<Begin Segment 18>

TI: Okay, so you mentioned, after you graduated from Camp Savage, you got a leave to go visit your parents. And why don't you tell me about that.

GH: Well, when I arrived, I mean, I was taken aback to see rows and rows of barracks, tarpaper barracks, behind barbed wire. And when I looked up, I saw a soldier wearing the same uniform as mine, with a machine gun facing inward, and that was devastating. And I walked in and another soldier guided me halfway to the barracks where my parents were billeted. And when I met them, I mean, we greeted each other with a smile, but actually, we were crying inside. It was very difficult to see my parents and siblings denied of their livelihood, placed behind barbed wire, for no other reason than their ethnicity.

TI: So when you're walking through, when you're going though the gates, initially being guarded by another American soldier, what were some of your feelings? Was it resentment, was it confusion?

GH: It was very confusing. Here I'm in uniform, the person who took the oath to fight for liberty and justice for all, and here you find your, especially your siblings behind barbed wire.

TI: What was the reaction of your siblings and other, the people in camp when you got there?

GH: Yeah, well, they were glad to see me and they were just making the best of the situation.

TI: Was it fairly common for Japanese Americans, soldiers, to come back to the camp?

GH: I don't know.

TI: Now, at this point, how much could you tell people what you were doing? Was it a secret that you were doing Japanese training, or what, what was it like in terms of the security clearance in terms of what you could say you were doing, or not say?

GH: Well, actually, we were told that MIS service was classified and that we were to act accordingly.

TI: So when people asked you what it was like, what would you tell them at this point? What could you tell them?

GH: Oh, now?

TI: No, I mean, back, back in 1941, when you went back to Tule Lake and people said, "So, Grant, what's the army like?" What would you tell them?

GH: Well, I just tell 'em that I did go to Military Intelligence school, and I think they had sense enough not to ask.

TI: Okay, so you could tell 'em that you were in the Military Intelligence School, but you couldn't tell 'em anything more? And at this point, after you graduated, did you know what type of things you would be doing?

GH: No, I didn't. Of course, we got some ideas, we were getting some documents from the front line, so we did know that they were out in the battlefield, and I think there were some people in Alaska, too, Attu.

TI: So the previous classes were out there, you had a sense that they were doing things. Did your, do you recall any conversations with your mother or father during, when you were at Tule Lake? Things that they said to you or anything like that?

GH: I can't, I can't recall.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.