Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Hideo Hoshide Interview II
Narrator: Hideo Hoshide
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: February 1 & 2, 2006
Densho ID: denshovh-hhideo-02-0007

<Begin Segment 7>

TI: So talk about that training. When you say "further training," what was that training?

HH: Well, while we were at Collingwood in Maryland, we did go through individual sessions about if you were captured or something like that, you know, like prisoner of war. Says you'll be in your uniform, not like a spy. And I'm the only one that was already in the service, but at that time, when I first got there, I was a civilian. And also, all our pay was in cash. And I couldn't believe it, getting, receiving twenty dollar bills. In those days, especially after being in relocation camps, I was only getting nineteen dollars. But here, this was equivalent of a pay scale, and so I know, I can't remember now how much I was getting, but I was getting paid in twenty dollar bills.

TI: So, that's interesting. So some of the training that you received was, in the case that you were captured, and because you were, at that time you were a civilian and the others were civilians, that you were, essentially would be captured as spies.

HH: Well, this was what I thought, because the OSS was already operating in Europe, in Italy, and we had operatives to help in Italy, Italians. And so they would be working behind the lines.

TI: So the OSS in Europe, they were working behind the lines as spies, and so the, I guess the logical thinking would be that you were also being trained to be spies overseas in Japan.

HH: Well, this is why, but I didn't know that we would be going overseas, but I just presumed that. And then I had to take a basic training in Virginia, Fort Belvoir, myself, because I was in the service. And so I took the training there, away from the group. And there, that was my basic training, just a very brief, not like their regular, in the army, like rifle and everything else. But I did take a rifle and the pistol and all this, just like basic training. But it was just very, very basic type, not into stripping your M-1 rifle and had to know all the parts and everything else, so it was very... but we did participate in throwing grenades and things like that, and I was very afraid of throwing, because I had never fired a rifle or thrown a grenade. It was the first experience for me.

TI: Okay, so you took this basic training, and more for infantry. But going back to Collingwood, what other kind of training or classes did you do?

HH: Well, as I mentioned, they did train, give us a session on if, just like being grilled in a dark room, just a spotlight on you like you're a prisoner, and they'll be grilling you on different things. And in the military, all you're supposed to say is just your rank and your service number, all that kind of stuff, and you don't have to say anything else. And so we were trained, I used to say that for myself, it was like a prisoner of war type. But everybody went through that.

TI: Okay, so besides sort of, it sounds like sort of being interrogated, that was one kind of session, what other kind of training did you receive?

HH: Well, other training was just like video, like we would be checked to see if we were able to broadcast in Japanese, authentic Japanese speaking, or just maybe as, possibly going behind the line. But I didn't know at the time that we were even going overseas.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.