BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Memories from World War II told by a man who didn't fight in Europe or the Pacific.
97-year-old Doyle Branscum saddled up to join United States troops and the United Nations to oust the Japanese from Southeast Asia at the end of the war.
Branscum was drafted into the army shortly after his 18th birthday in 1944. Born in Oklahoma, his parents moved to Bakersfield in 1942.
"I knew I was going right into the military, so I got a job at the old ice plant on Chester and 34th Street," recalled Branscum.
Branscum was sent to Fort Riley in Kansas as part of the 475th Infantry Regiment, 124th Cavalry. He had some experience with horses, or so he thought.
"The very first day you were made an example," explained Branscum. "'Branscum, you go mount.' I was a real cowboy. I just swung up there on the saddle."
Branscum boarded a ship for Calcutta, arriving in February 1945. He boarded a train for Burma to help oust the remaining Japanese forces in Asia.
"We were more reconnaissance, so I was handed a Thompson machine gun type," said Branscum.
Merrill's marauders led the fight for the US in that theater. Branscum joined the Mars Task Force, the only other American infantry combat unit on the mainland of Asia in World War II, using mules to transport their supplies.
"We weren't there very long, just long enough to get my combat badge and everything," he said.
Not long after, Branscum and his friend Briscoe were sent to China and assigned to a Chinese division. On August 6, 1945, two days before Japan surrendered, Branscum remembers walking into a town where a battle occurred.
Branscum said the dead were civilians that reportedly helped the Japanese.
"We came up and there was a pond. I don't know how many were in the pond. I couldn't stand to look to try and count," said Branscum.
When the war ended, his service continued. Branscum was sent to Peking, China as part of a "peace team," one of more than a dozen assembled.
He was put with an interpreter and officers from the Communist army, Nationalist army, and the US Army.
Their first stop was in outer Mongolia.
The group was "trying to make cease-fire between the Communists and the Nationalists," according to Branscum.
During his time in China, he spent more time in combat as a UN Peacekeeper than as a soldier with the US Army.
"Well, they were fighting between each other," explained Branscum. "I made three crossings from one to the other. The Colonel said he was going to give me a commendation for that. Then they notified me 'It's peace time. You don't get nothing [in] peace time'."
Branscum was part of the second Kern County Honor Flight to Washington in November 2012. His name can also be found on the World War II Memorial at Jastro Park in Downtown Bakersfield.
His one regret: never getting to ride his horse into battle. Although that's probably a good thing.
"We never trained with the saber," Branscum explained. "They said [that] too many horses got their ears clipped."
He's content with the crossed sabers on his cap, signifying his time in the cavalry fighting for peace in a time of war.
