Gender

Male

Birth date

1924-12-06

Place of birth

Brawley CA, USA

Inducted

1944-08-17, Camp Robinson AR

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War,peacetime

Unit type

Support

Units served

MISLS B-6 (Graduated Snelling, Dec. 1944) Military Intelligence Service, ATIS, GHQ, Tokyo

Military specialty

Military Intelligence Japanese Language

Stationed

USA: Ft. Snelling, MN; Camp Robinson, AR; Camp Beale, CA Other Countries: Philippines; Japan

Separated

Camp Beale CA

Unit responsibility

Obtain information, documents, from Japanese Army and Navy prisoners of war.

Personal responsibility

Interrogator, interpreter

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Asiatic Pacific Campaign World War II Victory Medal Philippine Liberation Medal Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation Badge Good Conduct Medal

Living conditions

Slept in tent. Bathed in the rain and portable shower. Ate K-rations and hot meal on base - missed eating rice. Played cards, baseball - saw USO shows - visited bars, entertainment by Filipino girls. Drew pictures of my buddies.

Most vivid memory of military experience

How difficult the Japanese Language was - after returning to the barrack from the class room, studying following dinner and continuing studying after lights out down in the latrine - taking a few hours of sleep, returning to class the next morning taking exams. This continued for 6 months. Because of the intense training, this helped us do our job when we were overseas.

Missed most whilst in the military

Mother's cooking - girl friend, family, civilian life

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

How precious life was and the comradeship you learn with your buddies and the love and closeness you have for your family and understanding of others. War is hell!!

Additional information

Like all the Nisei soldiers, I feel we proved our loyalty to this great country and be proud we are Americans even though the government had done injustice to all Japanese Americans during World War II. Residence: Los Angeles, CA