<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Well, you mentioned you were here not too long, maybe a year and a half or so. So why did you leave the Boulder school?

KY: It so happened that this was a Navy contract with the University of, they called it Colorado University. Anyway, at this school, it's a Navy program, and they had asked for, they said, "Hey, we have an opportunity for some bachelor teachers to go to New York City to go to Columbia for a special naval intelligence translation project. We're looking for bachelors because bachelors are a lot easier to move than family units with all their baggage and more people, need bachelors." "Oh, I'm a bachelor." Here was a chance to go to the Big Apple, so I raised my hand, and two other volunteers were bachelors and willing to go to New York City and get into a special intelligence project of the Navy at Columbia. "Hey, I'll go." So, "Okay, you're one of 'em." So here I was, had a chance to go to the Big Apple and be associated with Columbia University and the atmosphere and all of that, that was a famous university. So I said, yeah, chance to go to East Coast, not only that, go to Columbia and get into that program there. So I volunteered and went. And that was for about three months in the summer. Must have been '44, I guess.

TI: And who were the students at this Columbia?

KY: This was not a student, teaching thing, it was a special intelligence translation program.

TI: Oh, so you were the actual translator.

KY: Yeah, yeah. We were translator because of our language capability, and they said, "Hey, you bachelors will do fine." [Laughs] I'm sure there were better qualified linguist types, but with our background and they looked at our background, I'm sure, and said, "Hey, you guys will do."

TI: And what kind of translation were you doing?

KY: A special Naval project, intelligence project, and I don't know just how much of this was releaseable info or so on, but it was tactical type thing. Tactical type thing more than as an occupying force after the war. Tactical.

TI: Okay, so lots of documents that you were...

KY: Yeah, looking at and...

TI: ...translating.

KY: Anyway, that didn't last long, roughly three months.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.