FS: We were, I was on the train by myself, we stopped in Washington, D.C., and actually, from that railroad station, Fyou could see the capitol building, I'm sure. That must have been the Union Station. And I was sitting there looking out the window, and this, this GI came out, I think he was a buck sergeant. And he stopped, and he looked at me, and he looked at my patch, and he says, "Hey, you're with the 442nd." I said, "Yeah, yeah," he says, "Were you at the 'Lost Battalion'?" and I said, "Yeah, I was there." He says, "I was in there."

TI: So he was one of the two hundred men that you rescued.

FS: Yeah, yeah. And you know, I, it's one of those things. I, I could just feel myself getting really, I was angry, God, and I turned to him and I said, "Do you know how many men we lost, we lost getting you guys out of there? Do you know how many of my friends died in there?" And, well, he said, "You know, if you guys were in there, we'd have come after you." And I shook my head and I says, well, he said, "Anyway, I want to thank you," and he put out his hand, and I turned away and looked out the window. I, I've never been really proud of that, but I, at the time, it was just too fresh. I just could not, I couldn't even shake his hand.

TI: And, and it was a feeling of anger?

FS: Oh, yeah. I was just hot under the collar.

TI: Was it, was it something he said, too?

FS: No, no, it was just the fact that here was a guy we had rescued, and, you know, and he was thankful. He was thankful, he wanted to thank me. But I, what, what comes to mind is seeing this friend shot in the head, and the guys that we left behind on that hill, and I thought... it was, it was irrational, I know it was irrational, but at the moment, there was nothing I could do. I just was just... if he'd have said one more thing, I'd have punched him, I think. I was just... it was kind of hysteria.

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