<Begin Segment 24>

TI: So you make your way back to Washington, D.C., and we're now, oh, about 1954 to 1956, '57, it was that time period. And so in D.C., it is just to get more experience, more training?

MH: No, no, I was, become chief of this particular section of the unit I was with.

TI: And is this additional, more editing of classified information?

MH: Oh yes, oh yes. I had a small group of people working for me at that time.

TI: And so it's like you're moving up in the ranks, so the people working for you were kind of like you four or five years ago when you were first starting?

MH: Yes, that's right.

TI: So any memories of that, of that stint in D.C., '54 to '57, that you'd like to share?

MH: I worked very hard, and I did, I did meet a British military attache who taught me quite a bit about classical music, far more than I had known. He was intensely interested in classical music. And he was also a connoisseur of wine and food, but I didn't take up on the wine angle. [Laughs] I never really learned about wine. But that was a pleasant, pleasant interlude there.

TI: So was this a romantic relationship?

MH: Oh, not deeply romantic, no. But very friendly. Oh, the interesting thing about him was when he came to America, he decided he really wanted to know America, so he went all the way across the continent, driving all the way across continent and starting, stopping everywhere along the way. So he wanted to know America in depth. I was very impressed by that.

TI: Especially since you had done it a couple of times, you knew how long and far that was. [Laughs]

MH: Yes, yes. Well, that he would want to know the country instead of just serving there in Washington as a military attache. He wanted to know the country.

TI: No, I respect that. I think that's, that's a good way to get to know any place.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.