<Begin Segment 10>

TI: So by the time you joined them, this concept of a segregated unit of Japanese Americans had, it sounds like it had kind of like dissipated a little bit?

TO: Little bit.

TI: That they were, you were being trained with, primarily, I'm guessing, Caucasians?

TO: Right, all Caucasians. I don't think there was any Nisei, or I don't... for some reason, there were very few African Americans or other people of color. I was the only one that I could remember around the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

TI: Now, so was there ever any confusion? Because the war was still going on with Japan, and here you're of Japanese ancestry. Any comments about that, or did you have to explain anything?

TO: Nothing. Well, yeah, I told 'em about this camp, you know. They just shrugged and they, the ones I told, they just, a guy I specifically remember, he was interested but he just shrugged and said, "Well, that's too bad," and that was about it. But there wasn't any racism or anything that I recall. I think by then the army, the 442 had made such a name for themselves that it was pretty much better on the whole. So whenever, whatever happened, you know, like we'd have Saturday morning inspections, and this lieutenant that was doing the inspection, we'd have to stand out there at attention and he'd look over at us and see if our hair was cut properly and our shoes were shined and all that, all that good stuff. He picked me out and says, "Private Okamoto, you look very good today." And I said, "Thank you, sir." But I don't know why he picked me, I don't think I was any better dressed. But I think they were just, somehow, he got the feeling that we were very special soldiers.

TI: And so you think that the Caucasian soldiers had heard about the 442 also?

TO: I suspect they did. I suspect they did. But I think this officer might have been a West Point grad or something, and maybe they got the word that way. I really don't know. But it was interesting that he picked me out among all the other guys that were standing out there at attention and all that stuff. And I don't know why he did that. I felt pretty good about it. I didn't see where I was any, particularly, better dressed or anything else than the rest of the guys.

TI: And so this was just a feeling you had? You never had anyone mention explicitly the 442 did this?

TO: No, none whatsoever.

TI: But you felt that you were treated really well.

TO: Yeah.

TI: So after this training with the heavy equipment, the ducks and trucks, then what happened?

TO: Well, we were waiting for a shipment. One incident that I recall that while we were waiting for our shipping orders, we had to do some... I was assigned to an MP, to MP duty. And I was assigned to this one sergeant that went to go with him to, outside of the camp and pick up these guys that were in the slammer because they got drunk or something. So anyway, we went to somewhere in Delaware, I don't remember the name of the town that, gee, I thought, boy, these guys really have it made. Because any restaurant we go, we'd have free dinner or free lunch or anything, just like, I guess... yeah, they felt that if they treated these MP sergeants good, well, if they have any trouble, they'd be taken care of. But anyway, that night we, had to bring a guy home from prison, we got him out of the local jail and take him back to camp. And he said, "You sit in the backseat and I'll give you this billy club. And if he gets out of line, well, whack him." This is a big guy, you know. And you know, jeep backseats are little, just enough for two guys. I was scared all the way back. [Laughs] The guy was so much bigger than me, that he could have taken that thing away and whatever. But we made it back, he behaved okay. He was kind of belligerent at first, so I was scared all the way, all the way back. [Laughs]

TI: That's a good story.

TO: Yeah.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.