<Begin Segment 20>

TI: So you talked about, so the war ends and you talked about how you waited around until you were released, so talk about that a little bit. How, how were you released? So you're at the base, the war is there, the officers are there, so what happened?

JM: They just told me there's no, "You people could go home now," and that was it, so I just got my paycheck and went home. But I had to catch a train from, the train, it was maybe a forty-five minute ride to where I was gonna get off at, but I had the uniform on and the old ladies, they looked at me and in that crowded train they would open up a space, say, "Hey, you people, I feel sorry for you, too. Here, sit down here. Sit down there." They gave us plenty of room. They really looked after us, because the, when that war was over you should see the train. Everywhere you go, I mean, even the conductor and everything, they were all hangin' on back riding the train.

TI: 'Cause they were just so crowded?

JM: So crowded and everything. So when I got in there, too, in the back, this lady, there were three guys, ladies there, they opened up a space and says, "Sit down over here." And that, I was real thankful for that, 'cause they know Japan lost the war and then still, they knew that I was one of the kamikaze pilots, too, but they were real...

TI: And during this time, what was the mood of the people in, in the train? I know it's very crowded --

JM: Oh, they wanted to go home or go to their relatives or somewhere like that. They just wanted to go somewhere. And when I got on the train, too, I got off at Kokura, but from there I had to walk, it took me, from the station to my house, maybe twenty minutes, and in between there was Japanese military police, too, on a, they got a desk there, and I had to report there. Say, "What you got?" I said, "That's all my clothes and I got food and I got this and this," and they checked me and, "Where you from?" I said, "From the Fukuoka Air Base." And they wrote my name down, "Where you going?" I says, "Another ten more minutes. I just live over there." So they said, did that, but he says, "Soon as you get home, take off your uniform and everything and do it," he says, "because the Americans see you, they might kill you." That's how, they were afraid of Americans.

TI: When they had these checkpoints, what were they checking for? When they looked at your bag and everything, what were they looking for?

JM: Well, I guess it was more of a common thing and they'll get my name and everything. Even the military people, too, whoever was in the uniform, that they'll just check and ask you where you're going and thing like that.

TI: Okay, so you went home, and tell me the reaction of people when you, when you came home?

JM: Well, number one, my mom, she says, "Oh, gee, welcome home. I'm glad you're home." That was the first thing. And the kids, too, they were all happy that I was home. My dad too, he says, "You okay now?" I says, "Yeah, I'm okay." And then after that, a week later --

TI: Before we go there, so as you were walking to your house, were you a little concerned about the reaction you might get, because I still think about your mother saying, "Don't come home alive," did you think about that as you went home?

JM: No, no. I didn't think about that because it was, the war was over. If it was something else it'd be different. The war was over, so I didn't, and the place where I was going is, when I was going to high school, they all knew me, too, so they all look and say, "Welcome home." And that was it.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.