<Begin Segment 50>

TI: So Bruce Rogers the recruiter comes to Tule Lake and talks to you about the OSS. What was your reaction when Bruce asked you to join them?

HH: Well, when Bruce gave me some information about what kind of work we'll be doing, it involved intelligence and it'd be mostly Japanese-language, because of the personnel that they had. But not too much about what kind of work I'll be doing, but this was only going to be, at the time I thought it was only going to be in the Washington, D.C. area, so not in the army or anything like that. And so I think that that's... but I did mention that if I go to Washington, D.C., my draft board... see, while you were in relocation camp, we were all classified 4-C, which is like an alien classification. But if we left, like after a while, all the people in these relocation camps, especially younger people, they wanted to go to college or school and everything, or find employment. If they could find employment outside of the western area, western states, California, Oregon and Washington, that they could leave. But then if you left, then you were subject to a draft, the men. And so I did raise the question to him, "What happens in case I get drafted?" He said, "Oh, you know, you have a daughter, and you're not one of the younger." But he said, "No, there would be no problem about that because you're working for the War Department and you'd get a deferment," because I'm working for OSS. But he says, "Just in case you did get drafted," he says, "well, we can get you commissioned as an officer." Well, I thought that's pretty good.

TI: So these were all --

HH: But it was never written down.

TI: Yeah, so these were just verbal promises that he gave you to get you to essentially agree to join the OSS as a civilian.

HH: Yes.

TI: Thinking that, well, if you joined, that one, you probably won't be drafted because you have a daughter, and furthermore, if you are, we'll commission you as an officer, which would be better than just coming in as a private.

HH: Yes. But at that same time when I told him I was already 1-A, even in Tule Lake. But with a 4-C classification, I was worried about that if I left the camp area.

TI: Well, besides just the draft issue of doing this, what did you think about the job? I mean, was this something that you wanted to do?

HH: Well, it involved language and all that kind of thing, so he did tell me it was going to be mostly done, because of the personnel, we're going to be dealing with maybe leaflets or things like that.

TI: Now, did you talk with anyone else about the job offer, and did you ask anyone else in terms of their opinions on whether or not you should do this or not?

HH: No. The only one, I think I probably told the editor of the paper that I'm going to be leaving maybe for Minidoka, that I've been summoned by the OSS. Because they knew that I did go meet somebody.

<End Segment 50> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.