung 'em on my belt like a big shot, and I hit the dirt. [laughs] Bent the levers, but that was it. So then I don't know what happened to him or anything, but we was safe.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:18] Good. [laughs]
Harold Peterson [00:03:20] Maybe I ain't supposed to talk like that.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:22] No, that's great. When did you go head over to Japan?
Harold Peterson [00:03:33] Went overseas, I left New Year's Eve, 1944.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:37] Okay. What was it like heading over there?
Harold Peterson [00:03:40] Oh, that's all right. We didn't go to Japan. No, then we went to-- I don't know where we first went down to New Guinea. I rode that old Dutch tub for 44 days before I got off.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:50] OK.
Harold Peterson [00:03:51] And it was an old Dutch tub. It-- that's the worst day you ever put in is on a ship like that.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:57] Yeah. What did you do to pass the time?
Harold Peterson [00:04:00] We played cards. We played-- it was four of us. We played cards every day.
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:05] Did you get good?
Harold Peterson [00:04:07] I don't think so. [laughter]
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:13] So were you in New Guinea first?
Harold Peterson [00:04:15] We went to New Guinea, but I never got off the ship.
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:18] Okay.
Harold Peterson [00:04:18] We were at Fitch Haven (i.e. Finschhafen) and New Hollanda (sp). But we never got off the ship. We stayed in the harbor for about a month. Not a month but a week. Then we left for-- go north again. And I landed in-- in Leyte, Philippines.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:42] Do you remember arriving at your first duty station?
Harold Peterson [00:04:45] Do I remember what?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:46] Arriving at your first duty station.
Harold Peterson [00:04:47] Oh, yeah.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:48] What was that like?
Harold Peterson [00:04:50] At the first time that I go on land?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:52] Mmm-hmmm.
Harold Peterson [00:04:54] Yeah, that-- that was great. I-- we was-- they-- we were issued a three-- ought-three rifle in the states, and we carried it over there and turned it in. That's all we did. But we left Leyte the same day I landed there, on another ship. And then we went to Luzon, Lingayen Gulf.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:05:16] Amd what was that like?
Harold Peterson [00:05:17] Well, that was all right. You just like it. We climbed down the cargo net and got in them landing crafts and went to-- went to shore.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:05:28] What was your job? What was your assignment?
Harold Peterson [00:05:30] I was the Jeep driver. The best job in the whole army. I drove a Jeep. The way I got that, see, I was a replacement [unintelligible]. And the captain asked me, he said, "Where are you from?" I said, "From Iowa." "Okay," he said. "What did you do?" I said I was a farmer. "Okay." He said, "Then you know-- you know, machinery and motors and stuff. And so he said, "There's your jeep." But the Jeep had a hole right through the windshield into the back of the seat. So I knew why I was getting it. And he-- and he said-- he sent the sergeant out. He said-- and he said, "You take him down and see if there's a worker on the bamboo grove." So we drove down there and there was nobody there. I think it was just a test drive to see, you know, if I could drive, which I could. But I drove a jeep then all the time. That was the best job there was because you get to see a lot of country. They shoot at you, but you get to go anyway, they gonna shoot at you anyway, so.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:06:33] Can you tell me what that was like, getting shot at, in the Jeep?
Harold Peterson [00:06:36] Well, I don't know. I didn't think it was so bad. I mean-- I mean, I didn't like it. The first time-- well, not the first time, but one thing I really remember-- I was taking some engineers up-- we'd just made a landing. A beach-head landing which take an engineer that looked for landmines, and, of course. I'm just like a Jeep driver. I don't know where to go. They supposed to tell me. They said, "Follow that trail." So I did. All of a sudden, machine gun opened up. We'd run right into the Jap lines, but as luck would have it, there was a cement wall there, a burial wall, where they buried the-- slid-- slid the coffins in, you know, and it was about nine feet tall. So I'd just hurry up and back up behind there. And then, of course, I was safe. I told them engineers, that this is as far as I'm going. You can go further if you want to crawl up that ditch. And they did, but I don't think they did anything. And they left one man. He [sic] said, "You stay here with the driver so you can protect the Jeep." And as soon as they were gone, he said, "Let's go, let's go, let's go." I said, "You can't go leave your buddies." But he said, "Let's go." But we didn't.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:07:41] That sounds like a great experience. Did you experience any other great things while driving the jeep?
Harold Peterson [00:07:47] Oh, yeah.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:07:48] Could you tell us about those?
Harold Peterson [00:07:49] Well. I don't know. I took some ammunition up one evening, you know, over there, after [unintelligible], you never went anywhere after dark. Soon as it got dark, you got in the foxhole and stayed there, no matter what. So it was just about dark, and they called for ammu-- bazooka ammunition. So I said, "I'll take it up there." So I took it up to the lines. And-- and sure enough, a Jap mortar shell come in, and I jumps out of the Jeep and gets into the ditch and somebody hollers out, "Get that damn Jeep out of here!" I said, "You get your damn ammunition outta here and I'll go." And they did. And I went.
Lindsey Peterson [00:08:40] Before you went overseas, before you saw any combat, what did you think you were going to experience? What did you think of the Japanese?
Harold Peterson [00:08:49] Well, at that time, they were just like an animal, you know. You was ready to shoot them. Now, I ain't so sure what I was right or not. But then, you-- you know, you were. You just-- you shot 'em. They gave you a gun. That's what it was for, the rifle. Well, I had a Tommy gun, but they issued that and you're supposed to shoot Japs with it.
Lindsey Peterson [00:09:14] What was it like being shot at and in combat?
Harold Peterson [00:09:18] Well, you kept your head down, best ya could. In that same time when I backed that jeep up, I thought, Well, I better look and see if they're sending out a patrol. The Japs, I thought, they gonna look around that edge-- that built-- that cement wall, they're going to be watching that. So I climbed up a tree. There's one little tree there. I climbed up that, and I looked over the top. And soon as I looked over the top, bang! Bullet hit right beside me. That lieutenant, Jap lieutenant or something, he was thinking the same thing I was. He going to climb that tree. So I never looked again. I thought he might be [laughs] a better shot next time.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:09:55] Did you see any more combat that--[crosstalk]
Harold Peterson [00:09:57] Oh, yeah.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:09:58] --stories you'd like to tell us?
Harold Peterson [00:09:58] I made a beachhead landing. I got one combat. I don't remember-- I don't remember one thing about it, but it took about three weeks, and I-- I just went blank. I-- I can't remember. I still don't know what happened. And I never told anybody because I thought, you're a coward. And then after about three year-- 30 years afterwards, I got to readin' about how men, you know, blanked it out. And they, you know, they didn't say nothing. And then-- so then I told my wife and first-- she's the the first one.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:37] Where was that at, that you blanked out.
Harold Peterson [00:10:41] It was south of Manila. I was-- was working to the Batangas Harbor. As far as I'm concerned it went west. I don't know who'd write it out like that. I thought we were going west.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:58] How did you keep in contact with your family and friends back home?
Harold Peterson [00:11:01] Well, it isn't like now. We didn't have cell phones. I got a grandson, you know, he-- he was over in Iraq and stuff, and he called home all the time, you know, and they-- and but then we had-- just sent letters, that's all. And when I left that New Year's Eve in '44, I didn't get any mail 'til middle of May, from home, because I kept moving or changing. And I went to the hospital. Finally, mail caught up. I had about 150 letters in one bundle.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:11:39] I bet that was an exciting day.
Harold Peterson [00:11:42] [laughs] Took a while to read 'em.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:11:44] I bet so.
Lindsey Peterson [00:11:45] Did you bring anything home for your family or friends?
Harold Peterson [00:11:50] Well, yes some, I don't know. You couldn't-- it was different then. You didn't send much stuff home. You didn't-- and then they sent me cookies, but I never got 'em because they just didn't-- and I can-- I can see it now. How could they bring all those cookies? Your hometown paper supposed to come and they never-- I never got any, never got one because-- I can see it now. They couldn't be haulin' all that stuff over there. I got one cookie package once and that was empty. Somebody ate it.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:12:26] You said your father was in World War I?
Harold Peterson [00:12:28] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:12:29] How do you think your experience compared with your father's?
Harold Peterson [00:12:33] Well, he-- as he told it, sounded just like the same. He said he was a machine gun, you know, he-- he was over in France and everything's [unintelligible] about the same. I had a bachelor brother-- I mean, his brother was a bachelor, and he stayed with his dad-- my dad. And he was in World War I, and I was in World War II, and my brother was in Korea. He was the only one that got wounded. He got wounded.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:13:06] Can you tell us about some of your most memorable experiences? The things that stick out to you?
Harold Peterson [00:13:11] Well [chuckles], I don't know. They all stick out. I mean, I don't have anything special, I guess.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:13:19] Are there any stories in particular that you'd like to tell us?
Harold Peterson [00:13:22] Pardon?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:13:23] Are there any stories in particular that you'd like to tell us? You said there are a few that stick out. Could you--
Harold Peterson [00:13:29] Well, just-- well, I can't remember that-- that battle. The beachhead landing was-- I got to blow my nose. Is that all right on this thing? [Laughter]
Unidentified male voice [00:13:38] Oh, yeah.
Harold Peterson [00:13:47] The beachhead landing was on [the] first day of April 1945, and that was also Easter Sunday, and we hit the beach at 10:00. And I'll never forget that. But it was un-- unopposed. They were back a ways-- the Japs, so they didn't-- that night the few of us drivers drove up blazin' and then we made a-- we gotta make a, ya know, a circle. Protect yourself and perimeter, they called it, and about, I don't know, midnight or 1:00, there was an awful noise. We thought, what in the world? Oh, it made a noise. We thought, now what? And it was a rocket that the Japs had shot off. The only rocket that was ever shot off in World War II that they know of, and I had to be the one to hear it.
Lindsey Peterson [00:14:41] What was your role in the landings?
Harold Peterson [00:14:44] I drove a jeep off of a LST. Pulled the trailer. I was the first one off [unintelligible] there. I started up-- they said, "Go up that way." I went and got stuck. I got a picture in that magazine. There's three jeeps lined up and then they're going the other way. I'm the lead jeep. And-- but I got out of there anyway, and as we moved to the town of Legaspi, where we went in to hit the highway, they had Navy A-- A-- A-20s-- bomber-- fighter planes, kind of. But they would come right down over us and machine gun, and they'd drop a parachute bomb and go up. And that was right ahead of us.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:33] Could you tell us about your unit? Were there any guys from around here, around this area that were in your unit?
Harold Peterson [00:15:40] Well, when we went overseas, there was a fellow from Aurelia. His name was Peterson, too, and we got to Camp Stoneman, which is a shipout base. And I went to the hospital, and I didn't get out for five, six days. And when I did, the outfit was leaving. And oh, I wanted to go along with them because that's my buddy. But he-- but they said, "No, the orders ain't cut, so you can't go." So he went overseas. His ship was sunk, and he never come home. And the reason I went to the hospital was, I say, because I'm a buddy from up here-- a town-- Alta, not Alta, but north of Alta. He was my buddy. We went to-- that evening, we said, we's gonna see what's going on tomorrow. They had it on a bulletin board. We went and looked; it said "ten mile hike." We said, we don't want to go [to] that. That's no good. So was kind of gettin' wise to the way of the Army. So we said, look on sick call. He had-- he had a football knee, they call it, you know. So I went on sick call, and I had a terrible cold, and I had a hundred-and-some fever. So they put me right in the hospital. And he never did go overseas because [of] his football knee. So he never did go over there. And I-- I consider that saved my life that-- that ten-mile hike I didn't want to go on. But this Peterson, see, he never came back. The ship was sunk, and I had been on that ship.
Lindsey Peterson [00:17:15] What was it like for you to hear about that?
Harold Peterson [00:17:18] Well, I didn't like it. I mean, that was no good. But once you get over there and get started, you lose a lot of buddies, you know, and you-- you just kinda-- it just, you know, you hate it, but that happens. You lose 'em.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:17:33] Can you tell us more about your unit? Were there many casualties in your unit?
Harold Peterson [00:17:37] Oh, yeah. I got pictures in that magazine. We got a picture there-- shows the cemetery, that one at the beachhead-- that battle. That was quite a bunch of people there. We lost a lot of them.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:17:53] And you said you were never wounded, correct?
Harold Peterson [00:17:55] No.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:17:55] Were you ever a prisoner of war?
Harold Peterson [00:17:57] No. Thank heavens. I never would have been a prisoner of war over there because they was-- that's worse. I'd soon have been shot.
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:10] What did you hear about the war in Germany?
Harold Peterson [00:18:13] Well, when you're over there, you don't hear nothin'. You don't even know what the rest of your outfit is doing, really. You're just at-- your little spot and that's all you know. You don't get-- we never got no news. We had no radios. And nobody said anything. We didn't know nothing. So, we never really heard-- maybe months afterwards.
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:38] How did you feel towards the end of the war?
Harold Peterson [00:18:41] Well, I was awful glad that's the end of it, I tell ya. I was with a combat team, just one regiment, and we were supposed to go in two days ahead of the invasion of Japan to knock out a radar station. And I wasn't looking forward to that. They-- they said that you could-- they could have hauled the survivors home on a Piper Cub, which is one man. I said, "I'll miss the guys." But we didn't have to land. I was sure glad of that. Now, I had a sister, she said-- she said, "They should never [have] dropped an atomic bomb. That was the wrong thing, you know. You killed women and children." And I said, "That's true. But it's better than I had to do it because they-- they told us that if we landed in Japan, the women are out, and everybody is going to be out there to get you." You had to shoot 'em, and I didn't want to do that. It was bad enough to shoot the men.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:19:42] Did you ever doubt that we would win the war?
Harold Peterson [00:19:44] No, I knew we would.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:19:47] Why? Why did you know? How did you know that?
Harold Peterson [00:19:49] Well, I-- I-- just something you just know. You-- I knew we was going to win. And I knew I was coming home. Lot of men don't-- they-- they, you know, they say, "I ain't comin' home." And they don't. But I knew I was going to make it.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:20:03] So what was it like when you found out that you were going home?
Harold Peterson [00:20:06] Well, I didn't go home until after Japan. I mean, I left to Japan, and then I-- had-- they had the point system. Of course, I was single, and I didn't have that-- enough points, you know, so then I had to stay. The outfit went home or broke up and went home. I had to stay. And-- but then I went into Tokyo and lived at the docks. I was supposed to be a mechanic. But I did-- I know one thing-- that we drove little tractors on the dock there and-- and underneath the seat is a box just big enough to hold a case of beer. We found that out. I seen cases of beer stacked up like bales of hay. So we-- it was kind of nice there. And I drove right down the main street of Tokyo and all over, ya know, but we drove them there. Then there was no car, no-- Japs didn't have anything. They just-- they just-- all [unintelligible] meant for the Army stuff. I drove for the military government for a while. I went to the-- and Utsunomiya was the capital of that one prefecture and I drove for the area cultural guy. And we'd go up to this capital building and-- and there that's where the town trucks was standing. There's all-- they burned charcoal. They come up there and fire 'em up, you know, and, oh, it'd smoke like a heck, you know. And then-- but that's the only ones you met. There was nobody on Main Street. They called it Ginza in Tokyo, you know. You never see anybody.
Lindsey Peterson [00:21:55] When you were in combat, how long would it be until you were relieved?
Harold Peterson [00:22:00] Well, we never were relieved. We just-- we always-- you defeated the men the Army was against. That's the way it went over there. When we landed, why it went like that Manila deal, why we-- we'd push the Japs and kill them all or whatever we did 'til we got to-- to the bay. And then they was going to make a invasion-- a beachhead landing, and I wasn't supposed to go. They always left some home as reserve, you know, see. But the guy that was-- then another driver, his jeep was already on there. He said he got sick. So he says, "All right, you're going to go". So I went. [chuckles] I had to take over.
Lindsey Peterson [00:22:47] What was your most proud moment during your service?
Harold Peterson [00:22:54] Well, the happiest moment was when I got to come home. That was-- that was it. But I was-- I really, you know, I was happy all the time.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:23:05] Were you awarded any medals?
Harold Peterson [00:23:07] I got some.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:23:10] Do you know how and where you earned them?
Harold Peterson [00:23:13] No. Most of 'em you just got because you went overseas, I guess. I don't know. My granddaughter put 'em all in a-- in a, ya know, folder or-- or picture holder and they're sitting there at home on a chest.
Lindsey Peterson [00:23:39] How were the relationships between you and the local people? When you were there.
Harold Peterson [00:23:44] We got along good with both the Filipinos and the Japanese. Although when the war was over, we, you know, we always carried our weapons up through all these little villages in the Philippines. You always carried your weapon. And when the war was over, they said, you don't have to carry your weapon anymore. But then the Filipinos started to waylay us, and they started to, you know, take after us. And then we had to take our weapons along again. But in Japan, we had no trouble. I didn't-- 'course I-- I-- I had a weapon hold around my jeep and I hung my Tommy gun on there and put it on the ship. And when I got [to the] hold-- I just left it on the-- on the Jeep and I got [to the] hold, they took my Jeep out of the hold and set it down. I looked and looked, and my Tommy gun was gone. The sailors had stole it. And so I left Japan without a weapon. But then I got it back because there was no way they could get it off the ship, you know, and--
Lindsey Peterson [00:24:45] What did you think of General MacArthur?
Harold Peterson [00:24:50] "Dug-out Doug?" That's what I thought. I didn't have to think much about it, you know, and when I was in Tokyo, he was in Tokyo. He headquartered-- you could go down and see him come out. I never went down to see him. He never come to see me. So I wasn't goin' to go see him.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:25:11] I know you said that you didn't get a lot of news or information, but where were you when you heard about D-Day?
Harold Peterson [00:25:18] We was in a rest camp that-- we was training. We just started to train to go to Japan. We made one boat ride up the coast a ways and made a-- made a practice run on land. And then I heard it, and to tell you the truth, you know, they celebrated here, you know, something terrible. I can't remember those guys ever-- we never celebrated. We just was relieved, I guess. And that's it. There was no celebration or nothing.
Lindsey Peterson [00:25:51] During your occupation in Japan, how were you treated by the Japanese? What do you think they thought of the Americans being there?
Harold Peterson [00:25:59] Very, very good. They treated us like, you know, really, the Japanese people are nice people. It's just the warlords, you know, that was fighting-- that they wanted to fight. The people were wonderful. They were won-- you know, we-- I could tell you that when we come into a-- a town when I first got there, we'd be the first Americans, you know. I'd drive an officer [unintelligible] always went to the police station. You never seen anybody on the street. You didn't see-- a deserted town. I went back to this one town again in a couple weeks. I couldn't drive down the street because people were all out there gettin' you, and they-- and I got-- you get a little kid, they'd follow, you know, they-- eight, nine-- to me, looked like eight, nine years old. They might have a little-- some of 'em had a little baby on their back. And you stop someplace, and they'd just crowd ya, you know. And I got a bunch of cards one time. I remember, in Utsunomiya, I-- some little boy, I guess, or girl-- I don't know which [it] was, give me a picture postcard, just a card, you know. And I always carried gum or candy of some kind. Well, I had candy, and I gave this boy or girl a piece of candy. Kids all scattered. Pretty soon they was all back. And they all had a card. I got 'em-- I got a whole bunch of them-- must have had thirty, forty of 'em. They all gave 'em to me.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:27:23] Did you have enough candy for everyone?
Harold Peterson [00:27:25] I always had gum or something, you know? But they didn't like having their picture taken. I wanted to take a picture of the kids around my Jeep, and they'd just take off.
Lindsey Peterson [00:27:39] When did you find out you were going to go back home?
Harold Peterson [00:27:42] Well, it was in-- after I'd got in Tokyo a while, and they told me I was going to, you know, they-- then they said that your point-- you got enough points, you can go home. So I have--we was going to get going on a-- on a ship, and they brought some troops over, and the troops tore up the ships. So we had to wait another week or so before they get the ship picked up again. And so, that was-- that's when I knew. And when I started out of the camp, I was the only one going from this-- from this time [unintelligible]. And a guy was driving a Jeep with-- with me in it. And we got started out and the lieutenant hollered, "Wait, wait, wait!" on the loudspeaker. And I thought, Oh, now what? So we backed up a little bit and pretty soon they started playing "Sentimental Journey." "You can go now," he said. So, that's my favorite song.
Lindsey Peterson [00:28:41] What did you think of General Cunningham?
Harold Peterson [00:28:45] I didn't know him. No, I never. That general, I don't know.
Lindsey Peterson [00:29:00] Is [sic] there any other experiences you'd like to tell us about? Anything that sticks out in your mind?
Harold Peterson [00:29:07] Well-- [chuckles] I don't know. I-- I don't know. You know any, Ma? Huh?
Mrs. Peterson [00:29:34] What about the-- the-- the shell that hit your hospital camp?
Harold Peterson [00:29:39] Well, oh-- when they shelled the hospital? Yeah, see, I got sent to the hospital little while after I-- we made a beachhead landing. It was a field hospital like M*A*S*H. You probably seen that program. And in the first night I was there, because I was only there one night, but the first night I was there, the Japs shelled the hospital, and I was standing out there and I-- my dad always told me, he said, "When you hear a shell whistle, it's going overhead. Nothing to worry about." But I could hear this one whistle, I said-- I thought to myself, That's going to be close. So I jumped in the fox-- they had foxholes dug around the tent, so I jumped in a foxhole and the shell lit right there. And I got a picture of it in there, and it threw dirt all over me and stuff. But it was a dud. It never blew up, so I was lucky there. The next morning they-- they flew me out. I don't know what I had. I-- I really don't, but who cared when you're getting out of the battle. And they shipped-- they flew me to Manila, put me on a hospital ship, and we went clear down there to New Guinea to a general hospital. So I spent about a month-and-a-half-- I guess I had hepatitis and I had malaria. And when they put me on that plane that morning, a C-47, they had to push it clear back into the palm trees to get it [to] run, just on the grass strip. And when I got on the plane, why, there was a photographer on there. I don't know what he was-- what he was takin'-- but he took a picture. There's a nurses on there, and the nurse was-- would take my pulse and temperature, and she [sic] was taking pictures of that. I wish I'd 'a' told them to send me a picture, so I could see it. I don't know whether it was a magazine or army or what he was, but they were taking pictures. But I've been across the equator four times. Three times with a boat, one time with a[n] airplane.
Lindsey Peterson [00:31:48] What did you do after the war, when you got back to the States?
Harold Peterson [00:31:51] Went to farming right away. First thing I did, I bought a H International tractor. I'd bought war bonds and saved money, you know, and everything, so when I got home, first thing I did was buy an H International and a plow. And I drove right down Main Street of Alta. I was so proud. [laughs]
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:32:16] Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?
Harold Peterson [00:32:19] I don't know. I can't think now. I've got a lot of things, but I don't know. The best train-- you know, back in those days, you rode the train all the time. And the best train ride I had were [sic] from Seattle to Fort Leavenworth. That's when I come home, because then, you know, oh, every time a train stop, you'd jump off and get a pop or an ice cream cone or something, you know, we hadn't had that. That taste[d] so good. And I remember when we landed in Seattle and they always give you a big dinner, the Amy does there, you know, when you come back. So I went to dinner, and it surprised me that they had German prisoners were waiting, you know, and help, you know, and I thought, Gosh darn, there I was over there in the jungle and them Germans are here having a big time. But anyway, I-- I came by train. We don't get milk, you know. So I had two little bottles of milk, and I don't know, one of 'em fell off and busted. But you know that one German come and said, "Here, well, I'll take care of it. I'll take care of it," you know, and he took care of it. He cleaned it all up, brought me another bottle, so I didn't feel so bad then.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:33:29] So you said the food was good when you got back here. What was it like when you were overseas? Did you like the food?
Harold Peterson [00:33:35] Pardon?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:33:35] When you were overseas?
Harold Peterson [00:33:36] Yeah?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:33:36] Do you like the food or what was the food like?
Harold Peterson [00:33:39] No, don't talk Spam to me. We had Spam three times a day. Dehydrated-- dehydrated egg. And we had that three times a day. And you couldn't blame the cooks because they tried everything, they-- you know, to fix it up. But we ate Spam, Spam, Spam. And I come home, and we never had Spam. Finally, about 30 years after me-- 40 years afterward I told the wife, I said, "Buy a little can of Spam, see if I can--" I couldn't eat it. I couldn't do it. That's what we ate. That's all we had. And in-- you know, then, they issued you cigarettes then. We were issued every so often-- they issued you a few packages of cigarettes. I didn't smoke so I sold 'em black market, and some of the money helped buy the Jeep-- or the tractor. I was always going to buy a Jeep when I got home. But I never did. I never did. They wouldn't allow that. And then all of a sudden, after the war was over, they gave us about a week or so, we could-- we could send it home. If you wanted to, see? If you had something, so, I had somebody make me a wooden box, and I [unintelligible], and I put it in there and they sent it home. That's what-- but that's the only allowed time you could send anything home was then. And then-- I don't know what happened, whether the whole army did that or just my outfit or-- or what. But anyway, there was that one week or so you could send [unintelligible] home. Otherwise you couldn't.
Bill Feis [00:35:20] Did-- how did you get it? Did you pick it up off the battlefield?
[00:35:23] Yeah.
Bill Feis [00:35:24] Or was it a--
Harold Peterson [00:35:25] It's a very dangerous looking thing, ain't it? You know, they-- they get that bent bayonet in, and then they'd start drinking sake all night, and then in the morning, they'd come and banzai charge. With that bayonet, you know, it was-- it was scary. But I'm pretty proud I got it home. And the saber's the same way. All officers carried a saber. And this had a-- had a wonderful handle on it, but it-- but it just fell off it. I-- I keep these thing[s] in the basement, which is pretty damp and everything, and it ain't exactly the-- [Harold withdraws the saber from its sheath] it is quite an ugly machine. [He attempts to return the saber to the sheat] I can't see to get it in there.
Bill Feis [00:36:26] I got it. Were these-- were these ones that-- that yfo-- that you just found or were these ones that you kind of picked up along the way?
Harold Peterson [00:36:39] Yeah. Pick up along the way.
Bill Feis [00:36:43] I like all my fingers.
Bill Feis [00:36:45] I got a-- wife's got a compass there from Zero [Japanese aircraft]. But I didn't take it off of Zero. I-- when we hit Japan, now, that's a compass, and you can-- it-- it actually works yet. You look and see, it actually works. But I-- when-- when we hit Utsunsomiya, Japan, I-- we went to an airplane-- airplane factory and they-- they didn't make it like-- like we do. They-- they-- it's a big building, great, big, long building, and they push the airplanes, I think, along the way, and they add stuff, and in the middle was all these parts. And I picked up that compass and brought it home. I had to smuggle it home. And that's one thing I was a little teed off about when I come home was that-- that-- I carried a duffel bag, clear, full of everything. I had my helmet in it, and my mess kits, and all that stuff. Carried it clear down to Leavenworth. We got off the train, and they said-- we lined up and they said, "Now, leave your-- leave your duffel bag and we're going to march off." So we left it. When I come back, it was about that big.[gesturing to a much smaller size] I didn't have nothing. They took it everything away from me, and I thought, Gosh darn it, if I could fight for the country, they could surely give me the clothes that I carried all the way from Japan, and they didn't. I would have liked to have a helmet and mess kit. You know, in World War II or I, my dad had a-- he got his steel helmet home. We fed the barn cats in the cal-- in that helmet, put milk in it after we milked the cows. And we kept that until it finally rusted away. And here is the book. This is my outfit. Bushmaster's 158, one regiment. And in here, I don't know, ma, you got to find it, I can't. There's a picture of that cemetery. It's right in front of the book. Is that a cemetery? Yeah. And I'm the second one in the front row. Now, right now, that don't mean a thing to me, I can't remember that. But my children and my grandchildren like to take this book to school, you know, and see-- show-- I-- I knew it then, I can remember that I was the second one in the front row for that memorial. And all these crosses were ones taht was killed in that landing. Oh, there's-- here's a receipt in there that shows where the shell hit the hospitall. See my outfit put out a-- a paper every-- yeah, there is the-- sheet and showed them digging up the hill on that--
Unidentified male voice [00:40:27] You wanna hold that back up?
Harold Peterson [00:40:29] Huh?
Unidentified male voice [00:40:30] You want to hold that back up and show that again? Can you talk about it there?
Harold Peterson [00:40:34] [He holds up the object] Well, they shelled it and-- and-- right-- I was in that-- that tent, only I was in the other end. But I laid in the foxhole right here in this front corner, and it threw dirt all over me and everything. And another strange thing was they had a couple of Jap wounded men right over here, a little ways, in a tent, and they had some guards and-- they-- when that-- when that shell came in, then they all run and jumped in the foxhole and left their guns with the Japs. That made us all kinda mad. We said, "I don't mind you jumping in the foxhole, but don't leave your gun over there." And little fu'ther over this way was a latrine. But at night, we didn't get to go to the latrine. They didn't allow that because, like I said, everything that's after dark anything that moved was shot. I don't care if it was a water buffalo or what, it was shot. So you-- you just laid in your hole. I you was wounded, you laid in your hole. You had go to the bathroom, [chuckles] you laid in your hole. That's all there was to it.
Bill Feis [00:42:00] Can you tell us about the binoculars, sir? Is there a story that goes with these?
Harold Peterson [00:42:04] Yeah. They're-- they're-- I can't see any more. They're military binoculars, and they've got a range in there. Range finders, so you could, you know, they can watch where the shell is landed. And-- and-- but the-- and this I had to sneak out, too, because that wasn't allowed, you know. We weren't allowed to bring that home. That's got to-- I can't see anymore, whether they're still in there or what.
Harold Peterson [00:42:32] Sir, can you tell-- can you tell us about your-- your uniform-- your uniform and like--
Harold Peterson [00:42:38] Well, you [can] see that I wasn't very big when I was in the Army. And I don't know why we say that-- I can't believe that I still got it, but I still do. And now I'm proud of it. But when you first came home, why you didn't-- you know, nobody cared about anything. But I was-- and there is the most important-- important thing I got on there is the combat badge. I'm proud of that, that I was in combat then. And no matter how many ribbons you get, they always put the combat badge on top. That's always on the top. The stars are battles, and the arrowhead is a beachhead landing. And these stripes are for-- one stripe for every six months overseas. So I was overseas 18 months. And this is the 6th Army. And this is my Bushmaster patch, which was-- nobody ever had-- in the whole outfit, I was the only one that had that. And I was pretty proud of our outfit.
Bill Feis [00:43:49] So what company were you with? Do you remember?
Harold Peterson [00:43:51] Headquarters Company. First Battalion.
Bill Feis [00:43:58] Can you tell us what-- what this-- what this one down here means? I've never seen that one before.
Harold Peterson [00:44:04] That's a unit citation.
Bill Feis [00:44:06] Okay. What-- what's this one-- what's this one up here?
Harold Peterson [00:44:13] The duck. That's a wounded duck. That's your-- that shows you were discharged. That's what they called a wounded duck. And you was discharged.
Bill Feis [00:44:23] Is that the one you were happiest to get?
Harold Peterson [00:44:24] Yeah. [chuckles] 14th of May, 1946, Fort Leavenworth. I got a picture of the little church I was discharged from.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:00:00] Today is February 24th, 2011, and we are interviewing Harold Peterson from Alta, Iowa at the Communications Center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Peterson was born on May 30th, 1924, making him 86 years old. My name is Stephanie Puhrmann, and I will be the interviewer along with Lindsey Peterson.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:19] We just have a few questions for you before we get started.
Harold Peterson [00:00:22] Okay.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:24] Your branch of service?
Harold Peterson [00:00:26] Infantry.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:27] Infantry. What was your rank?
Harold Peterson [00:00:31] Corporal.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:33] And where did you serve at.
Harold Peterson [00:00:35] South Pacific. Philippines. New Guinea.
Lindsey Peterson [00:00:39] All right. Thank you. What-- what year did you-- when did you find out that you were going to be in the war?
Harold Peterson [00:01:04] In [19]44, I went.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:05] Okay. Now, were you drafted?
Harold Peterson [00:01:10] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:11] How did you feel about that?
Harold Peterson [00:01:12] Well, I was ready to go.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:14] You were?
Harold Peterson [00:01:15] Yeah, I was ready to go.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:16] Why did you want to go? Did you want to fight for your country?
Harold Peterson [00:01:19] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:19] Yeah.
Harold Peterson [00:01:21] Yeah. I shoulda' went in '42. I graduated in '42, but my dad had a bad heart. He was a farmer. Well, I deferred for two years to help him farm. And then in '44, I had a brother graduated, so then, he took over, and I left.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:35] Okay. Where did you do your training at?
Harold Peterson [00:01:39] Camp Hood, Texas.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:43] What did you think of training?
Harold Peterson [00:01:44] Oh, it was different, but it went all right.
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:48] What was a typical day for you?
Harold Peterson [00:01:51] Down there?
Lindsey Peterson [00:01:52] Yes.
Harold Peterson [00:01:51] Well, we had a little bit of everything, you know. We took bayonet and rifle firing and hand grenades, and I had quite an experience with hand grenades down there.
Lindsey Peterson [00:02:04] Did you?
Harold Peterson [00:02:06] I supposed to keep talking or not?
Lindsey Peterson [00:02:08] Whatever you want.
Harold Peterson [00:02:10] Well, see, we had a guy there. He-- he'd been in the Army about nine days longer than I was. He-- we-- we called him a rag corporal. He had a corporal stripe with a band on it, you know, and there's about four or five of us left, the last bunch of the group and he's gonna show us, you know, how to do it, you know? See, so he said, "As long as you hold this lever down, and you pull the pin out, why, you're all right." And you are. I knew that 'cuz my father was in World War I. And if I put that-- push the pin back in, he couldn't do it so he relaxed his hand, and the lever flew off. Well, then, the hand grenade was live. So, what does he do? Floated straight up in the air and come right down between us. But then we took off. We'd only been in the Army about four weeks, but we knew enough to get out of there. So we took off, and I hit the dirt. Of course, I was smart and I had two hand grenades, you know, and they always show 'em, you put 'em on your belt. So I hung 'em on my belt like a big shot, and I hit the dirt. [laughs] Bent the levers, but that was it. So then I don't know what happened to him or anything, but we was safe.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:18] Good. [laughs]
Harold Peterson [00:03:20] Maybe I ain't supposed to talk like that.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:22] No, that's great. When did you go head over to Japan?
Harold Peterson [00:03:33] Went overseas, I left New Year's Eve, 1944.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:37] Okay. What was it like heading over there?
Harold Peterson [00:03:40] Oh, that's all right. We didn't go to Japan. No, then we went to-- I don't know where we first went down to New Guinea. I rode that old Dutch tub for 44 days before I got off.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:50] OK.
Harold Peterson [00:03:51] And it was an old Dutch tub. It-- that's the worst day you ever put in is on a ship like that.
Lindsey Peterson [00:03:57] Yeah. What did you do to pass the time?
Harold Peterson [00:04:00] We played cards. We played-- it was four of us. We played cards every day.
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:05] Did you get good?
Harold Peterson [00:04:07] I don't think so. [laughter]
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:13] So were you in New Guinea first?
Harold Peterson [00:04:15] We went to New Guinea, but I never got off the ship.
Lindsey Peterson [00:04:18] Okay.
Harold Peterson [00:04:18] We were at Fitch Haven (i.e. Finschhafen) and New Hollanda (sp). But we never got off the ship. We stayed in the harbor for about a month. Not a month but a week. Then we left for-- go north again. And I landed in-- in Leyte, Philippines.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:42] Do you remember arriving at your first duty station?
Harold Peterson [00:04:45] Do I remember what?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:46] Arriving at your first duty station.
Harold Peterson [00:04:47] Oh, yeah.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:48] What was that like?
Harold Peterson [00:04:50] At the first time that I go on land?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:04:52] Mmm-hmmm.
Harold Peterson [00:04:54] Yeah, that-- that was great. I-- we was-- they-- we were issued a three-- ought-three rifle in the states, and we carried it over there and turned it in. That's all we did. But we left Leyte the same day I landed there, on another ship. And then we went to Luzon, Lingayen Gulf.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:05:16] Amd what was that like?
Harold Peterson [00:05:17] Well, that was all right. You just like it. We climbed down the cargo net and got in them landing crafts and went to-- went to shore.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:05:28] What was your job? What was your assignment?
Harold Peterson [00:05:30] I was the Jeep driver. The best job in the whole army. I drove a Jeep. The way I got that, see, I was a replacement [unintelligible]. And the captain asked me, he said, "Where are you from?" I said, "From Iowa." "Okay," he said. "What did you do?" I said I was a farmer. "Okay." He said, "Then you know-- you know, machinery and motors and stuff. And so he said, "There's your jeep." But the Jeep had a hole right through the windshield into the back of the seat. So I knew why I was getting it. And he-- and he said-- he sent the sergeant out. He said-- and he said, "You take him down and see if there's a worker on the bamboo grove." So we drove down there and there was nobody there. I think it was just a test drive to see, you know, if I could drive, which I could. But I drove a jeep then all the time. That was the best job there was because you get to see a lot of country. They shoot at you, but you get to go anyway, they gonna shoot at you anyway, so.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:06:33] Can you tell me what that was like, getting shot at, in the Jeep?
Harold Peterson [00:06:36] Well, I don't know. I didn't think it was so bad. I mean-- I mean, I didn't like it. The first time-- well, not the first time, but one thing I really remember-- I was taking some engineers up-- we'd just made a landing. A beach-head landing which take an engineer that looked for landmines, and, of course. I'm just like a Jeep driver. I don't know where to go. They supposed to tell me. They said, "Follow that trail." So I did. All of a sudden, machine gun opened up. We'd run right into the Jap lines, but as luck would have it, there was a cement wall there, a burial wall, where they buried the-- slid-- slid the coffins in, you know, and it was about nine feet tall. So I'd just hurry up and back up behind there. And then, of course, I was safe. I told them engineers, that this is as far as I'm going. You can go further if you want to crawl up that ditch. And they did, but I don't think they did anything. And they left one man. He [sic] said, "You stay here with the driver so you can protect the Jeep." And as soon as they were gone, he said, "Let's go, let's go, let's go." I said, "You can't go leave your buddies." But he said, "Let's go." But we didn't.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:07:41] That sounds like a great experience. Did you experience any other great things while driving the jeep?
Harold Peterson [00:07:47] Oh, yeah.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:07:48] Could you tell us about those?
Harold Peterson [00:07:49] Well. I don't know. I took some ammunition up one evening, you know, over there, after [unintelligible], you never went anywhere after dark. Soon as it got dark, you got in the foxhole and stayed there, no matter what. So it was just about dark, and they called for ammu-- bazooka ammunition. So I said, "I'll take it up there." So I took it up to the lines. And-- and sure enough, a Jap mortar shell come in, and I jumps out of the Jeep and gets into the ditch and somebody hollers out, "Get that damn Jeep out of here!" I said, "You get your damn ammunition outta here and I'll go." And they did. And I went.
Lindsey Peterson [00:08:40] Before you went overseas, before you saw any combat, what did you think you were going to experience? What did you think of the Japanese?
Harold Peterson [00:08:49] Well, at that time, they were just like an animal, you know. You was ready to shoot them. Now, I ain't so sure what I was right or not. But then, you-- you know, you were. You just-- you shot 'em. They gave you a gun. That's what it was for, the rifle. Well, I had a Tommy gun, but they issued that and you're supposed to shoot Japs with it.
Lindsey Peterson [00:09:14] What was it like being shot at and in combat?
Harold Peterson [00:09:18] Well, you kept your head down, best ya could. In that same time when I backed that jeep up, I thought, Well, I better look and see if they're sending out a patrol. The Japs, I thought, they gonna look around that edge-- that built-- that cement wall, they're going to be watching that. So I climbed up a tree. There's one little tree there. I climbed up that, and I looked over the top. And soon as I looked over the top, bang! Bullet hit right beside me. That lieutenant, Jap lieutenant or something, he was thinking the same thing I was. He going to climb that tree. So I never looked again. I thought he might be [laughs] a better shot next time.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:09:55] Did you see any more combat that--[crosstalk]
Harold Peterson [00:09:57] Oh, yeah.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:09:58] --stories you'd like to tell us?
Harold Peterson [00:09:58] I made a beachhead landing. I got one combat. I don't remember-- I don't remember one thing about it, but it took about three weeks, and I-- I just went blank. I-- I can't remember. I still don't know what happened. And I never told anybody because I thought, you're a coward. And then after about three year-- 30 years afterwards, I got to readin' about how men, you know, blanked it out. And they, you know, they didn't say nothing. And then-- so then I told my wife and first-- she's the the first one.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:37] Where was that at, that you blanked out.
Harold Peterson [00:10:41] It was south of Manila. I was-- was working to the Batangas Harbor. As far as I'm concerned it went west. I don't know who'd write it out like that. I thought we were going west.
Lindsey Peterson [00:10:58] How did you keep in contact with your family and friends back home?
Harold Peterson [00:11:01] Well, it isn't like now. We didn't have cell phones. I got a grandson, you know, he-- he was over in Iraq and stuff, and he called home all the time, you know, and they-- and but then we had-- just sent letters, that's all. And when I left that New Year's Eve in '44, I didn't get any mail 'til middle of May, from home, because I kept moving or changing. And I went to the hospital. Finally, mail caught up. I had about 150 letters in one bundle.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:11:39] I bet that was an exciting day.
Harold Peterson [00:11:42] [laughs] Took a while to read 'em.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:11:44] I bet so.
Lindsey Peterson [00:11:45] Did you bring anything home for your family or friends?
Harold Peterson [00:11:50] Well, yes some, I don't know. You couldn't-- it was different then. You didn't send much stuff home. You didn't-- and then they sent me cookies, but I never got 'em because they just didn't-- and I can-- I can see it now. How could they bring all those cookies? Your hometown paper supposed to come and they never-- I never got any, never got one because-- I can see it now. They couldn't be haulin' all that stuff over there. I got one cookie package once and that was empty. Somebody ate it.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:12:26] You said your father was in World War I?
Harold Peterson [00:12:28] Yes.
Lindsey Peterson [00:12:29] How do you think your experience compared with your father's?
Harold Peterson [00:12:33] Well, he-- as he told it, sounded just like the same. He said he was a machine gun, you know, he-- he was over in France and everything's [unintelligible] about the same. I had a bachelor brother-- I mean, his brother was a bachelor, and he stayed with his dad-- my dad. And he was in World War I, and I was in World War II, and my brother was in Korea. He was the only one that got wounded. He got wounded.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:13:06] Can you tell us about some of your most memorable experiences? The things that stick out to you?
Harold Peterson [00:13:11] Well [chuckles], I don't know. They all stick out. I mean, I don't have anything special, I guess.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:13:19] Are there any stories in particular that you'd like to tell us?
Harold Peterson [00:13:22] Pardon?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:13:23] Are there any stories in particular that you'd like to tell us? You said there are a few that stick out. Could you--
Harold Peterson [00:13:29] Well, just-- well, I can't remember that-- that battle. The beachhead landing was-- I got to blow my nose. Is that all right on this thing? [Laughter]
Unidentified male voice [00:13:38] Oh, yeah.
Harold Peterson [00:13:47] The beachhead landing was on [the] first day of April 1945, and that was also Easter Sunday, and we hit the beach at 10:00. And I'll never forget that. But it was un-- unopposed. They were back a ways-- the Japs, so they didn't-- that night the few of us drivers drove up blazin' and then we made a-- we gotta make a, ya know, a circle. Protect yourself and perimeter, they called it, and about, I don't know, midnight or 1:00, there was an awful noise. We thought, what in the world? Oh, it made a noise. We thought, now what? And it was a rocket that the Japs had shot off. The only rocket that was ever shot off in World War II that they know of, and I had to be the one to hear it.
Lindsey Peterson [00:14:41] What was your role in the landings?
Harold Peterson [00:14:44] I drove a jeep off of a LST. Pulled the trailer. I was the first one off [unintelligible] there. I started up-- they said, "Go up that way." I went and got stuck. I got a picture in that magazine. There's three jeeps lined up and then they're going the other way. I'm the lead jeep. And-- but I got out of there anyway, and as we moved to the town of Legaspi, where we went in to hit the highway, they had Navy A-- A-- A-20s-- bomber-- fighter planes, kind of. But they would come right down over us and machine gun, and they'd drop a parachute bomb and go up. And that was right ahead of us.
Lindsey Peterson [00:15:33] Could you tell us about your unit? Were there any guys from around here, around this area that were in your unit?
Harold Peterson [00:15:40] Well, when we went overseas, there was a fellow from Aurelia. His name was Peterson, too, and we got to Camp Stoneman, which is a shipout base. And I went to the hospital, and I didn't get out for five, six days. And when I did, the outfit was leaving. And oh, I wanted to go along with them because that's my buddy. But he-- but they said, "No, the orders ain't cut, so you can't go." So he went overseas. His ship was sunk, and he never come home. And the reason I went to the hospital was, I say, because I'm a buddy from up here-- a town-- Alta, not Alta, but north of Alta. He was my buddy. We went to-- that evening, we said, we's gonna see what's going on tomorrow. They had it on a bulletin board. We went and looked; it said "ten mile hike." We said, we don't want to go [to] that. That's no good. So was kind of gettin' wise to the way of the Army. So we said, look on sick call. He had-- he had a football knee, they call it, you know. So I went on sick call, and I had a terrible cold, and I had a hundred-and-some fever. So they put me right in the hospital. And he never did go overseas because [of] his football knee. So he never did go over there. And I-- I consider that saved my life that-- that ten-mile hike I didn't want to go on. But this Peterson, see, he never came back. The ship was sunk, and I had been on that ship.
Lindsey Peterson [00:17:15] What was it like for you to hear about that?
Harold Peterson [00:17:18] Well, I didn't like it. I mean, that was no good. But once you get over there and get started, you lose a lot of buddies, you know, and you-- you just kinda-- it just, you know, you hate it, but that happens. You lose 'em.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:17:33] Can you tell us more about your unit? Were there many casualties in your unit?
Harold Peterson [00:17:37] Oh, yeah. I got pictures in that magazine. We got a picture there-- shows the cemetery, that one at the beachhead-- that battle. That was quite a bunch of people there. We lost a lot of them.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:17:53] And you said you were never wounded, correct?
Harold Peterson [00:17:55] No.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:17:55] Were you ever a prisoner of war?
Harold Peterson [00:17:57] No. Thank heavens. I never would have been a prisoner of war over there because they was-- that's worse. I'd soon have been shot.
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:10] What did you hear about the war in Germany?
Harold Peterson [00:18:13] Well, when you're over there, you don't hear nothin'. You don't even know what the rest of your outfit is doing, really. You're just at-- your little spot and that's all you know. You don't get-- we never got no news. We had no radios. And nobody said anything. We didn't know nothing. So, we never really heard-- maybe months afterwards.
Lindsey Peterson [00:18:38] How did you feel towards the end of the war?
Harold Peterson [00:18:41] Well, I was awful glad that's the end of it, I tell ya. I was with a combat team, just one regiment, and we were supposed to go in two days ahead of the invasion of Japan to knock out a radar station. And I wasn't looking forward to that. They-- they said that you could-- they could have hauled the survivors home on a Piper Cub, which is one man. I said, "I'll miss the guys." But we didn't have to land. I was sure glad of that. Now, I had a sister, she said-- she said, "They should never [have] dropped an atomic bomb. That was the wrong thing, you know. You killed women and children." And I said, "That's true. But it's better than I had to do it because they-- they told us that if we landed in Japan, the women are out, and everybody is going to be out there to get you." You had to shoot 'em, and I didn't want to do that. It was bad enough to shoot the men.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:19:42] Did you ever doubt that we would win the war?
Harold Peterson [00:19:44] No, I knew we would.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:19:47] Why? Why did you know? How did you know that?
Harold Peterson [00:19:49] Well, I-- I-- just something you just know. You-- I knew we was going to win. And I knew I was coming home. Lot of men don't-- they-- they, you know, they say, "I ain't comin' home." And they don't. But I knew I was going to make it.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:20:03] So what was it like when you found out that you were going home?
Harold Peterson [00:20:06] Well, I didn't go home until after Japan. I mean, I left to Japan, and then I-- had-- they had the point system. Of course, I was single, and I didn't have that-- enough points, you know, so then I had to stay. The outfit went home or broke up and went home. I had to stay. And-- but then I went into Tokyo and lived at the docks. I was supposed to be a mechanic. But I did-- I know one thing-- that we drove little tractors on the dock there and-- and underneath the seat is a box just big enough to hold a case of beer. We found that out. I seen cases of beer stacked up like bales of hay. So we-- it was kind of nice there. And I drove right down the main street of Tokyo and all over, ya know, but we drove them there. Then there was no car, no-- Japs didn't have anything. They just-- they just-- all [unintelligible] meant for the Army stuff. I drove for the military government for a while. I went to the-- and Utsunomiya was the capital of that one prefecture and I drove for the area cultural guy. And we'd go up to this capital building and-- and there that's where the town trucks was standing. There's all-- they burned charcoal. They come up there and fire 'em up, you know, and, oh, it'd smoke like a heck, you know. And then-- but that's the only ones you met. There was nobody on Main Street. They called it Ginza in Tokyo, you know. You never see anybody.
Lindsey Peterson [00:21:55] When you were in combat, how long would it be until you were relieved?
Harold Peterson [00:22:00] Well, we never were relieved. We just-- we always-- you defeated the men the Army was against. That's the way it went over there. When we landed, why it went like that Manila deal, why we-- we'd push the Japs and kill them all or whatever we did 'til we got to-- to the bay. And then they was going to make a invasion-- a beachhead landing, and I wasn't supposed to go. They always left some home as reserve, you know, see. But the guy that was-- then another driver, his jeep was already on there. He said he got sick. So he says, "All right, you're going to go". So I went. [chuckles] I had to take over.
Lindsey Peterson [00:22:47] What was your most proud moment during your service?
Harold Peterson [00:22:54] Well, the happiest moment was when I got to come home. That was-- that was it. But I was-- I really, you know, I was happy all the time.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:23:05] Were you awarded any medals?
Harold Peterson [00:23:07] I got some.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:23:10] Do you know how and where you earned them?
Harold Peterson [00:23:13] No. Most of 'em you just got because you went overseas, I guess. I don't know. My granddaughter put 'em all in a-- in a, ya know, folder or-- or picture holder and they're sitting there at home on a chest.
Lindsey Peterson [00:23:39] How were the relationships between you and the local people? When you were there.
Harold Peterson [00:23:44] We got along good with both the Filipinos and the Japanese. Although when the war was over, we, you know, we always carried our weapons up through all these little villages in the Philippines. You always carried your weapon. And when the war was over, they said, you don't have to carry your weapon anymore. But then the Filipinos started to waylay us, and they started to, you know, take after us. And then we had to take our weapons along again. But in Japan, we had no trouble. I didn't-- 'course I-- I-- I had a weapon hold around my jeep and I hung my Tommy gun on there and put it on the ship. And when I got [to the] hold-- I just left it on the-- on the Jeep and I got [to the] hold, they took my Jeep out of the hold and set it down. I looked and looked, and my Tommy gun was gone. The sailors had stole it. And so I left Japan without a weapon. But then I got it back because there was no way they could get it off the ship, you know, and--
Lindsey Peterson [00:24:45] What did you think of General MacArthur?
Harold Peterson [00:24:50] "Dug-out Doug?" That's what I thought. I didn't have to think much about it, you know, and when I was in Tokyo, he was in Tokyo. He headquartered-- you could go down and see him come out. I never went down to see him. He never come to see me. So I wasn't goin' to go see him.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:25:11] I know you said that you didn't get a lot of news or information, but where were you when you heard about D-Day?
Harold Peterson [00:25:18] We was in a rest camp that-- we was training. We just started to train to go to Japan. We made one boat ride up the coast a ways and made a-- made a practice run on land. And then I heard it, and to tell you the truth, you know, they celebrated here, you know, something terrible. I can't remember those guys ever-- we never celebrated. We just was relieved, I guess. And that's it. There was no celebration or nothing.
Lindsey Peterson [00:25:51] During your occupation in Japan, how were you treated by the Japanese? What do you think they thought of the Americans being there?
Harold Peterson [00:25:59] Very, very good. They treated us like, you know, really, the Japanese people are nice people. It's just the warlords, you know, that was fighting-- that they wanted to fight. The people were wonderful. They were won-- you know, we-- I could tell you that when we come into a-- a town when I first got there, we'd be the first Americans, you know. I'd drive an officer [unintelligible] always went to the police station. You never seen anybody on the street. You didn't see-- a deserted town. I went back to this one town again in a couple weeks. I couldn't drive down the street because people were all out there gettin' you, and they-- and I got-- you get a little kid, they'd follow, you know, they-- eight, nine-- to me, looked like eight, nine years old. They might have a little-- some of 'em had a little baby on their back. And you stop someplace, and they'd just crowd ya, you know. And I got a bunch of cards one time. I remember, in Utsunomiya, I-- some little boy, I guess, or girl-- I don't know which [it] was, give me a picture postcard, just a card, you know. And I always carried gum or candy of some kind. Well, I had candy, and I gave this boy or girl a piece of candy. Kids all scattered. Pretty soon they was all back. And they all had a card. I got 'em-- I got a whole bunch of them-- must have had thirty, forty of 'em. They all gave 'em to me.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:27:23] Did you have enough candy for everyone?
Harold Peterson [00:27:25] I always had gum or something, you know? But they didn't like having their picture taken. I wanted to take a picture of the kids around my Jeep, and they'd just take off.
Lindsey Peterson [00:27:39] When did you find out you were going to go back home?
Harold Peterson [00:27:42] Well, it was in-- after I'd got in Tokyo a while, and they told me I was going to, you know, they-- then they said that your point-- you got enough points, you can go home. So I have--we was going to get going on a-- on a ship, and they brought some troops over, and the troops tore up the ships. So we had to wait another week or so before they get the ship picked up again. And so, that was-- that's when I knew. And when I started out of the camp, I was the only one going from this-- from this time [unintelligible]. And a guy was driving a Jeep with-- with me in it. And we got started out and the lieutenant hollered, "Wait, wait, wait!" on the loudspeaker. And I thought, Oh, now what? So we backed up a little bit and pretty soon they started playing "Sentimental Journey." "You can go now," he said. So, that's my favorite song.
Lindsey Peterson [00:28:41] What did you think of General Cunningham?
Harold Peterson [00:28:45] I didn't know him. No, I never. That general, I don't know.
Lindsey Peterson [00:29:00] Is [sic] there any other experiences you'd like to tell us about? Anything that sticks out in your mind?
Harold Peterson [00:29:07] Well-- [chuckles] I don't know. I-- I don't know. You know any, Ma? Huh?
Mrs. Peterson [00:29:34] What about the-- the-- the shell that hit your hospital camp?
Harold Peterson [00:29:39] Well, oh-- when they shelled the hospital? Yeah, see, I got sent to the hospital little while after I-- we made a beachhead landing. It was a field hospital like M*A*S*H. You probably seen that program. And in the first night I was there, because I was only there one night, but the first night I was there, the Japs shelled the hospital, and I was standing out there and I-- my dad always told me, he said, "When you hear a shell whistle, it's going overhead. Nothing to worry about." But I could hear this one whistle, I said-- I thought to myself, That's going to be close. So I jumped in the fox-- they had foxholes dug around the tent, so I jumped in a foxhole and the shell lit right there. And I got a picture of it in there, and it threw dirt all over me and stuff. But it was a dud. It never blew up, so I was lucky there. The next morning they-- they flew me out. I don't know what I had. I-- I really don't, but who cared when you're getting out of the battle. And they shipped-- they flew me to Manila, put me on a hospital ship, and we went clear down there to New Guinea to a general hospital. So I spent about a month-and-a-half-- I guess I had hepatitis and I had malaria. And when they put me on that plane that morning, a C-47, they had to push it clear back into the palm trees to get it [to] run, just on the grass strip. And when I got on the plane, why, there was a photographer on there. I don't know what he was-- what he was takin'-- but he took a picture. There's a nurses on there, and the nurse was-- would take my pulse and temperature, and she [sic] was taking pictures of that. I wish I'd 'a' told them to send me a picture, so I could see it. I don't know whether it was a magazine or army or what he was, but they were taking pictures. But I've been across the equator four times. Three times with a boat, one time with a[n] airplane.
Lindsey Peterson [00:31:48] What did you do after the war, when you got back to the States?
Harold Peterson [00:31:51] Went to farming right away. First thing I did, I bought a H International tractor. I'd bought war bonds and saved money, you know, and everything, so when I got home, first thing I did was buy an H International and a plow. And I drove right down Main Street of Alta. I was so proud. [laughs]
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:32:16] Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?
Harold Peterson [00:32:19] I don't know. I can't think now. I've got a lot of things, but I don't know. The best train-- you know, back in those days, you rode the train all the time. And the best train ride I had were [sic] from Seattle to Fort Leavenworth. That's when I come home, because then, you know, oh, every time a train stop, you'd jump off and get a pop or an ice cream cone or something, you know, we hadn't had that. That taste[d] so good. And I remember when we landed in Seattle and they always give you a big dinner, the Amy does there, you know, when you come back. So I went to dinner, and it surprised me that they had German prisoners were waiting, you know, and help, you know, and I thought, Gosh darn, there I was over there in the jungle and them Germans are here having a big time. But anyway, I-- I came by train. We don't get milk, you know. So I had two little bottles of milk, and I don't know, one of 'em fell off and busted. But you know that one German come and said, "Here, well, I'll take care of it. I'll take care of it," you know, and he took care of it. He cleaned it all up, brought me another bottle, so I didn't feel so bad then.
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:33:29] So you said the food was good when you got back here. What was it like when you were overseas? Did you like the food?
Harold Peterson [00:33:35] Pardon?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:33:35] When you were overseas?
Harold Peterson [00:33:36] Yeah?
Stephanie Puhrmann [00:33:36] Do you like the food or what was the food like?
Harold Peterson [00:33:39] No, don't talk Spam to me. We had Spam three times a day. Dehydrated-- dehydrated egg. And we had that three times a day. And you couldn't blame the cooks because they tried everything, they-- you know, to fix it up. But we ate Spam, Spam, Spam. And I come home, and we never had Spam. Finally, about 30 years after me-- 40 years afterward I told the wife, I said, "Buy a little can of Spam, see if I can--" I couldn't eat it. I couldn't do it. That's what we ate. That's all we had. And in-- you know, then, they issued you cigarettes then. We were issued every so often-- they issued you a few packages of cigarettes. I didn't smoke so I sold 'em black market, and some of the money helped buy the Jeep-- or the tractor. I was always going to buy a Jeep when I got home. But I never did. I never did. They wouldn't allow that. And then all of a sudden, after the war was over, they gave us about a week or so, we could-- we could send it home. If you wanted to, see? If you had something, so, I had somebody make me a wooden box, and I [unintelligible], and I put it in there and they sent it home. That's what-- but that's the only allowed time you could send anything home was then. And then-- I don't know what happened, whether the whole army did that or just my outfit or-- or what. But anyway, there was that one week or so you could send [unintelligible] home. Otherwise you couldn't.
Bill Feis [00:35:20] Did-- how did you get it? Did you pick it up off the battlefield?
[00:35:23] Yeah.
Bill Feis [00:35:24] Or was it a--
Harold Peterson [00:35:25] It's a very dangerous looking thing, ain't it? You know, they-- they get that bent bayonet in, and then they'd start drinking sake all night, and then in the morning, they'd come and banzai charge. With that bayonet, you know, it was-- it was scary. But I'm pretty proud I got it home. And the saber's the same way. All officers carried a saber. And this had a-- had a wonderful handle on it, but it-- but it just fell off it. I-- I keep these thing[s] in the basement, which is pretty damp and everything, and it ain't exactly the-- [Harold withdraws the saber from its sheath] it is quite an ugly machine. [He attempts to return the saber to the sheat] I can't see to get it in there.
Bill Feis [00:36:26] I got it. Were these-- were these ones that-- that yfo-- that you just found or were these ones that you kind of picked up along the way?
Harold Peterson [00:36:39] Yeah. Pick up along the way.
Bill Feis [00:36:43] I like all my fingers.
Bill Feis [00:36:45] I got a-- wife's got a compass there from Zero [Japanese aircraft]. But I didn't take it off of Zero. I-- when we hit Japan, now, that's a compass, and you can-- it-- it actually works yet. You look and see, it actually works. But I-- when-- when we hit Utsunsomiya, Japan, I-- we went to an airplane-- airplane factory and they-- they didn't make it like-- like we do. They-- they-- it's a big building, great, big, long building, and they push the airplanes, I think, along the way, and they add stuff, and in the middle was all these parts. And I picked up that compass and brought it home. I had to smuggle it home. And that's one thing I was a little teed off about when I come home was that-- that-- I carried a duffel bag, clear, full of everything. I had my helmet in it, and my mess kits, and all that stuff. Carried it clear down to Leavenworth. We got off the train, and they said-- we lined up and they said, "Now, leave your-- leave your duffel bag and we're going to march off." So we left it. When I come back, it was about that big.[gesturing to a much smaller size] I didn't have nothing. They took it everything away from me, and I thought, Gosh darn it, if I could fight for the country, they could surely give me the clothes that I carried all the way from Japan, and they didn't. I would have liked to have a helmet and mess kit. You know, in World War II or I, my dad had a-- he got his steel helmet home. We fed the barn cats in the cal-- in that helmet, put milk in it after we milked the cows. And we kept that until it finally rusted away. And here is the book. This is my outfit. Bushmaster's 158, one regiment. And in here, I don't know, ma, you got to find it, I can't. There's a picture of that cemetery. It's right in front of the book. Is that a cemetery? Yeah. And I'm the second one in the front row. Now, right now, that don't mean a thing to me, I can't remember that. But my children and my grandchildren like to take this book to school, you know, and see-- show-- I-- I knew it then, I can remember that I was the second one in the front row for that memorial. And all these crosses were ones taht was killed in that landing. Oh, there's-- here's a receipt in there that shows where the shell hit the hospitall. See my outfit put out a-- a paper every-- yeah, there is the-- sheet and showed them digging up the hill on that--
Unidentified male voice [00:40:27] You wanna hold that back up?
Harold Peterson [00:40:29] Huh?
Unidentified male voice [00:40:30] You want to hold that back up and show that again? Can you talk about it there?
Harold Peterson [00:40:34] [He holds up the object] Well, they shelled it and-- and-- right-- I was in that-- that tent, only I was in the other end. But I laid in the foxhole right here in this front corner, and it threw dirt all over me and everything. And another strange thing was they had a couple of Jap wounded men right over here, a little ways, in a tent, and they had some guards and-- they-- when that-- when that shell came in, then they all run and jumped in the foxhole and left their guns with the Japs. That made us all kinda mad. We said, "I don't mind you jumping in the foxhole, but don't leave your gun over there." And little fu'ther over this way was a latrine. But at night, we didn't get to go to the latrine. They didn't allow that because, like I said, everything that's after dark anything that moved was shot. I don't care if it was a water buffalo or what, it was shot. So you-- you just laid in your hole. I you was wounded, you laid in your hole. You had go to the bathroom, [chuckles] you laid in your hole. That's all there was to it.
Bill Feis [00:42:00] Can you tell us about the binoculars, sir? Is there a story that goes with these?
Harold Peterson [00:42:04] Yeah. They're-- they're-- I can't see any more. They're military binoculars, and they've got a range in there. Range finders, so you could, you know, they can watch where the shell is landed. And-- and-- but the-- and this I had to sneak out, too, because that wasn't allowed, you know. We weren't allowed to bring that home. That's got to-- I can't see anymore, whether they're still in there or what.
Harold Peterson [00:42:32] Sir, can you tell-- can you tell us about your-- your uniform-- your uniform and like--
Harold Peterson [00:42:38] Well, you [can] see that I wasn't very big when I was in the Army. And I don't know why we say that-- I can't believe that I still got it, but I still do. And now I'm proud of it. But when you first came home, why you didn't-- you know, nobody cared about anything. But I was-- and there is the most important-- important thing I got on there is the combat badge. I'm proud of that, that I was in combat then. And no matter how many ribbons you get, they always put the combat badge on top. That's always on the top. The stars are battles, and the arrowhead is a beachhead landing. And these stripes are for-- one stripe for every six months overseas. So I was overseas 18 months. And this is the 6th Army. And this is my Bushmaster patch, which was-- nobody ever had-- in the whole outfit, I was the only one that had that. And I was pretty proud of our outfit.
Bill Feis [00:43:49] So what company were you with? Do you remember?
Harold Peterson [00:43:51] Headquarters Company. First Battalion.
Bill Feis [00:43:58] Can you tell us what-- what this-- what this one down here means? I've never seen that one before.
Harold Peterson [00:44:04] That's a unit citation.
Bill Feis [00:44:06] Okay. What-- what's this one-- what's this one up here?
Harold Peterson [00:44:13] The duck. That's a wounded duck. That's your-- that shows you were discharged. That's what they called a wounded duck. And you was discharged.
Bill Feis [00:44:23] Is that the one you were happiest to get?
Harold Peterson [00:44:24] Yeah. [chuckles] 14th of May, 1946, Fort Leavenworth. I got a picture of the little church I was discharged from.
Original Format
DVCAM
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0:44:33
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80 kbps