Yeu Foon, who changed his Chinese name to Johnny Ngai after the war, started out in North Africa [Annotator's Note: the North African Campaign] and then went to invade Sicily, then Italy. It was tough there. They tried again at Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy] and could not hold that either. He went through France too. He was born in Canton, China in November 1920. He had one sister. His mother died when he was young so his grandma raised him. Home was good and it was a nice country then. In 1937, Japan bombed the city and the bridges. He was one mile away. His father was in the United States and brought him here. He went to Hong Kong in October 1937 then to the United States in 1938. His father was in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. Ngai worked for two years and tried to go to school. The war broke out in 1941 [Annotator’s Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] and he was drafted. He was working as welder in a shipyard and could have stayed as a vital worker, but he decided to serve. [Annotator's Note: Ngai's wife tells part of the story from offscreen.] He figured he was 21, what was the sense of staying. His foreman did not want him to go. He went in February [Annotator's Note: February 1942] for basic and in three months he was in Africa.

Johnny Ngai did his basic training in Macon, Georgia around February [Annotator's Note: February 1942]. He trained with the M1 rifle [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic rifle, also known as the M1 Garand] as an expert. He went overseas from Virginia. They were lucky and were supposed to join the 1st, 3rd, and 9th Infantry Divisions as replacements in Africa. The 45th Infantry Division went overseas with them. The ship was crowded. They went to Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco; he talks about a soldier, but it is hard to follow]. Ngai was assigned to the 13th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Headquarters Company, Pioneer Platoon [Annotator's Note: unable to verify unit information]. He went to the front lines in a truck. They were training for Sicily [Annotator's Note: Operation Husky, 9 July to 17 August 1943]. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer backs him up to North Africa.] He was outside of Casablanca. The fighting was tank against tank. General Montgomery [Annotator's Note: British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery] was there. They lost quite a few people. At night, the Arabs would come and strip the bodies of clothing. He had to pull guard duty at night to scare them away. They had a .30 caliber air-cooled machine gun [Annotator’s Note: Browning M1919 .30 caliber air cooled light machine gun]. After about a month, the war in Africa was over. He never fired his weapon until Anzio [Annotator's Note: Battle of Anzio, Italy, 22 January 1944 to 5 June 1944].

When Johnny Ngai was fighting in Sicily [Annotator's Note: Sicily, Italy], there were so many soldiers coming over, he never had a chance to take a shot at anybody. When he went to Sicily, he had 38 days there and the war was over [Annotator's Note: he means that battle]. They hated Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] because he pushed them too hard. They took over the whole thing and stayed for about four days to rest and went to more training for the invasion of Italy [Annotator's Note: 3 September 1943]. The 36th, 32nd, and 45th Infantry Divisions invaded southern Italy at Salerno. Ngai went behind them and it was not that tough. Four divisions pushed into Cassino [Annotator's Note: Cassino, Italy]. They had trouble there because the Germans were up high. Quite a few were killed there. They were pushing too fast. They shot down a German airplane that crashed right in front of them. The motor bounced and killed seven officers [Annotator's Note: American]. The next day an American dropped his bombs on them and 27 of his unit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division] were killed and 12 to 14 of them were medics. They were taken out of there after that.

Johnny Ngai was almost killed three times. He was lucky. He was with a guy from Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] who was 38 years old, who would dig in with Ngai. Bombs dropped and dirt covered them. They pushed out of the dirt but were almost buried alive. After they returned from Cassino [Annotator's Note: Cassino, Italy], the man got discharged. After they got out of their foxhole, they helped others dig out. It was pretty sad. Ngai had been promoted to Private First Class at Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy]. Out of 30-some people who went with him into Cassino, only three came out alive. He went to Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy] for more training. They were supposed to rest for ten days but they went into Anzio. They went in 70 miles the first day. They were concerned about German paratroopers coming in behind them. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] was mad that he did not get enough soldiers. A lot of them got killed. Six men came in as replacements and were killed by that night. The Mussolini Canal was there, and they could see dead soldiers float by. Anzio was the toughest one. They had Japanese [Annotator's Note: Japanese-American] soldiers there too. 1,000 citizen volunteers helped them. They wanted to help the country, but they got locked up. They made a battalion of them. He thinks 75 percent of them are dead or crippled. Ngai was with Headquarters [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division] at that time. He was in the Pioneer Platoon and he met some of the Japanese boys. They would pick him up hitchhiking back to camp.

The worst part of the fighting for Johnny Ngai was fighting in to Cassino [Annotator's Note: Cassino, Italy]. Rocks and a church [Annotator's Note: Abbey of Montecassino] hid the Germans. If they had not bombed it [Annotator's Note: the Allied air forces bombed the abbey into rubble on 15 February 1944], they could not get through. They would just try to attack. They [Annotator's Note: Germans] had the hills and only needed a dozen people up there. That machine gun would shoot you down with no problem. After that, they had to take Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy]. They got no rest. They lost 12 of their landing boats. They would get seasick in the boats. The seas were so rough, boats sunk. It was not funny to see things like that happen in training. In the real thing, you get out in a hurry. In England, Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] and Montgomery [Annotator's Note: British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery] did the planning sitting over there. Soldiers are 19 years old and they train and train every day. One day they had four or five divisions coming up to make the invasion into Southern France. They were going into holes from the First World War. They were moving fast, and the Germans did not know which way they were going. They lost 30,000 or 40,000 people [Annotator's Note: it is unclear which side he is talking about].

Johnny Ngai landed on Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy] in Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP]. He was on guard duty and a man named Murphy [Annotator's Note: no given name provided] was brought in for court-martial. They played cards for money. Murphy had been sent on reconnaissance. He went two days and nights without sleep. He came back in and was told to go back out there. Murphy argued but was given an order, he then hit the lieutenant who court-martialed him. Murphy later held the Rhine [Annotator's Note: Rhine River] for them.

Johnny Ngai did not do any special training for the landing in Southern France. They were physically fit. He only had one cold in Sicily, malaria for three days, he was hospitalized. He had more friends get killed. He had a medic friend who got killed. They did not follow the line in mine fields. There were a lot of mines on the beach. A Filipino soldier was an MP [Annotator's Note: Military Police]. Ngai brought a jeep up and as he passed the man, he said he would see him later. He never saw him again. Ngai took a small ship from Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy] to France. He went ashore in a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP]. They had some machine gun fire. They [Annotator's Note: the Germans] were running away fast. They were moving 40 or 50 miles a day. One day they sat down to eat lunch and the Germans started firing their 88s [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. Ngai got hit in the shoulder by a little shrapnel. He got a Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy]. They went up north to Germany where they had a lot of fighting. They crossed the Rhine River.

Johnny Ngai crossed the Rhine River [Annotator's Note: into Germany]. Three days later they were told the war would be over soon. They wanted to make a unit of volunteers to go back to China. Ngai was flown back to Italy. When crossing the Rhine, he got soaking wet. He left his company [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division] and went back to Italy with about 40 men. After they arrived in Italy, the Germans were fighting back. They hit the CP [Annotator's Note: command post] close to the Rhine and killed a lot of officers. [Annotator's Note: Ngai bounces back and forth in time between Italy and Germany.] After the war was over, he was in Germany and was told he could be going home. He thought he was going to serve in China. Ngai then went home and got discharged at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

It was a lot colder in Germany than France for Johnny Ngai. They went in August [Annotator's Note: to France in August 1944]. It was November or December in Germany. They did not get up to Belgium. A battalion commander got killed by a direct hit by an 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery]. After the war, he went to see Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] house [Annotator's Note: the Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany]. The 3rd Infantry Division was stationed at Hitler's guest house. It was pretty. It had a big window like in the movies. Soldiers were looting his house. Ngai did not get anything. He got a couple of knives and a couple of Lugers [Annotator's Note: German P-08 Luger 9mm semi-automatic pistol], but he was not allowed to take his bag, and someone took them. [Annotator's Note: It is difficult to follow Ngai's stories of taking things from prisoners. His wife off screen talks about seeing dead soldiers.] In Cassino [Annotator's Note: Cassino, Italy], he had to go pick up the dead bodies and bring them back. Ngai would get scared holding them in the front because the guy would be watching him. After a while, you do not feel that. At first, their eyes are wide open, and they look alive.

Replacements do not have a choice. Johnny Ngai was in the Pioneer Platoon [Annotator's Note: Pioneer Platoon, Headquarters Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division] and had to do what he was told. The first time he went to Cassino [Annotator's Note: Cassino, Italy] to pick up the dead bodies, he was wearing the red cross arm bands. They [Annotator's Note: the Germans] do not care for that and will still shoot you. They were held up at Cassino and sent back down to Naples [Annotator's Note: Naples, Italy] for rest and then more training. There were a lot of divisions in that one area. It all depends on how lucky you get. The Japanese [Annotator's Note: Japanese-American troops of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team] guys fought all the way to Southern France but there were not many of them left by then. One of them, Senator Inouye [Annotator's Note: then US Army Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye; later a United States Senator from Hawaii] of Hawaii, lost his arm.

The weather in North Africa was good for Johnny Ngai but there were a lot of bugs. Casablanca [Annotator's Note: Casablanca, Morocco] was nice. The Germans took a lot out of there. There was no truck to pick them up when they arrived. They were picked up in a cattle cart. The war did not look that tough there. The tanks were not close enough for him to see the battles. The German 88s [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] were so bad, their small guns were not worth the fight. They would come under fire once in a while. At Anzio [Annotator's Note: Anzio, Italy], they went into the Mussolini Canal. The Germans were shooting them, and the dead bodies were floating down the canals. They were finally bombed out. They had a big gun that worked off a railroad track [Annotator's Note: Krupp K5 283mm heavy railway gun]. Africa was easy, it was just tank fighting. Ngai was pulling guard duty at night. There are no MPs [Annotator's Note: Military Police] until the line companies moved out. There were aircraft flying around. The tanks did the job. The British Army was using tanks in there, but their guns were so light the German 88s were blowing them up. The airplanes did most of the job by bombing the factories and stopping production. Even the later American tanks did not do well against the 88. You hit a German tank and the shell just bounces right off. He did not know why they did not build bigger tanks.

Johnny Ngai was riding on a tank into Southern France. He was hurt on the second day. They were having lunch inside a tank when they were shelled. About four of them got hurt. The medic took care of him. You have to try to stick with your company [Annotator's Note: Ngai was a member of Headquarters Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division]. If you go to the hospital, you might go to a different outfit. Southern France was alright. It was closer to winter and there was more wind, which made him sick in the boat. When he invaded Sicily [Annotator's Note: Sicily, Italy], that was his first landing. In Africa, he came in second and was not worried about being shot at. He was more nervous in the later landings. That is why some of them get killed. The Germans could take out a whole boat full of people on D-Day [Annotator's Note: in this case, D-Day indicates the day of an amphibious invasion]. He would rather have it like they did on the south side [Annotator's Note: of Europe]. There were more people killed on one day at D-Day [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], than they had during their years in the south. He did not know anything about the bombs being dropped on Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. He was going to go train the people to fight for the invasion. He was glad he did not have to go do that. The war was over. If he had gone, he would have landed in China. His home, where he was born, was on the east side of China [Annotator's Note: Ngai, who was originally named Yeu Foon, was born in Canton, China]. He was hoping for a free ride there. He wanted to see his village.

Johnny Ngai says the trouble is that they [Annotator's Note: the Veterans Administration or VA] do not help you if you have problems. It is hard if you need help. When he went into the Army, he had to swear to the flag. They would not give him his citizenship when he returned. He had to get naturalized. [Annotator's Note: Ngai's wife explains it.] He was hurt. He walked through Italy and France and developed an ulcer. He had to pay for his own operation. He tries to go to the VA, and he gets denied. They always ask him if he still has nightmares instead of helping him. He had to study for his naturalization. He had to wait for five years. Then he got his sister over [Annotator's Note: from China]. There a lot of Chinese in New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] who are afraid to show their faces. Ngai fit into civilian life really fast. He left New York and went to Houston [Annotator's Note: Houston, Texas] to find work. A friend opened a restaurant and needed help. He met his wife there. They have been married 59 years. As long as you do not get hurt too bad, it is alright.