Served 1945

-Joshua-How old were you?
-Boyd-I actually turned 18 in October and oh I went in for a physical a month later and couldn't pass it I had heart trouble. They sent me home and brought me back up many months later and took it again and failed and they decided they keep me up at camp Robbins for a few days to check me every day and then after a few days I passed. I was drafted and I wanted to go but I never left home before.

-Joshua-Did you have any buddies with you?
-Boyd-Yeah I went in with several friends. A couple of my friends were from Ephraim. Friends from Mt. Pleasant. Three or four from Spring City. Two people from Gunnison Grover Childs and Hal Christensen.

-Joshua-How long were you in training?
-Boyd-They basically  graduated from basic training and I didn't. It was a 13 week program but I only got through 11 weeks cause pneumonia and spent 5 weeks in the hospital and had to go through the 13 weeks of training again. When I got out they extended the basic training from 13 to17 weeks. So all together I spent 28 weeks in basic training. Most my friends were all gone. Most the places I couldn't go so I stayed in for those 28 weeks, and I was with a new group. 

-Joshua-Did you have any family in the war?
-Boyd-I had two brothers.  My older brother was a year and a half older than I was and he was a  man ya he was in the navy.  He was on a cruiser.   My younger brother was in the army. 

-Joshua-Did you get any days off when you trained?
-Boyd-Not initially we didn't get any time off probably for months. Then when we did  our training was from 4:30 in the morning until 11:00 at night. We would get up at 4:00 the next morning and start all over again.  And that was for five and a half days.  We would get half the day off then we would get Saturday and Sunday off.  We would sweat (laughing).  When we did get time off we would hang around camp or go to the pool.  There was no place to go.  There was a town in Casorovo.  There were bars that we would go to.

-Joshua-Would you explain the type of training there was.
-Boyd-There was mainly physical conditioning.  Physical torture we would call it.  A lot of calisthenics, marching and hiking.  We would learn the weapons and their use. We got to go to the weapons range and we got to use machine guns and rifles and we even used hand grenades and mortars. Some of the men got really good even without using the sights that were on them.  We were also taught hand to hand combat and what we would need to survive. We were trained in poisoned gas and how to protect ourselves. It was not something I would like to do again but I look at it as a positive experience in my life. I was in the best condition physically that I had probably been in. The food was good and they treated us all right. Being in the infantry we learned the skills to survive. Some of the hardest training was having to march from one fort to another that was 26 miles away. We were in full pack and gear. The pack weighed  46 lbs. We had to do this in about 8 hours. We started at midnight and needed to be at the other fort for breakfast at 8 o'clock.

-Joshua-Were you in any battles?
-Boyd-When I joined, there was still war going on but by the time I finished two basic training courses the war was over. I spent 5 weeks in the hospital and when I was getting out the Germans had surrendered. Then when I was home on leave the Japanese surrendered. Then I was sent for advanced training. They could not send us over with the war  for it was against the law for them to send any one under 19. They sent me to a fort in Alabama. There was not a lot for us to do with the war being over. So we played horse shoes and go swimming.

-Joshua-Just how much training did you need to go into battle? 
-Boyd-After basic training I had all that I needed to be ready for battle. We had learned the skills and the weapons that we would be using.

-Joshua-What year did your training end?
-Boyd-It was in 1945.

-Joshua-When you returned home did you have parties and things?
-Boyd-They had a celebration when I was home on leave for that is when Japan surrendered. They had a parade. The whole town came. They had us march, they had fire engines, and the bands played. It was not as big as others. 

After about a month they shipped us back across country to a camp in Oregon. I was still 18 so I had to spend a couple of months here. They were equipping us there and getting us ready to go overseas. They sent us to Fort Lot, up by Seattle, to finish equipping us and putting us on boats and sending us over seas. They told us were going to the Philippines, but part way there they changed our orders and sent us to Japan. We ended up being sent to Nagasaki, where one of the A-bombs had been dropped. They would not let us off the boat. So we spent about a month on board. We ate C-rations and K-rations, for that is all we had. They did not want us going into the city. So they finally we left the harbor and we went to Agoia and were there for about six months.

-Joshua-What were some of the things you did there?
-Boyd-Well they still did not know what to do with us. So they put us up at an old air base. It was winter there and it was really cold. The barracks walls were very thin and did not give much protection. Without regular housing and not knowing what to do with us, we had to make do. They only gave us a thin sleeping bag. Some of the nights were so cold that we would take all out clothes, socks, overcoats and anything else we could find to put over us at night to keep us warm. After awhile they got organized and started assigning us out to different departments to work. We were told we could stand guard or if we could do anything else to tell them. I could type so they had me give and take messages. I was in the building next to General McArthur.

-Joshua-Could you walk around and feel safe?
-Boyd-Yes, we did not bother them and they did not bother us. We were able to go to the parks and shops and I felt pretty safe wherever we went. I was assigned to the office of the Allied Supreme Commander. I was in the legal office. Part of my job was to type up affidavits of some of the prisoners of war. This was really interesting for I had to type the affidavits up in legal form. They were using them in the war crimes trials. It was sad what some of our men had to go through. Some of them were very mistreated. I was actually able to visit the trials on several occasions. It was interesting but long. I even got my picture in Life magazine, I was a spectator in the gallery in one of the pictures. The trials went on for months. We could get passes when we wanted them. It was interesting to be there and a part of history. Also because of being assigned to where I was I could get a jeep. One day we went to climb Mt Fuji. When we got to the town at the base, they told us we couldn't. The Japanese held the mountain sacred, they told us it had rained and was muddy and they didn't want us to go up.

-Joshua-Could you go outside the city?
-Boyd-Yes, we could get on a train and go about any where we wanted. Most of the trains and roads were still useable. The telephone system was still working too. 

-Joshua-Did you live in the same place all the time?
-Boyd-No, they later moved me to a hotel across from the train station and next to where I worked. It was a lot better. 

-Joshua-Were you able to attend any church meetings while you were there?
-Boyd-Yes, I attended some meetings that were put on by the chaplains in Nugoua. Some were held in the hospital. There were signs out for those who want to go to a Latter-Day Saint meeting. Some of the men would come off the ships along with those in town to meet together. There were not that many who were LDS.

-Joshua-Anything else that was interesting?
-Boyd-One thing that was fun and interesting was the changing of the guards. I worked on the 6th floor of the head quarters building so we had a good view of the guards. One week it was the Russians, the next week would be the Americans, then the Indians, then the British, then the Australians. They would change each Monday morning, each one trying to out show up and out do the other with their uniforms or chromed guns and helmets or bagpipes or what represented their country. 

It was a very interesting year. I didn't do any combat I only got in on the mop up at the end.