<Begin Segment 23>

MA: So how were you initially -- this, you're talking about the MIS.

GY: Yes.

MA: How were you recruited to be in the MIS?

GY: Well, because we were familiar with Japanese somewhat.

MA: Was there someone that came up to you, maybe heard you speak?

GY: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

MA: How did that work?

GY: They graded you, tested you in Japanese. You couldn't get into the military end of it to avoid European Theater of war, the 442. In other words, you had to be, your, not instinct, but you had to be a full soldier and know Japanese to be eligible for the linguistic school.

MA: And is that something you wanted to do versus go to the European Theater?

GY: Yeah, yeah. I think under the circumstances at that point, you could choose either way, European or Japanese, and I chose Japanese way. It would have been nice, I never got the chance, but, to go to Japan and look up my relatives. But never got the chance and war ended shortly thereafter, so, '45, and I was inducted in '44.

MA: And you stayed stateside during the war?

GY: Yes, yeah.

MA: And were you stationed at, was it Fort Snelling?

GY: Fort Snelling, and then we did our parades every Saturday. Every Saturday, like West Point, you had a parade. And finally, orders came, I was to get separated at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, then my order was changed to Presidio California, or Fort Ord, and then my orders were changed again to Fort Lewis for my separation papers. But anyway, we took a troop train to Presidio, the original language school. From there they went to Fort Snelling or Camp Savage, and then from Fort Snelling back to Presidio. And it is, as of now, it used to be all-around language. Now they teach Arabic because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one of my good friends, that fly fisherman, he owns a gun store, but he was also a master sergeant and he knew German. So Presidio recruited him and after the war ended, he was telling me all he did was look up homosexuals in the military. That was his job, because there was no need for linguists, German, at that time, so his job status changed.

MA: Why, why did he do that? Why did --

GY: Well, I guess it was a military order, that even to this day, the military will not admit if you are an avowed homosexual, you couldn't get into the military. But those that got in, and I guess there are a bunch of 'em that got in, don't... what is that word?

MA: "Don't ask, don't tell"?

GY: Yeah, "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, and under those circumstances, this hakujin, this Caucasian master sergeant was telling me his job status changed. Instead of his German being in use in Europe, European Theater, they, he ferreted out homosexuals. I don't know how long it took and what happened, but that was one of his job descriptions.

MA: So your specific duties during the war when you were working at Fort Snelling...

GY: Just a clerk.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.