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TI: Okay, so Akira, we're going to start the third section and where we left it was you had just got your father to Seattle. He's being taken care of, now you're now at the Presidio ready to go to Japan so why don't we start there, so what happens next?

AO: Well, I think it was because we had been scheduled to go overseas prior to the end of the war, we were very fortunate that we flew, so we went to Presidio to get the plane and the plane went from Presidio to Hawaii to Johnston Island to Manila and then to Tokyo. But upon arriving in Honolulu we told the officer in charge at the airport in Honolulu that we were from Hawaii, that we hadn't been home for, what, almost over three years, and we'd like to see our family. And as much as here we are in Honolulu anyway. He said, "No, your orders read you got to go right on, you just got to go." And so some boys said, "No, but here we are, we served for over three years and here this is our hometown and we'd like to see our families." "No you cannot." So we were kind of resigned but after the officer left there was an enlisted man, I don't know what his rank was, he was sergeant or whatever, but he pulled us to the side and he said, you know, I know how you guys feel, he says, I'll talk to another officer and see if he can't get you guys to stay over a few days. And so he made it possible for us to... he says, yeah, he got approval so he says, "You guys can go," there were about five of us I think. He says, "You guys can go but here's my number so when you guys are ready to go, you call me and I'll put you on another plane." And so we were able to go home and see our family, each of us, which was quite a deal because we hadn't... actually from '43, '44, '45, yeah, a little over two years.

TI: So it must have been a surprise for your family because they weren't expecting you?

AO: Yeah, they weren't expecting us. It was a surprise. We were able to stay about two days I think and we thought, well, we should go. We can't let the guy down that had given us a break. And called him and made arrangements and so we went back to Hickam then they put us on the mail plane, U.S. mail plane, you know, which means no chairs, no nothing. There's just a freighter with nothing but a big pile of mail, mailbags, so we just made ourselves comfortable but I was very happy because I can't take a... you know, go by boat, I get seasick so badly. So we flew by mail plane to Johnston Island which was a real tiny island in the Pacific but it made it. And then flew from there to Manila and its right after the war, this was still in the end of September, middle September I think. Of course the war ended, what, on August 14th I think. So I think it was the middle, no, I think early September.

TI: So just a couple weeks after the war had ended.

AO: Yeah, and so here we were landed in Manila and the aftermath and in fact some of the pictures I took, you know, the whole city is really demolished and everything. So we wait for our next plane to fly from Manila to Tokyo and so I think we spent one night but we stayed at a billet which was where we sleep and stay at awaiting the plane. But from our billet to the mess area we had to walk a few blocks and of course we were specifically instructed not to go by ourselves. Because even though we wore United States Army officer's uniform, we still look like Japanese. And so he says, "Don't go out by yourselves," you always go around with the hakujin officer or somebody of that type, which was good advice because walking from our billet to our mess area, they Filipinos would be pointing at us and "Hapon, Hapon," "Japanese, Japanese," you know.

TI: And were they kind of angry or what was kind of the sense about that?

AO: Well, they must not have felt good but they couldn't do anything anyway, you know, we were not carrying any kind of arms but just the fact that we wore American uniforms, you know. So there was no incident but the damage was very bad but one thing I noticed too is that even going through all the mess over there, it's an outdoor mess, you know, we get our food like how you see. And at the end of the line after we get through with the disposing of our leftovers or whatever leftover there was, there was a long line of Filipinos just waiting for our leftovers. So that was very... it touched us real, you know, it's pretty sad to see. They don't have anything to eat, enough to eat, and they were waiting for our leftovers. Plus the fact that they... the other thing that I noticed was that they weren't doing anything to better their station in life. Because I noticed that even because from the moment after we got from Philippines to Japan and after I arrived in Osaka, which was my final station, even going around the city you could see, you know, it was only a few, matter of a few days, but in Japan the people were picking up wooden boxes from the military bases. And with it, either the wood from the boxes they were making shelter for themselves. They never came to our mess area to beg for food, leftover food or anything like that. But after we went to Japan I noticed this big difference in the way they added to their station in life between the two different people. That's a big difference. But as long as we were in Manila, we made sure that we were always with hakujin, Caucasian officer but we never did go out very far from our billet area. The only time we went out is from our billet to our mess and back.

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