Interviews

1. Nickname

2. Kibei schoolchildren in Hiroshima, Japan

3. Feelings of loyalty to America while in Japan

4. Treatment of Kibei after return to United States

5. Keian employment agencies

6. Difficulties understanding different Japanese dialects

7. Mixed emotions after declaration of war on Japan

8. Finding work in the assembly center

9. Living conditions in the Santa Anita Assembly Center

10. Train ride to Jerome Relocation Center

11. Atmosphere in his Merrill’s Marauders unit when surrounded by Japanese soldiers

12. Finding his relative among Japanese prisoners

Roy H. Matsumoto

(b.1913) Kibei from California who served in the MIS with Merrill’s Marauders during WWII.

Keian employment agencies

Well, I didn't know what to do, but I didn't have the school, I thought I maybe end up in mechanic-, well, I took mechanical engineering, drawing so I could make a blueprint and things like that so I thought to search but nothing open there. And the next thing I knew, it would be I work in produce market, so I knew the produce. Then, well, I never worked in the store so I didn't know how it would work out, but looking for job in a place called keian in the Japanese, that means employment agency. Japanese go there and they looking for houseboy, or day work, or you have a special and then extra people job they wanted, you know, employment agency is Japanese, not only Los Angeles, but all over in the big cities, local keian because Isseis, they cannot find their own job so they have to go there on account of language difficulties.

employment agencies service industries

Date: December 17 & 18, 2003

Location: Washington, US

Interviewer: Alice Ito, Tom Ikeda

Contributed by: Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Hiroshi Roy Matsumoto was born on May 1, 1913 in Laguna, CA, a rural area on the outskirts of Los Angeles. His family was from the Hiroshima prefecture in Japan. As a young child, he went to Japan to live with his grandparents where he attended elementary and middle school.

Upon his return to the United States, he worked a variety of jobs, while also graduating from Long Beach Polytechnic High School. During World War II, he was sent to the Santa Anita Assembly Center. From there, he was sent to the Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas where he stayed for six months before volunteering for the Military Intelligence Service.

Mr. Matsumoto was in the first MIS class at Camp Savage. For his heroism as a member of Merrill's Marauders, he was later awarded the Legion of Merit and inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame. (December 18, 2003)