Gender

Male

Birth date

1919-1-1

Place of birth

Waialua, Oahu HI, U.S.A.

Inducted

, Schofield Barracks HI

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War,peacetime

Unit type

Support

Units served

Company F, Service Battalion Headquarters - 4/27/44 to 11/23/46; General Headquarters Pacific - 11/23/46 to 3/23/48

Military specialty

Interpreter 320 Military Intelligence Service

Stationed

U.S.A. - Schofield Barracks, HI; Fort McCellean, AL; Camp Savage, MN; Fort Snelling, MN; Fort Ruger, HI - Manila, Philippines; Tokyo, Japan

Separated

Fort Ruger HI

Unit responsibility

Assisted the non-English-speaking Japanese and Allied Forces.

Personal responsibility

To be most accurate on interpretations and interrogations in the field.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

In June 1945, 550 Niseis graduated from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Military Intelligence Service and were sent to the Philippines into the war zone. We were not sent into the combat zone.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Army of Occupation Medal GO 32 WD 46; World War II Medal; Amnerican Campaign Service Medal; Asiatic Pacific Service Medal

Living conditions

We went to a camp in Santa, Manila where we met Japanese prisoners working day and night in the hot sun. We worked day and night too. The General Headquarter was in the broken down city hall. We went into the Japanese POW compound to question them most of the time - to get information - not much. On August 15th, 1945 at 11:00 PM., World War II ended in Manila. Two days later, Hawaii Niseis and mainland Niseis were sent to the Marikina front line. There were three mainland Niseis, a Lt. and two Master Sargents with the 36 or 38 divisions. They were glad to see us and the task of gathering 10,000 Japanese POW's were given to us. We worked day and night to get the Japanese POW's through the front line and into the forward echelon and then to the rear echelons. The Japanese POW's coming through the Filipino Lines were shot and killed so we tried to get them through the American Line. The Japnese POW's came through the American Lines with light machine guns, rifles, swords and hand grenades. We stripped them and sent them to rear echelon and camps.

Most vivid memory of military experience

The Army took good care of us in the forward echelon by bringing up hot meals for two weeks and left plenty to eat. I slept with full uniform to keep the malaria mosquitoes away. My buddy, a Mainland Nisei got careless and caught malaria and was in the hospital when we all were shipped to Japan. A bucket of water was used for showers.

Missed most whilst in the military

What I missed the most was my family. The military took three brothers into the services and my family didn't need to have all sons in the services. I have five sisters and two brothers. Mother must have suffered. Father died 50 years ago.

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

The military duties of 51 years ago gave me plenty to live for. I almost got killed three times in the Philippines. Once I woke up in the morning in the forward echelon and saw three Japanese soldiers looking at me at 500 meters away washing my face in the steel helmet. We took them in as the only POW we caught. The other time was when I went with my friend Nisei to Manila USO to get ice creams and before we know what happened a band of Filipinos surrounded us to see if we were American soldiers. They wanted to buy my gold necklace and cross, I showed no fear and got away. The last time was when the war ended on August 15th, 1945 and our order to fly out from Clark Field was cancelled and back up outfits were sent in our place. They landed in Okinawa and 14 got off there the rest of the 36 Niseis were killed when the plane failed to clear the mountain. Today I have advanced prostate cancer and (fighting) to stay alive everyday.