<Begin Segment 35>

AI: So, in the first month or so that you were there, this is still winter because it's January --

AO: Yes.

AI: February.

AO: It was cold. And, but we survived it. Fortunately I was able to work at the military hospital.

AI: Well, before that you had applied for a different job, didn't you?

AO: Yes, the first job I applied for was at the 5th Air Force Base. And I worked there for a couple of days and I was called in and was told that they couldn't use me anymore, and I didn't know why, because all my records follow me. And then I applied for interpreter work at the military hospital in Fukuoka. And there they didn't, they didn't care. And so the labor office sent me to utilities office. And the sergeant in the utilities office looked up and saw me and I told him that my name was Arthur Ogami and I was sent here to work, to report. And he looked at me and jumped up. And there was already an interpreter in the office so he says, "Dr. Shuin, could you stand up, please?" So he stood up, moved his desk way in the corner, and then he moved another desk in another position. He says, "Art, you sit here." Dr. Shuin says, "Where shall I sit?" And they put him way in the corner out of the way, poor thing. And he was very elderly and he had knowledge to speak English but it was the Japanese English so they had a little difficulty understanding, and he had difficulty translation, interpret. And so eventually he was sent back to labor office to be sent to another place. And Sergeant Teage, I remember his name. And he's from Colorado. Then I was introduced to Lieutenant Kitchen and he was from Colorado also, Loveland, that's where he lived. He was born and raised there. And he wanted to go to school of veterinary medicine, and that was his wishes, but Lieutenant Kitchen and the sergeant were, worked real well together and so any orders that were needed to be given to the utilities section, I interpreted for them, translated for them. And they had, they had charge of plumbing department, electric, carpentry, painting and whatever had to do with construction and repairs. So I had a good time. I learned quite a bit about how to maintain and repair different minor repairs of the hospital. And he also had responsibility of the contractors coming to do contract work and I had to do interpreting to them.

AI: So, excuse me, just, I want to make sure I understand this right. This was a U.S. military hospital --

AO: Yes.

AI: And the utilities section employed Japanese civilians to do --

AO: Yes.

AI: -- some of this work and also some of the contracting, also, to Japanese --

AO: To the Japanese contractors.

AI: -- laborers, or, right, contractors.

AO: That's correct.

AI: And so, so you were the one who was translating and bridging the communication back and forth between the sergeant and all these workers?

AO: Yes, I was the liaison. And so that the contractor or the employees knew what they were supposed to do. And so each department had an enlisted man in charge, generally they were sergeants. And it was a good job and my responsibility was very high so I treated them, I was equally with the employee and with the, with the military.

AI: So that's interesting, you were really in the middle --

AO: Yes.

AI: -- then between the American military and the Japanese civilians?

AO: Yes.

AI: And you, yourself were technically, were not a U.S. citizen anymore but it sounds like that didn't make any difference to your boss or to the other personnel.

AO: No. He liked me so much that being a renouncee didn't matter to him. Being labeled disloyal didn't matter, and also the commanding officer knew this because they were informed what my character was. And I remember the first officer that I worked, commanding officer was Colonel Woolgard and he was sort of an old grouch. No one liked him. But from GHQ, from Tokyo would come colonels who come and make an inspection. And so one time in the boiler room, Colonel Woolgard was there and the inspector from GHQ was asking Colonel Woolgard -- it was kind of messy in the boiler room. And I just stood back and so I was listening to the inspector and I was taking notes down. And Colonel Woolgard was listening to the inspectors. And after they finished, then I stepped in and I said, "Okay, I will take care of this," so Colonel Woolgard, stand back. So I took all the information from the inspector. And then when they left I went back to the utilities office and assigned necessary personnel to take care of the problem. And from then on, whenever the inspectors come down, I went with 'em. So I took a lot of responsibility away from the commanding officer. And he was happy and the utilities officer was happy because he didn't have to spend all of his time.

<End Segment 35> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.