<Begin Segment 7>

PM: So could you, could you describe, as a young kid, what it was like when Pearl Harbor was being attacked?

LK: Well, you know when... we used to haul lumber to another island. So when we was waiting for the lumber, that's when the Japanese plane came right, right over us, now, right over us. I mean so close, so close. And then started torpedoing the... yeah, there was a hospital ship. They even hit the hospital ship, now. Amazing, huh? I don't know how they do that. I thought the Geneva Conference, just like medics and stuff. Not supposed to shoot the medics, but the Germans was doing that.

PM: So how long did the, what were you doing during the attack? Were you just watching or were you taking cover?

LK: Yeah, we just was just watching, that's all. Can't do nothing. Then they started kicking us out. All the Japanese are all, kick out from Pearl Harbor. But when I got to the gate, the boss came and picked me up, he said, "You're not going home." You know, the rest of them, you know, the [inaudible], I didn't have to do that. I went back to the, what do you call, company, and they, the boss said, "You know, you got job to do." I said, "Why?" Said, "You don't want me." Said, "No, I want you, you're working overtime." [Laughs] I said, "What?" He said, "You have to go pick up the dead bodies." I said, "Oh, no," I said. And you know, actually, we have to pick it in the water now. The article was on the boat, but we never go in the boat now, we always pick in the -- and you know all the bodies all was burning in that hot oil. It was all burned from oil now, hot oil. And so that's when I started getting sick, you know. I mean, those cooked bodies.

PM: Cooked, cooked bodies, or burned bodies.

LK: Yeah, all burned, you know. Whatever, I don't know what you call it. Anyway, it's all burned, burned from the hot oil.

PM: How did you, how did you pick up the bodies?

LK: I just picked 'em in the water...

PM: Just grabbed 'em and picked 'em up?

LK: Yup. Arm here, head here, whatever. Put 'em in a box.

PM: Put 'em in coffins?

LK: Yeah, I have to nail that up, too. That's why the lumber that we was hauling, we made 'em into a coffin. All the wood we was -- so we was lucky because we had the wood right there to make a coffin.

PM: So you were the only Japanese American on the base at the time?

LK: Yeah.

PM: Only Japanese on the --

LK: Yeah, I'm the only Japanese, yeah.

PM: Do you know why they picked you to stay and pick up the bodies?

LK: I don't know. That's a good question. All the rest of them are all taken out from the, what do you call it, area, you know?

PM: And how long did you do that? How many, how many days did you pick up the bodies?

LK: Well, not, just one night and things. Yeah, because we, we did pretty good job about it.

PM: And what, where did they put all the coffins? What did you do with all the coffins?

LK: Coffin? Yeah, we... actually, it's about six by two, anyway, it's not a big coffin. Well, yeah, I guess some were big, there were, some of them were big, yeah, so we had to make a regular big coffin, yeah. That's right. Some of them were tall.

PM: And did you bury them? Did you bury the coffins?

LK: Yeah, that's when I, what do you call... yeah, the crane took the coffins to the ditch that the tractor dug, you know. So we both, the crane and the tractor went to what they called a red hill. It's all red dirt, nothing but red dirt now. Ever seen red dirt? Anyway, that's what... so they called it red -- and you know, that's where the ammunition dump, they called it. All the ammunition was hidden in the hill, you know. That's like Diamond Head. Diamond Head is, that's where they hide all the ammunition, you know, Diamond Head. Anyway, so...

PM: So after, after you picked up the bodies, you said you got sick.

LK: Yeah, we, we did a pretty good job, so they sent us home. I didn't have to come back.

PM: But you, you were sick. You were sick from the, all the oil?

LK: Yeah, I didn't like the cooked bodies, you know. Just like war, too, when especially the tankers, you know, that army tanks? Soldiers die in the, they're cooking in their tank, you know. I don't know if you know anything about that, but that's what's terrible. I mean people are, soldiers are cooked in the tank. Just like the navy was cooked in the water, you know.

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