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Teaching at the military language school during World War II

My Japanese was quite good in terms of writing and so forth. One of the interesting assignments I got when I was teaching at Fort Snelling was I taught some, in this Japanese language school, I taught some English. The army had drafted Kibei who knew more Japanese than English and they were a valuable resource because we lacked mainly people who could read Japanese. But then these people's English was limited, so they had a difficult time in translating. So here I am, teaching English grammar -- [laughs] -- in this language school. It was quite an experience. And, of course, I only taught the elementary Japanese.

But then I got selected to go to Officer Candidate School. There was, when I look back, segregation in the army, because the 442nd was segregated. The 100th infantry battalion preceding the 442nd was made up of draftees of Japanese descent before Pearl Harbor.

And the language school, although we had a mixed group, there was Mr. Boggs, a haole man in our class and there were some Koreans and others, but they also had at Camp Savage, special classes for Caucasian soldiers. And these were very bright language specialists. Lot of 'em had PhDs in French or Spanish or German and a good pedigree. You know, Yale, Harvard, University of Michigan, and they had a program which was quite different from ours, but once a week in the afternoon, since they wanted the haole soldiers to hear Japanese, they had some of us meet with them, one-to-one. And we had to speak Japanese to them.


100th Infantry Battalion 442nd Regimental Combat Team armed forces education languages military United States Army World War II

Date: March 19, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Mitchell Maki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Dr. Richard Hiromichi Kosaki (born September 14, 1924) was raised, educated, and has lived most of his life in Honolulu, Hawai`i. During World War II he served in the Military Intelligence Service, first as an instructor, then for several years in Japan as an interpreter during the Occupation. He graduated from the University of Hawai`i in 1948, then received his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Returning to the University of Hawai`i to teach political science, he embarked on a distinguished career there that included positions as Vice President for Community Colleges, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Chancellor of the West Oahu College, Acting Chancellor for the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, and President of Tokai International University in Honolulu. Along the way, he helped found the East-West Center, and was the architect of the University of Hawai`i’s community college system. His favorite maxim is the cornerstone of his educational philosophy: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Dr. Kosaki is married to Mildred (Doi) Kosaki. Their son Randall was born in 1962. (March 19, 2004)

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