Densho Digital Archive - George Yamada Interview (denshovh-ygeorge

<Begin Segment 34>

MA: So I wanted to ask you about your experience in the ROTC program. You said you were a student at Washington State, and you entered the ROTC.

GY: Well, 1943, after high school and all, we were classified 1-A. And shortly thereafter, they changed our classification to 4-C, and 4-C was "enemy alien," which none of us appreciated. Anyway, because of that, we, I went to Washington State and before I got inducted, a little bit later in '44, May of '44, I was at Washington State in the ROTC program. And we were in it for at least thirty days, maybe a little more. And we wore ROTC uniforms the whole, whole bit, regular with a blue lapel. And one day at the formation, early in the morning, we were asked to go into the third platoon, and all of us went to the third platoon, and there was, oh, maybe a dozen, maybe a dozen and a half Niseis, and from thence, the next day, we were asked to turn in our uniforms, we were all thrown out of the ROTC program because we were Japanese. So...

MA: How did you, I mean, react to that?

GY: Oh, well, at that point, we were, you know, to be distrusted, that really hurt. They, we were proud Americans, proud Japanese, but to be distrusted by the federal government, that really, that hurt, anyway.

MA: How did that impact your feelings about later actually serving in the military?

GY: Oh, there was no problem there. It hurt us, yeah, to be classified as "enemy aliens," but you know, when you graduate from basic training and you're marching in formation for the review before the generals and higher officers, the entire formation is out there on the field. And then you see the American flag flying, there's not a better feeling to seeing that colors, the American flag.

MA: Did that experience happen to many of the Niseis that you knew?

GY: I'm sure it did. I'm not sure about the Kibeis or even some of the Niseis. However, when we first got to Fort, Camp Savage and Fort Snelling, we were told that, "You took the easy way out -- if you, we thought that you took the easy way out. Instead of going to the 442nd, your services are needed in the Pacific Theater, but for those that fail the project purposely, we would ship you into the labor battalion." And nobody wanted to go into the labor battalion because, well, the labor battalion was made up by, apparently at that time, of a lot of soldiers that you didn't want to be associated with, at least I didn't think so anyway. I'm not sure what kind of people they were, but they would be the scum, so to speak. But they seemed to imply that you don't serve properly or voluntarily, you will be shipped to the labor battalion. And I think there was, there was an area where the Nisei soldiers were put into and kept there until the end of the war. Not, not a lot, but those that I think the intelligence community thought that it just didn't fit in with their war plans for Nisei in combat roles. So they spoke Japanese real well, but they were all, you know, took care of the grounds. Swept the grounds, kept the grounds clean. There were some few Niseis or Kibeis or whatever that were in that area. The reason I could think like that is I was there for two years. I could see the goings-on, even with my low rank and all, I could see. You didn't have to hit me with a rock or bat to tell me the, what was going on at that time.

MA: What did you have to do to be put in this labor battalion?

GY: Oh, I don't know. It depended on the psychologist or psychiatrist, particularly the psychologist overseeing the situation. They, they didn't question you individually, but they looked at your action and your grades during the time that they were at the MISLS, Military Intelligence Service Language School.

MA: Are you still, do you keep in touch with other veterans, other Nisei veterans?

GY: Yeah, there was one in Michigan, he graduated from University of Chicago in physical chemistry, I believe. He lives over there, formerly from Colorado, and another friend that lives in Sun City, formerly from Fresno. And I write to them periodically.

MA: Are there any veterans' groups in Spokane that you participate in?

GY: No. I don't think, other than playing golf, maybe, I don't believe, unless they belong to the VFW or the American Legion. I belong to American Legion, but I haven't been to a meeting in I don't know how long.