<Begin Segment 8>

MA: So, you were drafted and then, where did you go after you were drafted? What...

GF: I went to, I come to Denver. That's where they drafted us, or went in here. And then from there we went to training in Camp Robinson, Arkansas. And after our basic in Camp Robinson, we went to Fort Riley, Kansas.

MA: So I wanted to talk first about Camp Robinson and... how many other Niseis were there at Camp Robinson with you?

GF: I'm not sure. You know the camp is so large there. But I recall that there was a, I think, five of us Niseis from between Denver and where we lived that went in the service at that, at that time. So, whether they went to the same camp that I went to or not, we don't know. They scattered us all out. But I was in Camp Robinson.

MA: Were you treated any differently than the white soldiers in Camp Robinson?

GF: No ma'am.

MA: So what was, what was basic training like in Camp Robinson? What, what did you do every day, and...

GF: Oh, we go out with a pack on our backs and go out with our guns and go to the bushes and, and forest and run around like in, in a war, things like that, crossing a river. It's just, it's just military training. That's what it's called.

MA: Did you ever go into the town in Arkansas, where camp Robinson was? Or did you basically stay on...

GF: No, I guess I went to the town. I'm not very sure that we went to a town in Camp Robinson. But we did have after we got to, to Kansas. Because we was through with our training, and we had the weekend off that we could go to town. So we, we did go to town.

MA: So how long, then, were you, were you in Camp Robinson?

GF: Oh, I think Camp Robinson, probably the training didn't last over two months of training.

MA: And then you were saying after that you went to Fort Riley, Kansas.

GF: Fort Riley. Yeah.

MA: How, how was your experience there in Fort Riley?

GF: Well, it wasn't too bad. The only thing, whenever we went to, to the Fort Riley there, I went to canteen which is, was a post exchange. And I guess maybe that's when I kind of felt a little bit of discrimination because I went to a bar, a soda fountain, and waitin' to get waited on, but the ladies that was there, they wouldn't wait on me. But later on I seen her doin' this. [Nods head to side] "What's the matter? And, so finally stared at her and she's still doin' that. So after I got moved over, that's when I really found out there was black and white discrimination. I didn't know that in Colorado. So she said, "Well, we can't serve you here." Says, "You're, you're not black. That's only for black people. You're not black. You don't belong here." So, I mean, it wasn't against me. It was against somebody else that she wasn't gonna serve me there because that was for the black people.

MA: So they kind of lumped you in with the white folks?

GF: Yeah, we were.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.