Densho Digital Archive - Louise Kashino - Sadaichi Kubota - Bill Thompson Interview (denshovh-klouise

<Begin Segment 12>

TI: And so you realized the response back, that first letter, was more of a technicality, and so you, you decided to have Louise write another letter?

BT: When she told me they turned down, I know she felt very sad. But I said, "What did they say?" So she read it. I said, "Is that all they said? They didn't tell you why they turned it down?" Well, it just said, "You haven't shown new evidence." If they had said, "Yes, but you could have done this -- " "You know Matsuda said..." "It's too late -- "; or something. "Yeah," I would say, "let's fold it." But when they just say, "No," without giving a good detail, I said, "No, let's appeal it." And I think we had sent appeal in. And I approached the staff at Senator Dan Inouye's office, and she had called the, one of the colonels in the judge advocate general's office. And the colonel said, "Yeah, go ahead, appeal. I don't say it's a routine thing, but it's not unheard of to appeal." So -- made me feel good.

LK: And that last letter turning us down just before we rewrote another letter, was kind of a standard form letter, saying that they could not overturn the court-martial record. They just... not something that's done. So it was kind of a formal, cold letter. So I think this is why we felt that maybe another letter might help.

TI: So Louise, you wrote another letter asking them to please, to reconsider?

LK: Yes.

TI: And take a look at that. Explain what happened when you got, what the response was.

LK: Well, I think it was written October, and in December, their letter was dated December 9th, and I received it on December 15th. And it was like a Christmas present. Just couldn't believe that they would have actually accepted our reasons. And then it was a warm letter. And then with the handwritten note on the bottom that made it just much more personal. And it's hard to explain our emotions.

SK: Even Patsy Mink, she responded to my letter, saying that, "Overturning conviction is very, very hard. The only route may be pardoned by the President, and that is equally hard," she said. So you know, it was kind of hard for us to take. I thought, "Gee, this is the end." But good thing, things...

BT: You know what I'm thinking, already my mind was working, I was going to write a nasty letter about the army judicial system. I'm glad I didn't have to. [Laughs]