Contrasts: an Interview with Sam Humphrey

The following interview took place at Sam Humphrey’s house in May 2000. Mr. Humphrey was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force during World War II. He served in the Asian Pacific part of World War II. He stayed in Philippines most of the time.

Q: In which branch of service did you serve?

S: I was in the Air Force in World War II.

Q: Why did you choose the Air Force?

S: More exciting, I was crazy to learn to fly. I wasn’t old enough, but they lowered the age. It used to be 20; they lowered it to 18.

Q: When were you in service from when to when?

S: 19 to 23.

Q: What was your rank?

S: I was a Lieutenant Colonel

Q: What was your job?

S: I was in guided missiles -- research in development of lasers.

Q: What place did you go?

S: I went to New Guinea, Tokyo, and Leyty in Philippines.

Q: What significant date comes to mind about your service?

S: End of war, obviously. (Laughing) I was in Japan when they surrendered. But there is one difference, we celebrated on August 10^th and back here they didn’t celebrated till August 15^th. As soon as we heard the rumor that the Japanese were talking surrender, I was on Leyty, all of sudden, guns started to going off. We met some Filipinos, and they told us that the war was over. Well. it turned out that the war wasn’t over, but they were negotiating. And it took us ‘till September 2^nd for the actual surrender. But we had a big celebration on August 10^th, because we heard…

Q: When did you return and what did you do next?

S: I got home in March of 1946. (Laughs). I went to UConn for education in Physics and got recalled for Korean War. They said. “We know you went to the war, and have some skill. So bring in the evidence of that.” So I have my transcript from UCONN, my transcript in Westfield. The guy then said, “You are a navigator. “Yep.” “We need navigators bad.” So, I was in the war.

Q: How do you feel about World War II?

S: Well, there are some implications in there that I don’t like, but I think everybody follows it’s necessary. And I think today things are much calmer out there, because we did play those wars. But the Pacific War was clearly a necessary war. We liberated the Philippines; some appreciate that.

Q: What was your leaving for the war like?

S: I remember my father took me to the Hartford train station. My second cousin and I were sitting together. His parents were on the platform where mine were. And my aunt was crying all over the place, and my cousin was so embarrassed to look out the window. I said, ‘Tommy, your folks are waving to you. Look out.” He wouldn’t look out window. And then train starts going.

Q: Which day is most memorable to you during the war? And can you talk about it?

S: Well, there are several, but mostly it would be the day that the war ended, and myself with other guys were the first Americans landed in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb dropping. It was the first time in an enemy country. We flew from Iwo Jima to Hiroshima. We wondered if it’s true that the Japanese houses are sliding door, paper houses. The first day we went there, we were guided by the Japanese army. But when we were walking on the street in Hiroshima, some Japanese saw us and they ran away. It was kind of funny. One thing that I knew was that the atomic bomb exploded 1500 feet above ground with a parachute. If it had exploded on the ground, it would have activated the earth with radioactivity. That would even have caused bigger damage.

Q: Can you describe what the weather was like the first time you went into Japan?

S: Hmm, the weather was actually really nice. It was bright and sunny. Although on the other days, it was cloudy.

Q: Were the houses in Hiroshima mostly destroyed?

S: Yes, they were all destroyed.

Q: Is there anywhere else you went on that day?

S: We didn’t go anywhere on that day, but the next day we flew over Tokyo. From looking down at Tokyo, the city was destroyed… in pieces. I thought it was worse than Hiroshima. And Tokyo had been bombed only by regular bombs.

Q: So, what was your total experience like in that country? And how do you feel about people forgetting those wars?

S: First of all, it was an exciting experience, personally, for me to go to see my enemy country, and be the first American to land on that Hiroshima ground. You asked me how I feel about people forgetting the wars – well, I don’t know what to do about it. We hear an awful lot about the Holocaust, but the war wasn’t fought over the Holocaust. It was fought over the expansion of Germany, Japan, and Italy. Over 55 years, we haven’t had a major war, and that’s a European history. I mean, I want them to remember those wars that people fought over. But… and when we went to the Philippines, after the war, they were glad to see us, because we liberated them.

Q: I heard that you went back to Asia for the 50 years anniversary, how was that?

S: We stayed in Tokyo and Manila. Tokyo was the most changed; there were tall buildings everywhere on the street. The Imperial Palace was on the other side, and the old railroad was gone. Everything has changed, but it was a good experience to see the cities that had once been destroyed almost completely.