<Begin Segment 11>

SF: So you got drafted and you were sent to Ord and then?

SI: And then they picked a few of us out. There were quite a few other Japanese from other centers there, and I really don't understand how the military picks out people. I guess they work on their records, their history, background, or whatever. They sent us to Camp Hahn, which was a big muddy field with tents and there weren't many people there. A fellow, Frank Otsuka, was a little older than I was. We were drafted together, so the two of us got sent to Camp Hahn, and we stayed in the same bunk with two Mormons and the first sergeant so I was amongst the first to go there.

SF: So you repaired trucks there, is that right, at Camp Hahn?

SI: Did I what?

SF: Repair trucks at Camp Hahn?

SI: Yes. We repaired trucks and I thought they were testing me because the first thing I went the first sergeant said, "We have a pickup here that doesn't run. Would you take a look at it?" I said my gosh, this must be an exam to see if I was qualified to be in this outfit. So I got there and somehow I got it running so I said, "I guess I passed the test." It wasn't a test at all, it was just that they had a damn truck that wouldn't run, and they had a new draftee come that was supposed to be a mechanic so they said to go fix it, and as I recall I got it going. After that it was, pretty much everything was quite positive.

SF: And then you were there until Pearl Harbor.

SI: Yes, I was there.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.