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TI: Okay, so let's now go from the school, and was this at Snelling at this point?

TU: At this point it was in Snelling. The number of MIS students had really grown. It was probably at the peak about the time I graduated.

TI: And when did you graduate? What time was that?

TU: That was in the spring of...

TI: '45?

TU: '45.

TI: Okay. And so where were you sent after you graduated?

TU: 'Course, you know, they had to arrange for transportation and all that. We got to Stoneman, Camp Stoneman here in the East Bay. That was the shipping point of the going overseas. And I think that was sometime in May or June of '45. And we got to Manila on July 1, '45.

TI: And at this point, how was the war going from your perspective? We all know that the war ended in August, but July, like a month before, what was the sentiment or what were people thinking in terms of the war in July '45?

TU: Well, we knew that the Allied forces were gaining the upper hand, yeah. But we knew that there was a chance of submarines attacking troop ships. And I was impressed with the convoy that we had. We were right in the middle of convoy. By convoy, that means there are protective vessels, destroyers, etcetera, that could catch up with the submarines. And we had a couple up front, couple in the back, four on each side, so we were right in the middle. So I realized then that, gee, we were valuable property. We got real top-notch protection. But anyway, there was still the danger or possibility of a submarine at that time. So we sailed from San Francisco, and, of course, we all got seasick one day out, because that's when the sea is the roughest. And we got to Kwajalein in about twenty-one days, I think it was. Kwajalein is one of those islands out there in the Pacific, and there was some fighting on that island, but it was cleared by the time we got there. That was getting pretty close to Japan. And then from there we went to Manila, we got to Manila on July 1st as I remember.

TI: And what was the sentiment in terms of, I guess, maybe fighting in Japan? I mean, was the sense that it was going to be a tough battle fighting in Japan and possibly you would need to fight, perhaps, maybe people you grew up with?

TU: Well, see now, we got there July 1st, and we went to this MIS pool, language pool, they called it ATIS at that time, Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, and we were housed in the infield of the Santa Ana Racetrack in Manila. And, of course, we were getting prepared for the final invasion into Japan. We found out later now -- we didn't know this at that time -- we found out later that November was the day that we were going to go in. In the meantime, we were preparing which group will go here or what group will go into Hiroshima. They had about four or five areas where they were going to enter into Japan. And one of the areas was near Kumamoto and Kagoshima. Kumamoto is where our relatives are, but at that time I didn't think of those things. It was later on that we found out the battle plans, my brother's group got hold of battle plans, and that would have meant slaughter either on the U.S. side or both Japanese and U.S. side. They were well-fortified to try to repel the invasion. But we didn't know that at that time, and thank heaven that the war ended in August.

TI: So let me make sure I understand this. So your brother worked on the Japanese battle plans, and from that he could tell that they were well entrenched. And so when the Americans would come, it was going to be a very bloody, difficult battle for both sides.

TU: That's found out later, not at that time.

TI: What would the role be of the MIS guys? When the Americans would land, what would the duty or role of the MIS people be?

TU: Well, I guess it would be the same as when they were going through the jungles. We would go in and battle would ensue, and hopefully lives could be saved, hopefully civilians wouldn't be killed. But they had this coordinated thing about airplane attacks, bombers, navy attack, long range cannons and so on. So it was just like going into Philippines, for example. That our guys would be the interpreters on these units that are at the forefront. They would want them up front to do the interpreting that may be needed and so on. So I think it would have been the same thing that took place when they went jungle island hopping.

TI: So you would interrogate prisoners, you'd look at documents trying to figure out, like, troop location, troop size, all those things that could help tactically on the ground.

TU: Yeah.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.