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MN: You got drafted into the U.S. military in March 1941, didn't you?

HM: Yes, that was March in 1941. March 31st. After I quit my job working for Mr. Murakoshi in San Francisco, I was staying at a boarding house in San Leandro and working as a gardener. I got paid there, not working for myself. I was staying at a boarding house, and I was getting paid by my boss. I was working there, got drafted and enlisted in the military.

MN: Where did you receive the basic training?

HM: Fort Lewis, Washington State. That was in Washington. Fort Lewis, Washington. Close to the Canadian border. Fort Lewis, Washington State. Fort Lewis, Washington State.

MN: Did you get trained with Caucasian soldiers before the war?

HM: What did I do before the war?

MN: Trained with Caucasian soldiers? Did you go through the training with Caucasian soldiers?

HM: I stayed in the same barrack with Caucasian soldiers. The same. With the basic training.

MN: Where were you and what were you doing when the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor?

HM: I was a soldier. A soldier, and I was in bed after my appendicitis operation. I just had the operation. I was in bed. I heard on the radio that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Lying in bed.

MN: How did you feel when you heard the news?

HM: I didn't feel anything. They bombed, but I didn't feel anything. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. More news followed. Jap bombers, airplanes sank two British battleships. News about the war just flooded in. More news. Japanese military landed in the Philippines. American army was defeated. Philippines were occupied by Japan. Bang, bang, bang, bang. They bombed Pearl Harbor. News just flew in. When I was in the military.

MN: How did the U.S. government change its attitude toward Japanese soldiers after that?

HM: Nothing changed. Nothing changed, but the war started, when the war started, a Japanese American soldier, my friend named Kimura, from Kanagawa, he was a Japanese American soldier. They were recruiting soldiers to go to the Philippines. They notified all, all the soldiers. My Japanese American friend, he was a Japanese American in the same company, volunteered to go to the Philippines. They denied the request. Japanese American soldiers couldn't go to the Philippines because they were fighting against Japan there. After a while, we still saw a lot of barracks with lights on all over. A lot of them had lights on. One barrack went dark with all the lights turned off. It had been all lighted up until then. They were gone to a battlefield. All of them. After that, the next barrack went dark with their lights turned off. All of them went to battlefields.

MN: But weren't Japanese American soldiers kicked out of the barracks and gathered in tents?

HM: That's right. After a while, I was in the Barrack 151. All the soldiers in the barrack went to battlefields, Pacific. They did not send Japanese soldiers though. They reassigned us to side companies. After a while, they put us in tents. Japanese American soldiers. In tents. They kept us in tents, and we were in there. That was New Year. New Year came, and all the Japanese American soldiers were fed with Western-style meals. All the time. We wanted to have some Japanese food because it was New Year's. We ordered from Seattle, they delivered a lot of food to the camp. We were all Japanese Americans. Caucasian soldiers were not there. We had a big feast in the tent. We ate, all of us, that was great. We were in the tent. After a while, we were told that we could leave. We went to the reserves and left active duty.

MN: That was a reserve, right? Reserve.

HM: Yes. [Inaudible] We had guns but didn't receive any training. I did something with a gun. I worked as a guard. There was a mess hall for food storage. I guarded the hall with a sword, with a gun there once. While I was staying in the tent.

MN: So you were separated? In a tent?

HM: Japanese American soldiers were only with other Japanese Americans. Separated from Caucasian soldiers.

MN: You were not allowed to carry a gun.

HM: Well, I had a gun at the beginning. With the gun, I worked as a guard for the food storage building called mess hall. We did carry a gun at the beginning. We pitched a tent and worked at the mess hall for food storage. Japanese Americans. We didn't receive any training with guns.

MN: After the war started, they did not allow you to carry a gun, did they?

HM: Right.

MN: You had a gun at the beginning. They did not allow you to carry a gun after the war started.

HM: Right. So I did not have a gun. I did not receive any training either. All Japanese American soldiers. I was just there not knowing what to do, and they told me that I could go home. Reserves. They sent me to the reserves, and I left there. I was in San Jose doing nothing and then was sent to a camp.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.