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TI: Okay, so then what happens after you volunteer, what's next?

AO: Well, we signed up and then we just... we signed up there at Schofield at the time the announcement was made I think and as a group I think almost everyone, I don't know, I can't say for sure but I think almost everyone signed up right then and there. And then we reported to Schofield Barracks again I don't know when or how or but then we were assigned to different units, given uniforms assigned to different units and so forth and I don't know how long we stayed at Schofield Barrack before we got orders to go to number one, first of all I think we went to Iolani Palace as a group, I think you've seen the picture. So some reason or other, I don't know, the men who had served in the Triple V were put in the first line. So if you were to look at that picture, we from the Triple V are shown right on the first line of the whole group over there.

TI: Oh, so can you see your face in that picture?

AO: I can, yes.

TI: Okay, yeah it's a very famous picture. I think you're all wearing leis too, aren't you?

AO: Yeah, that's right. I still have that lei too.

TI: Oh, so it's this dried lei that you --

AO: It is a dried... it was a paper lei... oh, yarn, she says it's a yarn.

TI: Okay, and you know, another kind of well-known story is when you were carrying your duffle bags to the ship. Do you remember that?

AO: Oh, yeah, you can't forget it because it was short if you consider you were riding in a car but when we were so small and carry such a heavy duffle bag which most of us couldn't carry, most of us were dragging, and it was supposed to have been a secret that we were going to be shipped out. Yet, the whole streets from the time we got off the train, and we came out from Schofield barracks to downtown on a train but it's a freight car, mostly just a plain, I don't know what kind of car you call it, you know, no seats or anything. The end of the line for the train was right near our fish market in town and from there we walked six, seven blocks but it was a long six, seven blocks because the bag was so heavy and with our helmets, bags, we being so small most of us were dragging our bags. And the thing is it was supposed to have been a secret yet the streets were just filled with parents and friends and so I guess if the Japanese had spies out there they could've... they knew when the ship was going out, they could've torpedoed the ship and it went out in broad daylight too.

TI: So was there anyone there sending you off? Did you have any family?

AO: Well, the news went out like wildfire to different families and they were all... the people from the different families of the boys were all lining the streets, six, seven, eight deep, you know. And I got to see my family along the way, yes.

TI: Now during this time were there any kind of, you know, perhaps more pro-Japan sort of feelings with some people and they were critical of you and others who had volunteered?

AO: Not that we know of, not within our own group or not among our friends, but no.

TI: So let's keep going, so then after that what happened? So you go on the ship and then I think the ship goes to, what, San Francisco?

AO: To Oakland but I don't know how many days it took but I think there were about... they put nine or twelve total was in a stateroom, three tiers and it's pretty crowded. But I'm a poor sailor, I got seasick, I was seasick most of the way and yet along the way the people were put on guard duty and I was put on guard duty one period, I don't know, four hours, eight hours whatever. But I couldn't stand, I was out in the hallway I was just sitting on my okole just because I couldn't stand I was so seasick and yet I'd been assigned to guard duty and we just guarded the hallway. And I don't know how many days it took but along the way I thought maybe one day I felt pretty good that of course during the time I was seasick I couldn't eat. But one day I felt maybe I feel really good so I might go down to mess and get some food. But as I was in the line and the moment I saw some food then I felt the seasickness come right back so I turned right around and went right back without eating. And so for the full trip I don't think I ate anything.

TI: And then you got to Oakland.

AO: We went to Oakland.

TI: And what were some of your first impressions of the mainland?

AO: Oakland was very interesting I think because when we approached the dock everybody yelled, oh, we finally reached land and then all of a sudden somebody started, he said, "Hey, look at it, they got haole longshoremen, they got haole longshoremen," which is very rare. See, in Hawaii most of the longshoremen are Hawaiian, some Japanese and other nationalities and there's no such thing as white people acting as longshoremen. And here we hit Oakland and that was the biggest attraction that there were white, Caucasian longshoremen. Most of the boys made a big fuss about it, well, it was something very unusual we thought so that was one of the interesting things.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.