<Begin Segment 12>

MN: Now, after your basic training, you were placed in the Military Intelligence Service.

JK: Yes.

MN: How did that happen?

JK: They sent out recruiters from Savage or... and they would test each person that kind of finished that basic training. "Can you read this line?" I was able to read two characters. My friend read four characters and said, "Oh, you two, you're for Minnesota, Minneapolis." So it was a hit and miss proposition, I guess depending on the makeup of the group.

MN: So how many from your group went to MIS?

JK: Just two.

MN: So two out of maybe two hundred men?

JK: Yes.

MN: How did you feel about joining the MIS?

JK: Well, I guess safer. I don't know about wartime, but I thought that was safer way to go.

MN: What was the MIS school like? Was it very strict? What was your schedule like?

JK: They had you pegged because they had a team already made up of strong in English, strong in Japanese, medium and so forth. So you were almost like picked. That's the way they wanted the team to work. So if you were good, you had that.

MN: Where did you fall in?

JK: My Japanese wasn't that great, so probably lower.

MN: Did your Japanese improve greatly when you were there?

JK: Well, greatly because we learned how to say Japanese word for machine guns and cannons and munitions and things like that. We never knew what those words meant.

MN: Was Masa able to join you in Minneapolis?

JK: Yes.

MN: Where did you two live?

JK: We lived in a hostel. Minneapolis was full of hostels, Japanese with wives. So of, there were many wives left alone with the men overseas.

MN: So what kind of job was Masa able to find in the area?

JK: Oh, yes, she worked at a home. She was lucky, she found man and wife who both worked. And take care of little ones.

MN: And how long were you at the MIS school?

JK: I guess a semester or so. I guess it depended on how the front was going. Because all of a sudden, our whole school was graduated. [Laughs] I guess we were due to be sent over. So it looked like the whole school was...

MN: Were they anticipating the end of the war?

JK: I think so. I think that was it.

MN: Do you remember when you shipped out?

JK: [Shakes head] I know two shiploads, one was going to Hawaii, we were going to the Philippines. Unfortunately, the ship going to Hawaii broke his rudder so they had to moor, harbor in Honolulu. And half of the passengers were Hawaiians and they couldn't get off. [Laughs] Poor guys. We sailed on to the Philippines and they came and joined us later.

MN: So close to home, huh?

JK: Yeah.

MN: When did the war end? Were you on the ship?

JK: We were on the ship, yeah.

MN: How did you hear the war had ended?

JK: Well, it was on the ships.

MN: What was your reaction to that?

JK: Well, big sigh of relief.

MN: Was there a lot of celebration on the ship?

JK: Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, all we did was throw empty Coke bottles and hit them with an empty Coke bottle. [Laughs]

MN: You know when you were going to the Philippines, did you get seasick?

JK: I didn't get seasick. Not a severe case. I was lucky.

MN: So you reached the Philippines, you learned the war is over, so what orders did you get?

JK: Well, in the Philippines, we still had Japanese stragglers, and they were active at night, and a wall of, Manila was a walled city. So at night the GIs had to be careful, you'd get shot. And that jungle in the hillside, they were still fighting. Kids were, women had taken the kids up on the hill, why? To make them starve? They were starving up there, the woman and the GI, soldiers, and the old people and the kids. So the job was for the American GIs to sweet talk, letting the young kids go or the old people go. I guess they managed.

MN: Now you're Japanese American, you could be mistaken by the soldiers for being a Japanese soldier. Did you have to have escorts?

JK: Well, I heard they have to have escorts, yeah. I'm sure I wasn't there.

MN: So you didn't have to have an escort.

JK: No, no.

MN: What was the weather like? I always hear it was very miserable.

JK: Yeah. Manila rained every day. Every day at three o'clock, rains.

MN: So did you, like, make, to get around the rain, did you create geta?

JK: Well, we made, it was dangerous to go to town because sentiments against Japanese soldiers. Same face but different... different faces. But when we went to town, we had to ask the nuns if they would go into town, then we'd tag along with the nuns. [Laughs] You can't tell what might happen.

MN: So the nuns were sort of a protection.

JK: Oh, yes.

MN: Did you ever feel like your life was in danger when you were out there?

JK: Yeah.

MN: So when you were in the Philippines, what was your main responsibility?

JK: Practice, practice interrogation, things like that. We were trying to read propaganda leaflets that we all had. Too difficult for some of us.

MN: So were you still in training?

JK: Oh, yes.

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