*
a Grow 1
Transcription of Interview
Dr. R.A. Stevenson be in^ interviewed
003 Interviewer: Were you drafted or did you enlist?
-Vet: I enlisted.
Interviewer: If you enlisted why did you do so?
A: There was a program called Army Specialized Training Program, ASTP, instituted in
medical school were I was a sophomore. It was quite advantageous to me for two
reasons: one is financial, the other let me go ahead and be in the service, so I enlisted and
the enlistment was as a PFC.
Interviewer: Now you said you enlisted in the Army, why did you pick that branch?
-Vet: Frankly, I had taken a physical at the Navy and flunked it. I had a hernia at the time
so they turned me down. So I was in a huny so I went and enlisted in the Army which
was okay with me.
Interviewer: So where were you living at that time?
-Vet: In Galveston, I was attending the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.
Interviewer: How old were you?
-Vet: I was 24.
Interviewer: Were did you get your medical degree?
-Vet: I got my medical degree at that institution.
Interviewer: Did the Army pay for your schooling, or at least some of it?
-Vet: It paid for the schooling and room and board also, and the usual as far as other
equipment was concerned.
Interviewer: Where did you complete your basic training?
-Vet: I had just initially a small amount of what's normally considered basic training. It
was not a matter of crawling through a live field where they were shooting over your
head, it wasn't that sort of thing. We did have a unit there and we met every morning,
and then we would go to school and meet the next morning, unless you had some
demerits over something and you would come back in the afternoon and mow the lawn or
some other similar penalty.
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 1
Interviewer: Was there any other extra military training that you had to undergo when
you joined other than what you have already mentioned?
-Vet: Yes, at the time of enlistment, they gave a rather short course that was in Houston.
Interviewer: Were did you work before you joined the military?
-Vet: I was a student, I was in medical school at the time that I did enlist.
Interviewer: Were you specializing in any specific area of medicine at the time?
-Vet: No, no, I was getting my general thing preparing my self to go to an internship
which we did in those days.
Interviewer: Did any of your colleagues join the military?
-Vet: Yes, quite a few. In fact, at the time that I joined when they started that program, I
dare say that is was only five percent of the students who did not, and they were either
women which weren't eligible at that time or there was some physical disability
interfering with their enlisting.
Interviewer: Had any member of your family been in the military prior to that?
-Vet: No
Interviewer: At any point in your life prior to war, did you ever see yourself in the
military?
-Vet: No I hadn't. However as you may know at the time I enlisted the war was already
under progress because this was 1943, and so I had been watching the progress of the war
and realized that I might even be taken out of medical school to go into it, but that didn't
happen.
Interviewer: What fbture plans did you have for yourself before the war began?
-Vet: Oh I had attended the University of Texas with the intention of becoming perhaps a
lawyer, but I had a rather broad base as far as my studies were concerned. I was much
more impressed with the students who were studying to be premed or who were studying
to go into engineering or things of that nature. So I switched all of my activities the
second year over to that and became a premed student.
Interviewer: What were your perspectives on the war?
-Vet: Well I was rather busy at that time and I really didn't have too much time for just
sitting and thinking about it, but I realized that it was a just war and was willing to serve
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 2
and I had much rather served in the capacity of an officer than an enlisted of course. So I
was working towards eventually becoming an officer.
Interviewer: From our previous studying we know that you served in Okinawa, had you
ever heard of that place prior to the war?
Interviewer: What was your highest rank?
-Vet: Captain.
Interviewer: What were the conditions of the war?
-Vet: I wanted to point out at this time, as I had before, that I was in the service over seas
after Japan had surrendered the previous year. That happened while I was in my
internship in the Panama Canal Zone. At that time I was in the reserves as a Second
Lieutenant.
Interviewer: How long were you located or stationed in Japan?
-Vet: Well ,considering the Japanese Islands that we were occupying, I was there about a
year and a half.
Interviewer: Was there any combat that you had witnessed, or that you were close too?
-Vet: No there wasn't anything of that nature. I was there in the military government
medical department.
Interviewer: What kind of facilities were available, and were there many of them?
-Vet: By the time I arrived in Okinawa, there was a good supply of everything that we
normally considered essential.
Interviewer: Was sanitation a big issue with a lack of medicine and equipment?
-Vet: No, because the same thing applies there, that it was already taken care of
Interviewer: So you did have a good supply of everything you needed?
-Vet: Yeah. As sort of a sideline to say sanitation was of importance when I was dealing
with the natives, and trained them some in proper drainage. Which figures into sanitation
of course.
Interviewer: From our study we read that there wasn't a whole lot of potable water, heat,
or electricity, how did you get around these problems?
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 3
-Vet: Well that is not applicable because these things were available, even on the most
remote islands were 1 went.
Interviewer: What specific types of medical tools and supplies were available, and what
did you use?
-Vet: This was military government, the medical department, and we had responsibility
for the hospitals, the native hospitals, and we did supply them through mostly surface
medical supplies from the services. We had an ample supply. There was in addition the
problem that I had with Malaria, we did have fortunately, a tremendous amount of the
whole time while I was there, of Adabrin, which is to cure malaria or prevent its
happening. But the main purpose, the main object, in treating areas where there's malaria
is to eliminate breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
100 Interviewer: Did any previous experience in the medical field assist you, and if so how?
-Vet: Well I was a general physician, but I had interned in the Panama Canal Zone at
[inaudible] General Hospital, this was a nine month course. During that time I got to see
quite a few tropical diseases, and some of these were applicable in the areas which I later
was treating in the Japanese Islands.
Interviewer: What type of doctor were you, and was there a specific specialty that was
required during the repatriation?
-Vet: I've already said it, I was a general doctor.
Interviewer: From our research it said disease was a major issue. What were the most
common diseases?
-Vet: I didn't treat many of the people in the service. They had upper respiratory
infections and things of that nature, nothing to serious. However when I was with the
military government out in the field, the natives were plagued by malaria to an extreme
degree, and also there was a lot of leprosy. I recall that the leprosy colony which is on a
small island just north of Okinawa, was built at the request and the benevolence of the
Empress of Japan, who had a special interest in that condition. From the area of
photographs, these buildings look to be of military attachment, and they had no red cross.
So our initial softening up that we did in taking Okinawa, these buildings were hit, and
my lepers took off to the hills, and I later was able to get them back and we had built
some Quonset huts to house them.
Interviewer r: Were there any new medical problems, or special precautions that you
had to take after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings?
-Vet: No, in this instance since I was there several years after that had occurred there was
not. Besides that occurred two-hundred miles from where I was stationed.
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 4
Interviewer: How many patients did you see on a daily basis, and how may of these
cases were severe?
Vet: Well since I was mostly out in the field doing public health duties, I rarely saw
patients. However we had f i s h e d the natives with surface American ambulances and I
would sometimes go with local physicians who were taking these to go and visit the
various smaller villages that was under our care. So I would pitch in of course and help
in any way that I could.
Interviewer: Were many people malnourished fiom lack of rations?
-Vet: Not when I arrived there, but remember we had about year there for them to be well
fed. I would like to say that we, the Americans, f i s h e d the people of Okinawa, about
forty percent, fitly percent perhaps, of their sustenance as far as food was concerned.
They were shipped a lot of corn and they learned a lot about making edible meals out of
corn afier it had been ground.
Interviewer: How many other doctors were working with or near you?
Vet: Within the medical group there, there were approximately twenty physicians, but 7
sometimes we were spread fairly thin, especially as far as the smaller islands were
concerned. I had several islands under my care in the Southern Ryukyus group. I was
the only physician, and in the Northern Ryukyus Islands were also served by only one
physician.
Interviewer: What other types of medical personnel were available?
-Vet: I had a couple of core men who were helpful. The Okinawan physicians were very-very
helpfbl and very glad to be f i s h e d some medications that they had not even had
before in doing there treating. I found them to be quite capable physicians, and they did
actually most of the health care.
Interviewer: Were you able to easily attend all who needed medical attention?
Vet: No, I wouldn't go so far as to say that because they weren't my direct responsibility
as far as their individual illnesses were concerned, I was in public health.
Interviewer: According to one of the authors of our sources, the Okinawa's tend to be
friendly, non-aggressive people, did you find this to be true?
-Vet: Yes I did. And they were very cooperative and very helpfbl. They were more
appreciative in the islands where they were actually f i s h e d with vast eh health fiom
eh, the the the eh government. Eh, I guess that's a usual thing. We had practically
leveled the lower part of Okinawa eh and were occupying so much of their eh arable land
that they were that they were on restrain as far as being able to to eh make their own
living. Eh but as eh but they were not near as appreciative of of the fact that we were
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 5
sustaining them at about My percent level where down in Miyako where it was twenty
five percent they were much much eh more eh appreciative of what we did and when I
got down to Ishigaki eh, which is only about eh sixty miles north of Formosa, em they
they they were saying please tell President Truman that we appreciate what he's doing for
US.
Interviewer: What were some of the Okinawa customs and are there any that you picked
up and still practice?
-Vet: Well, some of their customs were a quite strange to the the eastern type of of, I mean
the western the western type. Their eastern culture was so much different fiom eh the the
eh the eh western. Eh, they were they were very eh well behaved and eh, had good
manners, eh they they would bow rather than shake hands unless you offered to shake
hands. They understood the significance of shaking hands of course.
Interviewer: Eh, the Okinawa's are thought to be eh a submissive people. So in effect
there was both Chinese and Japanese reign. Eh so therefore, strong Chinese and Japanese
influences are visible in that culture. How did they react to American soldiers?
-Vet: Well they had actually been under the Chinese and Japanese for quite some time eh
em not so much for anything other than to pay their taxes as far as I can tell and and
through eh through their history, so they were used to being occupied as far as that goes.
Eh and and eh they they seemed to really eh appreciate our fi-iendly attitude and helpll
attitude toward them.
Interviewer: Were they cooperative with American forces, eh specscally the medical
aspect?
Vet: Yes.
Interviewer: Are there any stories you can tell about any resentment towards American
soldiers?
200 Vet: I'm sure that certain amount of this existed but even in all the time I spent there I did
not see any manifestation of it.
Interviewer: There is a map that we looked at that lists several military facilities along
the coast of the China city, were you stationed at any of these?
-Vet: Yes I was, I was base was on Okinawa and I had to the assignment of taking care of
the southern Ryukyus.
Interviewer: Did you have to travel much between Japan and Okinawa during
repatriation?
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 6
-Vet: No, that was not my duty. My duty was to see that none of the ships that were
bringing this people in that there was no contagious disease on board, we primarily were
interested in contagious diseases of of of the type of which would go devastate the , a
plague for example and we we would take this people, and as they got off the ship we
would spray down the fiont of their clothing and down the back of their clothing and then
in inside their pants and let.. . to eliminate any viruses that might be present.
Occasionally a ship would come in and there would be a dead person on board and I
would quarantine them until I could get a local pathologist to do an autopsy on them and
clear them of any contagious disease. I did have a bit of a problem several times a ship
would come in and it I would contact the the attending position and ask him questions
and I'd say did you have anybody that's dead that died during the trip and he'd they
would say oh yes and we buried him at sea so when I ran across a situation like this, I did
not know what the person died off and so therefore I put them under quarantine for a
week.
Interviewer: What other Ryukyu islands did you have to visit during repatriation?
-Vet: Well I had the southern Ryukyu's under under my care and that was mainly Miyako
is was the main of of islands and where the capital is and then also, there are some other
the is in Yayarna area which which is called Ishigaki. And it was, its very mountainous
and there is where I encountered the cases of malaria that were so so severe. One can
judge how chronic malarial infection is by what we call the spleen index, if you can feel
an enlarge spleen, then that person has chronic malaria and probably there are some of
the spleens that weren't large enough to feel that that were already infected.. .in that area
where I was there was a spleen index of 40% which would indicate that a lot of people
had chronic malaria.
Interviewer: Basic knowledge of World War I1 allows us to know of prejudices. How
did you , how do you feel about the overall treatment of the Okinawa's by the American
soldiers?
-Vet: It was good. It was it was very good, I didn't detect very much in a way any kind
of prejudice. Now its only natural as far as I can tell that a conquered race of people is
are are looked somewhat down upon by the conqueror and there was a slight amount of
this but no problematically.
Interviewer: Overall, do you feel that the American attempt to repatriate the Okinawa's
as well as others to their homes in the Ryukyu islands was a success?
-Vet: Yes it was, they're over populated in those islands and they're this people who who
had been taken by the Japanese army, some of them, many of the Okinawa's were in the
Japanese army these other people were sort of like the camp followers, they would the the
manual labor and cook in the whole families would be taken to wherever the Japanese
were going and so so when they came back they were sent back on ships, some of them
were small war ships of the Japanese and and some of them were our own American
ships which we gave, turned over to the the Okinawa navy to to run and for this for this
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 7
project. For an example, an LST which is Land and Ship Tank had such large hole where
the tanks had been carried before that they actually could accommodate one thousand
people.
Interviewer: What did you do in the days and weeks after your service?
-Vet: We're talking about two periods of time. I was enlisted first in in medical school
and after that I went to my internship as a second lieutenant reserve and then returned
home and was there for a short period of time before I was commissioned and assigned as
a first lieutenant assigned to to Boma General Hospital in in in this I believe it is outside
of El Paso and but I was only there for about two months and then they, then I went eh
into the training program at Brook Army Base in San Antonio and we had a six week
course in that's giving to medical personnel medical positions as they came in to the
service. It was a very large group and this was very impressive. I don't know whether I
should go fbrther than that now becase you see when I got out of the when I got out og
the Army when my surrendered my commission, I went to my home in . . . Texas and and
then moved to San Antonio where I had a worked medically as a surgical assistant
surgical assistant to several positions until I was to go to New York for to the New York
New York University postgraduate medical school ... that was in October of 1948 and so
that was my activities that you're asking about.
Interviewer: Did you make any close friendships while you were in Okinawa?
300 Vet: I did but unfortunately I had not maintained those relationships. I had especially
one, it was the Dr. Arakaki who was assigned to me as my interpreter because he knwew
some English and that man was quite helpful and very cooperative in all the projects
which we would take.
Interviewer: Obviously, your career after your service was in the medical field, but dd
your wartime experience contribute to that at all?
Vet: Well, that that's really hard to say, I I had go in to become a dermatologist and I did
see a while I was in Okinawa various skin conditions, of course at that at that level of my
education I didn't know too much about them but I had become in had become interested
in skin disease when I was in Panama canal zone and so so what I saw there and what I
saw in Okinawa and in the other Ryukyu's island was helpful in my practice.
Interviewer: How did your experience contribute to your thinking about war and
military service?
-Vet: Well, as I mentioned earlier, the this I considered to be a just war and I was all in
favor of it but.. .interested in having it get over just as soon as possible and I would be
lying if1 said I was sorry that I missed any combat because I was I was not.
Interviewer: Are there any special stories or anything that sticks out in your mind that
you would like to share with us?
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 8
' -Vet: I mentioned one episode I mentioned haven been in in Ishigaki, the on that island I I
had to make a trip on horse back to some of the villages dip in in in interior the islands
where they mountainous there and I remember that we went across the stream, a little
stream that's some very small fish looking like cat fish climbed out, jumped out of the
water and climbed up into the bushes. I had heard of such a thing in in a when I took
biology at the University of Texas, but I never thought I would be see a tree climbing
fish. In addition to that, I was being the largest person in the in the.. .as we went along, I
was given the tallest horse and being the tallest person my head would stick up into
the.. .and I I was kept quite busy by taking all leaches that fell down on me. After that,
when I got to the village main village that we were going to the the natives were very
cordial and and they said that night when I got ready to go to bed, they had taken some
school desks and put them together to they all Americans sleep up they don't sleep on the
floor like we do, they sleep elevated, well it was rather rather rickety but I did very well
sleeping except I woke up with a case if diarrhea and so I said to my kiend Arikaki, who
was in the next ... mosquito bar near me that, Geri and so Banjo, which means I got the
diarrhea and I want to go to the can so he he he took me there and I told you he was very
accommodating and I would say he was because he fanned the mosquito's off my rear
while I was having the diarrhea. Another incident which I found to be at least humorous
was I was in had a lepricaon that I looked after on Okinawa as I said I as I said on the
island just a little bit north of the small island and I went up there one time and my
commanding officer is a medical is a colonel and he said should I take anything give to
give to the lepers? I said well like everybody else they like to smoke so get a couple
couple of.. .of cigarettes and so when we got up there they were all these lepers hanging
around and and the colonel got out his cigarette and he put a cigarette in the palm of each
each persons hand but then we then he noticed that he was going to run ou of cigarettes
because there was so many people and and so he would start giving putting the cigarette
only in those hands where that were what we call claw hands which is an advanced form
of neurological leprosy that tubercle type leprosy and the the fingers are sort of shaped
like a claw and and the tips of the finger are faced back towards the the palm. Well he he
was ... doing only to those people who to give the cigarettes when one of them when he
put the cigarette in his palm he figured he came in action as he grabbed the cigarette a
little more tightly and bowed and said Aregato Gizin Mishtay, which means, thank you
very much. That old colonel was a sport.
Of medical interest and especially since I later became a dermatologist, I had the
opportunity to see a a case of small pox which was already in the stages of healing but no
the less was fairly typical of small pox in as I later related this to my colleagues that I
have not found anyone among them who has ever seen a case of small pox.
I think it, we will close this question and answer period her by saying that I learned, my
voice is terrible but I learned a song which was made up by Japanese soldiers who had
been stationed in Okinawa prior to the time of the war. And they there they were so
happy there they were very reluctant to return to Japan and it goes like this (song in
Japanese).
Interviewer: Thank you Dr. Stevenson.
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 9
-Vet: You're certainly welcome (laughs) that'll break em up.
Interviewer: Dr. Stevenson requests that I read a letter of appreciation given to him by
the Miyako Provisional Government, Southern Ryukyu's.
December 5th 1947.
I in behalf of the 80,000 people of Miyako Retto wish to express our sincere gratitude
and appreciation to Capt. A. Stevenson who unselfishly and understandingly helped the
people of Miyako Rette. Capt. Stevenson is leaving the Southern Ryukyu's for the
United States with our greatest reverence.
Following his assignment to the Souther Ryukyu's in June 1947, Capt. Stevenson
conducted a thorough inspection of the sanitary conditions of the islands and established
lofty, and appropriate measures through which the people have greatly benefited.
For instance, take the case of malaria repression. Through Capt. Stevenson's
leadership, the inhabitants organized Malaria Prevention Organizations, launching island-wide
malaria control which has been of great success. Capt. Stevenson was frequently
seen wrestling with a sprayer in the paddies and ditches. He has mad all possible efforts
to procure great amounts of atabrine and DDT. Thanks to these valuable materials,
malaria, the great cause of distress to the people is now well under control to enable the
afflicted citizens to carry on their daily activities.
Further, Capt. Stevenson endeavored to procure large supplies of medicines and
medical apparatus. He has given aid to many patients who were in financial difficulties
by drastically cutting down the medical charges at the expense of the doctors. Thus he
aided in saving many lives. He has also strengthened the charity hospital by creating the
VD department within the hospital. Now everyone, rich or poor, can receive adequate
treatment without discrimination.
The above mentioned activities are not all what Capt. Stevenson has done for the
welfare of the people. He was the very first Army medical officer who has made it
possible for local doctors to visit their patients to outlying districts in an ambulance thus
enabling sick ones to receive adequate attention.
Not a few people were moved to tears when they saw Capt. Stevenson using the
stethoscope on isolated patients in the Nansei-en Leper Colony or visiting nameless
patients in the remote village of Bora who were severely burnt.
It is with good reasons that the sanitary conditions on Miyako have attained
remarkable renovation.
Despite his short tenure of office Capt. Stevenson became an idol of the grateful
people of Miyako, due to his sincere benevolence and noble character.
Distinguished feats accomplished by Capt. Stevenson are too numerous to be
mentioned. The above I is but a few instances of his merits which we shall always
remember with gratitude. To demonstrate that his efforts have not been futile, we will
continue the cooperation in the betterment of sanitation and welfare of the public with the
new Military Government Public Health Officer. Let me conclude my address of thanks
with our sincere wishes for his well being and happiness.
FOR THE GOVERNOR:
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 10
Tatsubin Yogi
Assistant-Governor,
Miyako Provisional Government
MS 315. Veterans History Project Stevenson - 11