Entrevistas

1. Family nursery business

2. Living through the Great Depression

3. Hearing about Pearl Harbor

4. Traveling to Manzanar

5. Jobs in Manzanar

6. The riot in Manzanar

7. Sugar beet and potato farming in Idaho

8. Sugar beet farming process

9. Being inducted into the army

10. Being called out of Reserves

11. Fort Snelling

12. Traveling from Manila to Tokyo

13. Serving in Tokyo

14. Visiting Hiroshima

15. After being discharged and returning to the nursery business

16. Meeting his wife, Eileen

Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

(n. 1921) Veterano nisei que sirvió en la ocupación de Japón

Being called out of Reserves

After George and I got to where we were working and we worked there, like I mentioned, Frank had come out with his family. He said, “If you don’t like where you’re working, there’s plenty of work in Chicago if you want to work there.” Being in the city, it seemed to be better. So we went to Chicago and worked there.

That was the middle of summer, and I think it was about October. They called me up and they called George. They had pulled us out of the Reserves. By that time, they had the 442 and they had the 100 Battalion pretty well organized. They could have been in Africa by 1944. Because the war ended in ’45.

We still hadn’t taken our basic training. Before I took my basic training, or when I was called up in Chicago, they said, “Do you have choice of where you want to serve in the army?” I said, “Yes, I’ll volunteer to be in Military Intelligence school.” And they said “Fine.”

George was inducted and he didn’t care where he went, so that’s why they send him down to Florida. And they took a basic training, and he was signed to go to replacement for 442. But by then, by then the war was over in Europe.

fuerzas armadas Chicago Illinois militares Estados Unidos Segunda Guerra Mundial

Fecha: February 6, 2015

Zona: California, US

Entrevista: John Esaki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Jimmy Ko Fukuhara nació el 21 de septiembre de 1921 en Los Ángeles, California, hijo de los inmigrantes japoneses Ume e Ichisuke Fukuhara. En 1927, el padre se mudó con la familia a Santa Mónica, California y se inició en el negocio de los viveros. Luego de graduarse de la Secundaria Santa Mónica, Jimmy trabajó en el vivero, hasta 1942, cuando su familia y él fueron enviados al Campo de Concentración de Manzanar.

Jimmy pudo dejar el campo antes, y se mudó a Pensilvania con su hermano menor George. En el trascurso de sesenta días, Jimmy fue reclutado por el ejército, y se hizo voluntario para servir en la Escuela de Inteligencia Militar. Tras recibir un entrenamiento básico, Jimmy fue enviado a Tokio, Japón. Allí trabajó para el Departamento de Trabajo en el cuartel general del General MacArthur. Antes de dejar el Japón visitó Hiroshima, con la esperanza de conectarse con los parientes de sus padres. Tras ser licenciado, Jimmy regresó a Santa Mónica y al negocio de viveros de la familia. Jimmy continuó su trabajo en el vivero con sus cuatro hermanos hasta que se jubiló en 1986. (Mayo de 2016)