<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Okay, so after Tule Lake, then, then where did you go?

GH: I went back, and that's when, well, I realized when I left Tule Lake, that... I was devastated, actually, and at the same time I knew the challenge ahead of me. And when I returned to Fort Snelling -- that's where the graduates were stationed -- and when I heard they were asking for volunteers, I did volunteer.

TI: So I'm curious about this. So, so they asked for volunteers for a very dangerous mission, and they, I think they told you at that point that there was a good chance that you would not survive this mission.

GH: Yeah. I personally didn't hear it, but others heard that according to War Department estimates, they anticipated 85 percent casualty.

TI: Right, so, so only, yeah, 85 percent casualties, you had just come back from a pretty devastating experience seeing your family in Tule Lake. Why, why did you volunteer?

GH: Well, I knew I had to prove something.

TI: So was it sort of like you wanted to prove to people that, that Japanese Americans were, were loyal?

GH: Uh-huh. I didn't say it, but I personally...

TI: So tell me, I mean, so when they asked for volunteers, how many of, how many of the men volunteered?

GH: Actually, there was about two hundred volunteers, and they selected fourteen.

TI: Wow, so out of two hundred they selected fourteen. Why do you think they selected you?

GH: [Laughs] I don't know.

TI: You must, you must have some, some sense. Is it because of your, of your language abilities?

GH: I guess so.

TI: So describe the fourteen that you were, that were accepted, or who, who they took in, the fourteen volunteers, the key ones. I mean, generally were they strong in Japanese, or how would you describe the group?

GH: Let's see. Eddie Mitsukado, he was our team leader. He was very strong in English, I think he was a court reporter in Hawaii. As a matter of fact, there was seven from Hawaii, seven from the mainland. Let's see... Eddie Mitsukado, there was Russell Kono, also from Hawaii, he was a law student at University of Michigan, he volunteered. There was a Howard Furumoto who was attending Kansas State University, I think, who was majoring in veterinary. There was a person by the name of Herb Miyasaki, I can't recall his background. But he would, he would make a good speaker for Hawaii, he was quite a chamber of commerce type person.

TI: So I'm curious, how did the, the ones from Hawaii get along with the mainlanders? Was there friction between the two?

GH: There was, yeah.

TI: And what was that like?

GH: Well, it wasn't friction -- for one, we couldn't understand them. [Laughs] But we knew we were in the same boat and we had to get along. And so I think we did all right.

TI: So was it easier to speak in Japanese to them than English sometimes?

GH: And Hawaiian, for that matter. [Laughs]

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.