June 9,2004
Kristi Mizner: How did you feel about WWII?
Jack Rice: We did what we had to do to protect our country and to keep it from being
taken over by foreigners, because Japan and Germany wanted control of the U.S.
K: What year did you leave Yelm?
J: January 9, 1942
K: What did you do in the military?
J: I was a machine gunner.
K: What unit were you in?
J: I was in the Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion. I trained in
California on Coast Artillery guns and when I went overseas I never used one again, I
was put on a machine gun, which I was never trained to use.
K: Where were you stationed overseas and for how long?
J: I was station is the South Pacific and traveled between New Guinea, Australia, and the
Philippines.
K: Did you receive anything from home while you were overseas?
J: Yes, I received many things from my mom. I would get letters and occasionally
packages. My mom sent me a wristwatch and it still works today. On my free time I
made a band for the watch my mom sent, I made it out of silver coins from Australia and
imbedded a pearl-like stone on the surface.
K: What did you do for fun while you were on leave or back from the front?
J: When I was on leave from New Guinea I went to Brisbane, Australia and they would
not let us go to any other city. Except, I was able to talk one of my generals into letting
me go to Sydney and I stayed there for a while. The next time I was in Australia was
because I had malaria and high fevers. I was put into a hospital in Brisbane to get my
tonsils out and get rehabilitated. After I was recovered they sent back into a war zone.
At that time I weighed 130 Ibs.
K: How often did you travel by sea?
J: Our transportation was to travel by sea and we mainly traveled at night. During the
day we would hide in lagoons under the trees so the Japanese would not be able to see us
if they flew over. We would also shut off out engines so no wake was made; this was
also done to prevent the Japanese from detecting us. We rarely shot at planes in the
daytime because we didn’t want to miss and have them come back with a full force. We
did shoot down eight enemy aircraft one night. They were not supposed to come on a
certain area and we were told to shoot and them, we didn’t care who it was.
K: Were you wounded during the war?
J: When we first got up to New Guinea we were in a bay fighting the Japanese. I was
firing at a Japanese Mitsubishi Dive Bomber with a 50-caliber machine gun and a hot
shell went down my shirt and burned me on my stomach. When I went the doctor he told
me he could get me a purple heart but I turned it down. Now, I wish I didn’t turn it
down.
K: Where you a POW?
J: No.
K: Did you notice any changes in Yelm when you returned from the war?
J: No there were no major changes.
K: Did you use the GI bill after the war and for how long?
J: Yes, the GI bill helped me pay for Vocational Technical School in Tacoma and I took
a carpenter course. After my schooling I went to Alaska and worked in mines and then
when I came back to Yelm I was working on Fort Lewis in a carpenter shop.
K: Did you agree with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
J: Yes because it save a lot of American lives because we didn’t need to fight in Japan.
K: What was the scariest thing about war/combat?
J: I can’t see at night because I’m night blind and we would do most of our fighting at
night and I couldn’t see that well.
K: What was something funny that happened to you during the war?
J: My friend and I were in an officer’s tent and we were near a place where there might
be Japanese men. My friend said “Hey Rice” and I replied “What.” He then said “I think
I have someone by the hand.” But then he said, “Oh, no it’s my own” I was so relieved
that it was his own hand but I was looking for a knife to stab the hand.
J: Our transportation was to travel by sea and we mainly traveled at night. During the
day we would hide in lagoons under the trees so the Japanese would not be able to see us
if they flew over. We would also shut off out engines so no wake was made; this was
also done to prevent the Japanese from detecting us. We rarely shot at planes in the
daytime because we didn’t want to miss and have them come back with a full force. We
did shoot down eight enemy aircraft one night. They were not supposed to come on a
certain area and we were told to shoot and them, we didn’t care who it was.
K: Were you wounded during the war?
J: When we first got up to New Guinea we were in a bay fighting the Japanese. I was
firing at a Japanese Mitsubishi Dive Bomber with a 50-caliber machine gun and a hot
shell went down my shirt and burned me on my stomach. When I went the doctor he told
me he could get me a purple heart but I turned it down. Now, I wish I didn’t turn it
down.
K: Where you a POW?
J: No.
K: Did you notice any changes in Yelm when you returned from the war?
J: No there were no major changes.
K: Did you use the GI bill after the war and for how long?
J: Yes, the GI bill helped me pay for Vocational Technical School in Tacoma and I took
a carpenter course. After my schooling I went to Alaska and worked in mines and then
when I came back to Yelm I was working on Fort Lewis in a carpenter shop.
K: Did you agree with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
J: Yes because it save a lot of American lives because we didn’t need to fight in Japan.
K: What was the scariest thing about war/combat?
J: I can’t see at night because I’m night blind and we would do most of our fighting at
night and I couldn’t see that well.
K: What was something funny that happened to you during the war?
J: My friend and I were in an officer’s tent and we were near a place where there might
be Japanese men. My friend said “Hey Rice” and I replied “What.” He then said “I think
I have someone by the hand.” But then he said, “Oh, no it’s my own” I was so relieved
that it was his own hand but I was looking for a knife to stab the hand.