<Begin Segment 24>

TI: The other question is, you applied to the MIS language school. At that point, how much did you know about the MIS? I know your brother went through it, but how much did you know so that you would apply to the MIS school?

TU: I didn't know too much about them, but I knew my brother was in, and of course I have kind of an entree, and I didn't want to be sent to any ordinary military infantry outfit. So I thought I'd go to the Japanese school there and make use of that later on.

TI: Did your brother encourage you to join?

TU: No, I did it all on my own. I didn't even tell my folks that I'm going to do this. But they found out later.

TI: And when they found out later, how did they feel about you essentially joining your brother in the army?

TU: Oh, I don't know what they felt, they never told me how they felt. But eventually my brother Rusty also, this time he was drafted. So there were three boys in the Uratsu family of four boys, three boys are in service. And that just about drove my mother nuts as I understand it from my sister. My sister told me, when she was alive, that Mom really was upset that the old folks are kept in camp and the boys are taken away to be soldiers. It really bothered her, yeah. And so she went around trying to find a way to get one of us out of the army, and she went to the Red Cross. And fortunately, the Red Cross, something special, they saw the hardship that was created when three boys of the family were taken. So my brother Rusty was able to get out. I understand he was out in the field and a jeep came after him in Germany, and the guy says, driver said, "Hey, I've got to take you back to the office. You're gonna go home." So that's what happened.

TI: So in the field, Germany, was the war already over?

TU: Yeah, it's over.

TI: The war is over in Europe.

TU: Yeah.

TI: So he was able, even though he didn't have the points, he could come back early then.

TU: Yeah, under family hardship or whatever, however the Red Cross reasoned. But they were... they had human feelings.

TI: And it sounds like that really helped the family because Rusty could then go back to the farm and get everything ready for the next year, the family, 'cause he had that connection with the teacher, so that seemed to work out really well.

TU: We were lucky ones. When we think of the others who had their barn burned and stuff like that, and my wife's folks got along real well, too, because they had somebody taking care of their farm.

TI: So let's get you now to, was it Fort Snelling that you went to?

TU: We reported to Camp Savage.

TI: Okay, Camp Savage.

TU: Yeah. And right away we got sent down to Fort McClellan, Alabama, for basic training, basic infantry training. Ours was a hurry-up course, they shortened, I think it was an eighteen weeks training, but they cut it short to sixteen or something like that. I forget, it wasn't the full infantry training, but we trained in, as infantry soldiers in Fort McClellan, Alabama. And then we came back, I think it was July or August, and we entered the August class, MIS class, August '43.

TI: August '44.

TU: '44, huh? Yeah. August '44.

TI: And my understanding of the MIS school is there's some kind of testing because they put you at different levels.

TU: Exactly.

TI: And so what level were you placed?

TU: I don't know.

TI: You couldn't tell by...

TU: I didn't have the smarts to figure that out. [Laughs]

TI: Well, so let me ask you this: in your class, how good were the others with their Japanese?

TU: I did just as well as anybody else, I guess.

TI: Were there others in your class that were better?

TU: Yeah, knew Japanese better.

TI: And there were others that were worse or not as good?

TU: Yeah.

TI: So maybe you were kind of like in the middle class?

TU: I would think so. I wasn't head of the class, I'm sure.

TI: Now, when you got there, did people know that you were Gene's younger brother? Did that ever come up while you...

TU: It never did. But it did in Manila.

TI: Okay, well, before we go there, any stories about the MIS Language School that you want to tell before we go to Manila? Is there anything... because you were there for, what, about nine months?

TU: Oh, yeah, I got to tell you, we did a lot of marching. They wanted to keep us in good shape, so we got kind of tired of that. On Saturdays we were on these long marches, yeah. You had a choice, you could sing in the choir, the post choir. [Laughs] So my buddy, two or three other guys, signed up for singing in the choir.

TI: Including you? You did the same thing?

TU: Yeah. [Laughs]

TI: Just to get out of marching.

TU: Yeah, just too much of that.

TI: Oh, that's a good story.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.