Densho Digital Archive - George Morihiro Interview (denshovh-mgeorge

<Begin Segment 48>

MA: I'm curious if there was any discussion among your family or your friends about what happened to the Japanese Americans during the war, things like that? If people talked about it a lot?

GM: Well, not really. The people weren't interested in what we did. We didn't publicize like they do today, and we did talk about it, because we had these reunions and we get together, and we'd talk among ourselves. And that, that was quite interesting, because a lot of stories there that we talked about. And it was sort of like today, the MIS people, they went over there and came back and they couldn't talk about it, and then today they don't talk about it because the interest isn't there as much as the 442nd, which was a lot closer unit as far as camaraderie and everything.

MA: So most of your discussions about the war years were with your 442nd friends?

GM: Yeah, it's stories about what happened and they're talking about So-and-so, he, he went and did something, and the stories there.

MA: What about with your family? Did you ever discuss your time in Puyallup or Minidoka again with your family members?

GM: My son never did like to hear it, first of all. My wife never listened to my war stories, she said, "There he goes again, talking about the war," you know.

MA: What about with, like, your sisters or your, your dad?

GM: No. Nobody was interested in it. And even, even when we went to reunions, my wife never did like to go to reunions because she said, "You know, the wives sit around and while they, all the guys are just talking about the war, and doesn't include the wife." And then we come home after the reunion and say we had a good time, and wife just, "Hell, we sit around and did nothing." That's how dull it could be. So for a long time, it took 'em, they had to get to know the wives, and then they start being more friendly, the wives will talk among themselves, you know.

MA: So it wasn't like an immediate, like, there wasn't a lot of discussion initially about what happened during the war years, but it seems like it went more gradually?

GM: Well, I still talk about the war. There's enough war stories that when you meet somebody at a reunion, and it always reverts, the conversation reverts to, "Oh, yeah, weren't you with So-and-so when he got killed?" or something like that. And then the stories start developing, and we try to connect each other about events. And the more you talk about, then the different stories keep coming up.

MA: Why do you think the 442nd was such a close-knit group?

GM: Well, the reason that you're close-knit is because, first of all, we're all Japanese, and it sort of seemed like, the old term, saying, 'birds of a feather stick together,' well, we kind of protected each other, but there was a, this thing that we never lost the battle, we never retreated, never left a dead man or a wounded man behind. Now, because of this, everybody was helping each other, and they'll risk their life for somebody else. And, and the closeness got so close among ourselves, you know, that it wasn't a case of getting too friendly with somebody, 'cause you didn't want to get too friendly with... I didn't, anyway, with anybody, because if they get killed someday, it'd be too hard on you. Because there's going to be somebody getting killed all the time during that type of fighting. So if somebody gets killed, you got to look at it as if somebody got killed, rather than, "Oh, my best friend got killed," and cry about it for years. But the closeness was... it's hard to explain. It's a camaraderie that, that... it's not the same closeness as having a friend here, today. But because we're all doing the same thing, I think it made it closer.