Oral History Videos

Motoyoshi Tanaka
Interview Length: 1:35

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
When they make an attack, we’re attached to a rifle company.  And what we do is set the guns, you know, the machine guns and fire the possible place where the enemy is.  And then we fire, the artillery throws you know, the shells and stuff.  Then they stop.  Then the riflemen go up and try and occupy the place.  That was mostly our job - not job, but what we used to do.

There was one incident in Cassino.  You see, we were on the low land and they had to go try and get the higher place.  So we fired the machine gun, the mortar.  And you know, after that, the Germans just replied back with their mortars, and that was close because they were on the high place and they could see us. And later on when we went up there, we say, there, there we were. And you know that was really close.  And two of our guys from the company died there.  But luckily our machine gun, nobody got hurt.  And we were just digging the hole, you know, getting ready.  And then I had pretty good size hole, and my friend over there, his hole was half completed.  And when the Germans started throwing, he knew my hole was big so he jumped on top of me.  I felt so good.  I felt double protection.  But that was one of my, you know, closest experiences of that kind.