<Begin Segment 7>

SF: So going back to when you were in elementary school and you were in a segregated elementary school, did that strike you as being bad or strange or anything or is it just kind of the normal...?

SI: I accepted that as being rather normal. Not having been in such a school, although most of the students in the one room schoolhouses I went to were Japanese. There were Portuguese and a few Germans and others, but going to an all, virtually all Japanese public school, I suppose it wasn't really that different because all the teachers were Caucasian. And I know there was the segregation with the Caucasian students in the next school and the segregated school. I don't think there was... no apparent physical animosity between the groups. It was pretty much accepted. I think it reflects the way we accepted our segregation in the military. I think we had a slightly different view when the 442nd was organized, that although they didn't come out and publicize or try to tell us that we had to make a name for ourselves for the sake of the Japanese -- I think that was quite apparent without being played up as our role during the war. And I suppose I don't really recall this... much being said or done to rationalize having this segregated unit, because we realized soon after that the blacks were segregated. And I understand there is a Filipino group that's segregated, there is a Puerto Rican group that we fought alongside with in Europe that were completely segregated, and the fact that we were, was no different than the others. And in many respects I think we were proud of the fact that we were a segregated all-Japanese American unit.

SF: When you say proud, do you think there was an element of what might be called, kind of racial pride in the sense that...

SI: Yes, I think there was. I think that my mother -- my father really didn't communicate too much with me. He expressed his views, but not very forcefully. On the other hand, my mother was a very social person and a very warm person and one who could really gain confidence of almost anybody she met. She would always tell me that, "Gee, it's fine for you to be in the military." The Japanese are very proud of their military. It's one of the high points. And I remember my mother telling me from childhood days, "To be in the military and to die for your country," this was Japan, of course, "was a great honor." That this is something that boys, that men, should really encumber, take on themselves, and if you die for your country, you couldn't ask much more of your life. On the other hand, she used to write me. She wrote at least oh, one or two letters a week in katakana, which is about all I could read. I could read hiragana and a few kanji, and I'd write back to her faithfully. She would tell me that, "That's fine that you're in the army, but please don't get yourself into any dangerous or compromising situation. Don't go out into... well, abunai tokoro, it's a dangerous place. If necessary run away and go to jail." [Laughs]

SF: That's interesting.

SI: Well, which was sound, motherly advice. I'm the only son and not that they had anything to give me, but I was the standard bearer for the family. So it was with some thought and reluctance... because of my background -- I don't know if you want to go ahead with this or not -- but in auto repairs or auto mechanic, I was a motor sergeant where they let me fix trucks or take charge of trucks and make sure everybody maintained them well and cleaned them up for inspection and so forth. But this was, it gets very boring. [Laughs]

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.