<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Earlier you were talking about the pilots, the kamikaze pilots, when they would go into town people would kind of look up to them. So how was that for you? When you were in your uniform and would walk around, would people notice you?

JM: Oh yeah, they would notice right away, and we were treated like a king. I mean, we were treated, 'cause they, they figured the kamikaze pilots, they'll, once they get in the plane or something they'll never come back alive, so we had, I mean, whatever we wanted. We had everything, from whisky, sake, tobacco, chocolate or anything, we had all those treatments and they were all free.

TI: So describe how that would happen. So say you went into a, like a restaurant or something?

JM: No, no, in the mess hall, they have, if you wanted you can go there and...

TI: Okay, so they got, you got special provisions. They had special provisions for the pilots.

JM: Yeah. That's why I started smokin' when I was sixteen.

TI: How about if you went into the town or something, to, like the movie theater or anything like that, did you ever do that?

JM: Oh yeah.

TI: And would you get special treatment in town?

JM: Yeah, yeah. They all look upon you and then they won't charge us for a ticket. They won't charge us for a ticket 'cause they know that these people here, once, if they have a plane, that they won't come back.

TI: And if you went into a restaurant, how would they treat you?

JM: Oh, very good. I mean, restaurant, anywhere we went we was treated real good. Some elderly ladies would, out in the country, if we're walking, they, they'll bow to us and everything, saying, "Thank you very much for fighting for the country."

TI: And earlier you mentioned, how about girls? How did the girls treat you?

JM: Oh yeah, they treated us real good. They're all high school girls, but they treated, they wanted to walk with the, our uniform, take pictures and everything.

TI: And so that, that probably felt pretty good, to get their attention.

JM: Yeah. That time, yeah.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.