Japanese American Military Experience Database

Saburo Kunitake

Gender

Male

Birth date

1934-10-26

Place of birth

Puunene HI, U.S.A.

Inducted

1953-7-10, Kahului, Maui HI

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Usmc

Service type

Peacetime

Unit type

Support

Units served

1st and 5th Marine

Military specialty

Infantry

Stationed

USA: Oceanside, CA; Long Beach, CA; Seal Beach, CA; San Diego, CA
Other Countries: Korea

Unit responsibility

Peace keeping/First Marine

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Korea

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Korean Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal
Good Conduct Medal

Living conditions

We slept in tents (12 men tent), bathed in streams and ate in mess hall.

Most vivid memory of military experience

On the last day before leaving Korea to go home to Hawaii, two North Koreans came up to me and surrendered.

Most important thing, personally, to come from military experience?

I went to meat cutting school on the G.I. Bill

Additional information

My husband has a stroke and cannot say everything he would like to say.