Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Tetsushi Marvin Uratsu Interview
Narrator: Tetsushi Marvin Uratsu
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Emeryville, California
Date: May 25, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-utetsushi-01-0012

<Begin Segment 12>

TI: So I want to back up a few months because before Pearl Harbor, your oldest brother Gene entered into the military service. Can you tell me a little bit about this? So, what, like a month or so before Pearl Harbor?

TU: Okay. We had bought the ranch and it was very successful. And it was the spring of '42 that the draft was instituted. And his number came up rather rapidly, and so...

TI: I'm sorry, spring of '42 or '41?

TU: '42.

TI: So this is after Pearl Harbor or before?

TU: Excuse me now. Let me think about that.

TI: Yeah, because my notes indicate that it was even, it was before Pearl Harbor that, because he was with the first class with the MIS.

TU: That's right, yeah.

TI: Even before.

TU: I'm glad you reminded me, yeah, I take that back. In the spring of 1941, the draft was instituted, and he got drafted early in the draft, and he served in the artillery company. He did basic training and then served with some artillery outfit. And then somewhere along the line, early in 1941, he was interviewed by Colonel Dickie, or Major Dickie at that time. And he was kind of scared because wondering why he was getting called. He's out in the field with his artillery company, and he's told to report to this headquarters to talk to this officer. Didn't know who he was. But Major Dickie showed him a book, Japanese book, and asked him to read it. He had no problem reading it, so the officer told him, "This is very secret, I don't want you to talk about it to anybody. If you did, you're going to be court martialed." So it scared the dickens out of him. [Laughs] It was strict censure on him. But the colonel said, or the major said, "You'll hear from me later on." And that later on, of course, was a call to report to Presidio San Francisco.

TI: And this was Building 640 in Crissy Field?

TU: Yeah, that's in Crissy Field, and that's where the first class was held. And started with a two thousand dollar budget, I understand, and there were sixty students in that class. And it started November 1, 1941, and in May they graduated. And even before that, one or two of the better linguists got sent out into the Pacific.

TI: So this is the beginnings of the Military Language School.

TU: Exactly.

TI: Good, okay. Now, when this happened, he was told this was top secret. When he was transferred to Crissy Field, did the family know anything about that? Did they know that he was being transferred and he was going to do Japanese language training? Did you or your parents know this?

TU: Well, there was an indication something was brewing, because an FBI agent came to the house, the ranch that we owned now, and started asking my mother questions about my brother Gene. And then this fellow came over to me, I was outside playing, and he wanted to talk to me. "I'm an FBI agent and I have a few questions to ask you." Of course, I had enough smarts not to say anything that might hurt my brother's situation. So we knew something was cooking. My mother thought that he was in big trouble because FBI agent came out. But all that was clearance to the secret school. So I don't know when the family knew he was at that school. We found out later, yeah.

TI: Okay, so yeah, so it was still top secret even though you had an indication something might be happening, you didn't really know what that was.

TU: No.

TI: Now did your older brother Gene ever come back on leave while he was with the MIS? Did he ever come...

TU: Yeah, I'm not sure but I have the thinking in the back of my head that he did come back before the evacuation to help with the preparation for the evacuation, but I don't know that.

TI: Because I'm wondering, even during that period, if it was still top secret and he couldn't really tell people what he was doing or what it was like.

TU: Yeah, 'cause I think the thinking at that time was if the Japanese Kempeitai, the Japanese military police, found out that we were doing this, they might have given a lot of trouble to our relatives in Kumamoto. And then, of course, our life would be in jeopardy. The guys in the MIS, their lives would be in jeopardy if they ever got caught, why, it'd be certain torture, possibly a death.

TI: So it had to be kept really secret.

TU: Yeah. It makes sense to keep it a secret, but then how long are you gonna keep it a secret? Now with the 640 Program, we could go full blast telling everybody what happened, and hopefully that will tell the American public that the Japanese American population really helped in the war effort.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.