<Begin Segment 49>

TI: Let's go back to Tule Lake. So at this point, it's become a segregation camp, and you were "yes-yes," and so you were, you had the option of leaving Tule Lake. And so what were you thinking? Did you want to leave Tule Lake, or did you want to stay there?

HH: Well, this goes back to my being recruited by the Office of Strategic Services, OSS.

TI: Okay, so yeah, let's talk about this.

HH: After the loyalty questionnaire, then I knew that I would have to leave, I can leave Tule Lake, but when I got summoned by the project that I should meet somebody, they wanted me to meet somebody. And I didn't know who it was or anything because I didn't request it or anything like that. And I found out that this was Bruce Rogers, I think it was Bruce Rogers, that came all the way from Washington, D.C. from the OSS, and he wanted me to volunteer to work for the OSS.

TI: Now at this point, did you know what the OSS was?

HH: No, I did not know. All I knew was that it was the OSS, Office of Strategic Services, which was organized by President Roosevelt.

TI: So did Bruce Rogers explain to you what the OSS was?

HH: Yes, he outlined what the, this is a new organization for central intelligence, combining all the intelligence like FBI and the CIA and all this. The CIA was after, but they had more of a central intelligence patterned after the British kind of organization.

TI: So this was an intelligence organization, some have told me like the precursor to the CIA, that this was kind of the beginnings of the CIA. And so you had this recruiter, Bruce Rogers coming from Washington, D.C. to talk to you. Did he try to recruit other people from Tule Lake?

HH: No, he came just for me.

TI: So he came all the way from Washington, D.C. just for you. Why you? What was the connection? How did he come all the way knowing that you're the one that he wanted?

HH: Well, this is kind of a mystery to me, too, because I couldn't figure out how come he found me in Tule Lake. But apparently this goes back to my decision to change my major at the University of Washington in 1938, that getting into political science and such, and I was taking more Japanese language and Far Eastern studies division of political science. And at the same time, another theory I have is that every year, the Japan Society organization...

TI: Right, we talked about it yesterday, where you had that dinner when you talked about sitting next to Collins, Colonel Collins.

HH: Yes.

TI: So you told that story already, so it was this connection that we'll find out a little bit later, that Colonel Collins worked in the OSS.

HH: Yes, I had to report to him after -- I went as a, this was a civilian organization, but the personnel were all former lawyers because President Roosevelt appointed "Wild Bill" Donovan, I think he was a retired general. Anyway, he had him head up the organization. So even though it was a civilian organization organized by the Department of War, whatever it is...

TI: Department of War?

HH: Yes, it was because of the officers and such, but the organization itself was civilian.

TI: But what you think, though, is although you're not sure, you think it was Collins who was at that Japan Society dinner who knew that you graduated in political science, Far Eastern studies, studied Japanese, and who later on joined the OSS. It was probably that connection that he probably said, "Go talk to this man," and they found you at Tule Lake.

HH: That's what I believe, but I never -- I met Mr. Collins later in something else I had to do with him. But we never did discuss my meeting him, as I had to report to him by myself to say that I'm So-and-so, and I'm reporting to you for assignment. After I got drafted when I went to Washington, D.C.

<End Segment 49> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.