Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Frederico Romero Granados was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
This interview takes place in El Centro, California, January 28th, 2004. The veteran is Frederico Granados.
Uh-huh.
His birth date is 6/28 --
28/28.
'28. My name is Anita Ramirez and I am affiliated with the A.A.R.P as an interviewee. Fred, were you drafted or did you enlist?
I was drafted.
Where were you living at the time you were drafted?
Here in El Centro.
Where did you --
President Truman was the one that started this draft and I was one of the first ones.
Did you have a choice of service branches that you joined?
No.
Do you recall your first days in the service?
Yes.
Tell us about it.
Well, I was drafted here in El Centro. We joined a bus to San Diego. There we was kept overnight and the next morning early we was shipped to Salinas, Fort Ord, by train. Which it was all an experience for me and I didn't mind. I liked it. I liked it very much. They unloaded us at Fort Ord and then they took us into the Recruiting Office there. Not Recruiting, Processing Office. And we laid around until they gave us our company and our sergeant and our bed, our clothes and everything. So that's where I started.
Tell me about your Boot Camp training.
Well, we had a good sergeant and a good corporal.
Do you recall their names?
No. Long time ago. But I enjoyed it. I don't know why I enjoyed it. We got our barracks. We got our beds assigned. We got orders given to us of how they expected us to be. And reveille was at 5:00 o'clock in the morning until about 5:00 o'clock that evening. And I just loved it. I just loved it. {Laughing.}
Why do you think you enjoyed it?
I don't know. Something new. Just exciting. Something new and exciting. I was in Fort Ord, like I said, and the weather was beautiful. I was in the Army and I had a uniform. I just thought it was something great, I guess. I don't know.
What about when you went to Virginia?
Well, when we got through with our Boot Camp in Fort Ord they sent everybody in our company to different schools. Some went to advanced training in infantry. Others went to engineers. Others went to different outfits. And I went to -- I was sent to Fort Eustis, Virginia, on a training. What was it? There was just -- it's training. They just -- they taught us more about vehicles and stuff that engineers would take care of and that's what I was sent to Eustis for.
Did you have choices to what kind of training you got?
No. We was given a test during my time that I was in Fort Ord and that's where they separated us in different outfits. They gave me a test. Well, everybody got one. And that's the way we went. We went by coordinated by our test. Some went to here and some went to here, some went to another place.
How long were you in Virginia?
I'd say four months. Four months.
And then from there?
We come back out to California and to Camp Stoneman in San Francisco. That's a shipping outfit, a depot for going up for real.
What were your feelings about being sent overseas?
I liked it. {Laughing.} I don't know. I just, I wasn't afraid. I liked it. It's an experience. Something new. It's exciting. I just liked it. I just didn't like the boat ride because I got seasick. I did. And, but it took us 19 days to get across the ocean. I didn't see no land. And that's when you panic a little bit. And we had plenty of storms in the Pacific when we was crossing, I remember. But we made it. We made it.
What time of the year was that, that you crossed over?
April.
And when you got across you landed in?
Tokyo. Yokohama, Japan. From there we stayed there two days. Because they processed us again. They took us to this big auditorium and we had some sergeants talk to us about dying and about killing. I remember that real good. When you come out of that meeting, you come out a little bit worried because, I mean, all they talked about was you are dying or you are going to kill somebody. And they just was preparing us for real. That's all they was doing. You know, they -- but other than that, it was all right. It was Japan.
How long were you in there, in Japan?
I'd say three or four days. Because we didn't go from Tokyo to Korea. They shipped us by train to Sasebo, which is still in Japan, the southern tip. And there we caught a ferry that took us across the water to Pusan, Korea. That was the scary part of my journey.
Why?
We was in the ocean and the ferry is -- it's not a boat, actually. It is a boat, I guess. But we was this far from touching the water.
How far is it?
A foot. And the waves were there. And they packed us in there like rats, I guess. And I think it was a one-night trip. It was a one-night trip because we was there the next morning. We loaded up one night and the next morning we was in Pusan. Pusan.
What happened when you landed in Pusan?
They held us again for -- they held the whole boat and --
Pusan is in?
Korea.
Korea. Okay.
And there they had your orders already, what outfit you was going to go to in Korea. And mine was the Seventh Division, Korea. And they told us where to go and loaded us up in trucks. My outfit was there waiting for me.
Where did they take you?
Well, we started going north. We was issued a rifle in Japan and in Korea we was issued ammunition. "You are on your own now," they said, "so be ready." So we went north and they took us I'd say not quite 100 miles north to Taegu. That's where our main company was at and they had just driven them back from the 38th South. That's where they stopped us. They said, "This is as far as we go." Now we started going back. That's why I joined my outfit in Taegu.
And when you were there, what happened in Taegu?
I stayed with my company.
And were you in combat?
Well, we was headed north. From there we towards the 38th parallel. And on the way we would bivouac here and bivouac there because the artillery behind us shooting over our head all the time. So we was, oh, I'd say not more than five miles away from the front line. But we was -- we didn't quite get to the front lines. Our outfit just kept staying back behind the front lines. I remember the first time we got into, into Korea -- not the first time. After we left Taegu where you start seeing all these dead animals and you look out in the fields and there was these dead Koreans just laying out there. It sort of give you a little shiver up the back when you see a man out there just laying there, you know. They tell you he's dead. Nobody wants to get him because they think the field is mined. That's where we experienced our first end of the war that we was. They had killed a lot of animals because Korea used a lot of animals to haul their ammunition around, their food around. And so that's where we was at. We kept going north.
And what were your orders at that time? What were you charged with doing?
Keep guard. Load your rife. Be ready. You'll never know. We would train. They'd take us out to the firing range and shoot quite a bit. But we never actually -- I never shot a guy. I never got a chance to shoot anyone. I think I would have shot him, though. And the closest I come to -- this is where I panicked. This is the only time I panicked in Korea. Is our sergeant's going off. There was a truck, a Russian truck was -- Korean truck was stuck up at the lines. And it was me and two other guys were going to go get it. We took an Army truck and we headed north, which was, we was only about three miles from the front lines. And so we went and we found it. It was out in the middle of a big river. It had got -- it just got stuck and we drove our truck out there. But while we was doing this, I seen a bunch of soldiers, about eight of them in a bunch, eight in a bunch over here with rifles. And there was Army tanks all over, you know. We was panicked.
Is that the American Army?
American Army. We was past the fronts and these guys were going on patrol. And I looked at the guys. It was getting dusk already. It was getting dark. I said, "Thank God I'm not one of them going out that way." And you could see across the river. Korea is nothing but a bunch of mountains and you could see the Koreans up in the mountains on their trails going for their night. And then out comes this big old tank, Army tank, and it starts shooting over our head at those people. That's when I really panicked. I said, "Oh, my God," I said, "We are in it." So we hooked up this Russian -- or Korean truck. We hauled it out. But that's the closest I've come to it all.
Why was the truck so important?
They wanted to see what made it tick. They wanted to see how it was -- they wanted. We kicked all the rice off. Actually, that truck could have been booby trapped and it would have blown all three of us to pieces. But we kicked the rice out. We hooked it up with a chain and pulled it out, took it back to our company. But I never forget those boys. They was getting ready to go on a night patrol. Young boys. Young boys. I don't know. I feel sorry for them. But thank God it wasn't me. And I told my sergeant, "This is as close as I want to come to this war." He didn't say nothing. He just, he laughed it off, like. He thought it was funny, you know. But they don't realize somebody could have been up that hill shooting us or something. We was lucky. We was lucky. It wasn't my time.
And then after that what are some of the events that happened while you were still there?
Well, we still kept going north. And we got so far north the artillery stayed behind us. We couldn't sleep at night, not with them firing all night long. You could hear the shells going over. You could see where the airplanes were bombing from our company, where they was dropping napalms. We was right around the hill of Mount Baldy. That's one of the hills that we lost a lot of people at. I never did get to see that crummy hill, but they said there wasn't a tree growing on it, that they had bombed it so much. Tore it up and everything. So by that time it was my time -- no, it wasn't my time to come home yet. This is '51. So we kept going north. We didn't go too far north. Because we didn't cross the 38th. We didn't cross the 38th. We stayed on this side of the 38th. That's where the line was at. And then from then on we done a lot of just camping there, you know, with -- in case they needed reinforcements we was ready.
Were any other members of your family in the war at the same time?
My brother, Herman.
He was in the Korean War, too?
He was in the war. He never did get overseas. I think as far as he got was Fort Lewis. And that's the Korean War sort of slowed down a little bit in '53 and he never did get a chance to go over.
So then before you came home, were you just biding your time or...
Yes.
And when did you start withdrawing them to get ready to come home?
Our outfit moved way south. Way south. And I had been in Korea now ten months and -- about ten months and our lieutenant told us, "This is that place that you will be returning home from." And I remember the day they told us. They said, "Get all your stuff together. You are going home." Which was in April, in April of '52. And I gave all my stuff away. I gave my stuff, a couple of cots, to -- one cot I gave to a man. I don't know. I don't remember. I asked him if he wanted it. I said I wasn't going to need it anymore. And he stayed with it. Then they put us in the truck and where did they take us? Out to Pusan again. Seoul. I think from Seoul they shipped us back to Pusan, yeah, Sasebo in Japan. We was on our way home then. So...
And then after you got home, did you -- were you out of the service immediately or did you stay?
No. This was April. May, June, July. I didn't get out until June. So I had two months yet to be in the service. So they put us on a ship to send us back from Sasebo. And we landed, we arrived to San Francisco. It was raining that night. I remember it raining. The harbor lights were on and they kept playing the "Harbor Lights" song. Yes. And they docked us. We went in under the bridge and they docked us, but not on the piers. They kept the boat out in the ocean -- I mean out in the Bay, you know. They didn't want nobody to jump ship and go on in, so they kept us out and the next morning they come on in and we got off.
And then were you free to come home then?
No. They put us on Army buses and they shipped us to Camp Roberts, California. Camp Roberts is by Paso Robles.
Right.
That's where I was camped for two months. That's where they gave us our leave as soon as we got home from overseas. They issued us a two-week leave to go home. But we had to come back to Camp Roberts again. So that's when I got my leave. We went into L.A. From L.A. we caught a train -- no, a bus. And went to El Centro. I finished my two weeks at home and then we went back to Camp Roberts again.
What was that like?
Well, it's pretty good. They put me with a trucking company. I remember. Yeah, it's we was just waiting now for our time to end so that they could give us a discharge. And we was in this company, I don't even remember the name of it, and they assigned us some big trucks to drive the troops around to training, to bivouac training, pick them up, bring them in, pick them up the next morning. That lasted about a month. May. And then in June they called us in and said, "You guys are being let go. Your time is up."
Well, they didn't give you much notice, did they?
No.
Yeah.
They -- I said, "Well, okay. I'm happy. It's over. I've done it and let's go home."
Did you have any close buddies in the service?
Yes.
Are you still in touch with them at all?
No. I think one who lived in Iowa.
Might have been a cousin.
He was a real good friend. He was a real good friend. And we stopped writing to each other I'd say five years ago.
What was his name?
Clara Zown {phonetic}.
What part of Iowa was he from?
He told me they grew a lot of corn and they had animals. And he was just dying to get home. And I had another good Moose -- a friend of mine that lived in Akron, Ohio. Real good friend. And we separated there at Camp Roberts. No -- Camp Roberts, yes. Because he had to go to a camp in back east somewhere where he was going to get discharged. And I don't know his first name, but we used to call him Moose. He's a big guy. A good friend of mine. Moose. And I had other friends, two other friends. So long ago, I can't remember the names. But they lived in Ohio. They was a lot of fun. To me it was an experience.
What happened when you got home? What did you do when you got home?
I went right to work.
You went right to work?
Modern Paint and Body Shop. That's where I was working. I went to see them and they said, "Yeah, you can come to work as soon as you want." Which was, I don't know, I got home, I took two days or three days off and I went to work on a Monday.
Did you sign up for the Reserves?
No. But they kept sending me letters from the Reserves, report to duty, you are supposed to be here in Camp Roberts a certain date. I never did show up. They never bothered me. They never called me. But I didn't remember signing up for the Reserves. I didn't want to sign up for the Reserves because I knew that I would have to do some traveling to go to the camps and train again, you know, just train again.
Yeah. And you were settled back in?
I was settled down now and I just didn't want no more Army life.
Okay. Is there anything else that you can think of as your mind has been here thinking of your experience that you want to --
If I was single and young --
-- share with us?
-- I would do it again. I don't know how lucky I'd be this time, but I would do it again. I enjoyed the service. I enjoyed the Army. I never did panic. A good experience. I liked the country of Korea. A lot of mountains. A lot of wild. Not no big cities. And it's -- it was nice. It was very nice. I had one Korean buddy. He was in the RKO {sic} Army in the Korean Army in the war -- in the Army. And he was a good friend of mine. We become good friends. On the day that I was leaving, he was there to say good-bye. But I liked it. I enjoyed it. I did. Really, I did.
Very good. If you can think of anything else that you'd like to add, these won't -- the tapes won't go in for a while. But you let me know and we'll --
Well, I told you the highlights of the whole thing, so... My mind just won't let me think of the little things. We was in this city, Chunchon, Korea. I know it was a city. I know it was a city because we went right down the middle and you could see the frames of some buildings. But it had been leveled by I guess us, I guess. There was nothing. Nothing. It just everything was destroyed. And lately I have been looking in the magazines, Korean magazines, and I found out it's a metropolis now. It's big sky rise buildings. And we was right on the outskirts of that city. I was in a ditch bank that I remember. And you could look back towards the city and there was nothing. It was ruins. Just destroyed. And you look at it now in the books and it's just a big city.
Would you like to go back to visit, go see Korea again?
No, I don't think so. I don't think so.
Not during these times?
No. If I had left some good friends over there, maybe. No, I don't think I would want to go back to Korea. If they could just give me a Jeep and say, "Go to where you was at and see what's there." But there is nothing but big cities. It's not wild anymore. It's not unpopulated. People are all over and they got cars, they have trains, airplanes and it's nothing. It's not like when we hit it, you know. It's, it's really modern now. You don't expect a country to stay down all the time, you know. They come up real good. It's real good. I don't think I could find any of the places I stayed. I don't think so. Because I know they got highways now. They don't have no dirt roads anymore like it was then. No. I'm remembering this big river. Me and Moose and another guy went swimming. It was a huge river. I think the other side of the river was Main Street, from here to Main Street. That's how wide it was. I got out there in the middle and I panicked. I thought I was going to drown. {Laughing.} There was a guy on a rock out in the middle. He grabbed my hand. He pulled me up. And I got my air and my breathing back and, "I'm going back," I said. So I swim back and got out of there. It's a big river. It's huge. That's it. I remember that. I was going to bring home a souvenir, a rifle, beautiful rifle, Korean rifle. And when they started giving us orders that we was going to come home, they said, "Nobody will take an Army rifle home or a souvenir home." So there was a hole right close to where we was bivouacked. Said "You will now dump your rifles in that hole." Sure enough, like good little boys, I took mine and it was brand new and I dumped it in. Well, not just me, but everybody else was dumping. And I always keep thinking, "Would I remember where that spot was?" Go back there and dig my rifle up. But it's probably all rusted and it's right near the riverbank. And, no, I don't think I could find it. I don't think I could find it. It was fun. It was fun. I liked it. I liked it very much, yes.
And were you married at the time when you went into the service?
No, I was not. And I think one of the reasons I enjoyed the service, I wasn't attached. I mean, I wasn't being held down by anybody yet. You go, you get married, maybe have a child, before you know it you are worried about them all the time. This way I was single. If anything happened, well, there is nobody hurt, you know, nobody hurt. But I was single then. I can remember. So we had a good experience. I liked it. My wife says I liked it. She said, "You'd go back if you could, wouldn't you?" "No," I said, "I'm too old for that now. I don't think so." I could have stayed in maybe. I don't know. No, I don't think so. But I liked it. I liked it there.
Very good. Okay. I do thank you very, very much. It's interesting. We could talk until next weekend and get some more stuff, wouldn't we?
Yes. [End of audio.]