James Patterson, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Luke Perry, August 15, 2001: Saving the legacy tape no. 283 and 284

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JAMES PATTERSON ugu t 15, 20 1 They had has pinpointed right where we was, so there wasn't one shell in our camp at all. You could tell the next day, the British-I guess they didn't have the same information. So their fire fighters came off their carriers, and as we'd go from the mess hall to the kitchen-over to where we would eat-you'd have to carry these big boxes of rice. And the never seen any action. The Japs were all scared. They wouldn't----------?-----------. And, so they'd---------?----------, I guess from one-----?----- to the other. So they strafed that----------?----------- us guys to stay there. We dug holes foxholes, and at night we'd dig a little deeper and twisted it up underneath where they'd see it. We figured if the time every come when they were shooting-if the guard had not come through and discover and then take off. We -------------------? ---------------------. They were all down in the foundation part there. ------------?-------------. But that never had to come about because the marines, our interpreter came in. We heard that this bomber, or airplane, had dropped a bomb. The Japanese, they used to tell us (speaking Japanese). It was a B-29. (Speaking Japanese again). One bomb, kill a lot of people. (Speaking Japanese again). They didn't know anything about the atomic bomb, or anything. So they decided they had to get us out of there. But the marines came in, and they took over our camp. And they could see that----------------?---------------- on an island over to the mainland to catch a train. They had control of the train and arranged it. They said, "We're going to take you about seven miles on the tracks, then you'll get in these boats." What do you call them? ------------------------------?----------------------------. He said, "We've got those down there, and we'll take you over to the big hospital ships 39