<Begin Segment 25>

TI: Any other kind of examples of some of the stuff you did? Like how about, like the family stuff? I mean, did General MacArthur and Mrs. MacArthur have children?

KT: Yeah, there was a little boy named Arthur. When we got there he must've been about ten years old. But the general, he doesn't have any time with the son really, so every night we set up a huge screen and we show movies, and the general watches a movie almost every night. And we set up these folding chairs and he sits, the Honor Guard are invited and the staff come and watch the movie, so everybody comes in, they all sit down and, sitting there, and pretty soon General and Mrs. MacArthur walked in and he'll say, "Good evening, gentlemen," or something like that. They sit down and he'll light this big cigar.

TI: And these were, like, first run movies that were playing in the United States kind of, like Hollywood type movies?

KT: Yeah, yeah. I don't know, I don't think they'd get 'em special. I think they just go right to the Armed Forces theater, that they show movies in the theater and they just get movies from there.

TI: Well, and would then Arthur also come watch the movies too?

KT: No, not Arthur. He'd be sleeping. But see, the General works odd hours. He works maybe from, gosh, I don't know, eleven to two or three, and then he goes back to work and he works three, four, up to about six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock. And he comes in and has supper, and then he watches a movie. So it's pretty late when they showed the movie, and the reason why he does that is because of the time difference between the States and, and Washington.

TI: I see.

KT: He sort of splits the time.

TI: You know, going back to the son, it just seemed like, I'm guessing it'd be kind of a lonely experience for a boy, to be the son of General MacArthur in Japan. There's no playmates or --

KT: No, they get children from the other... General Whitney had some boys, and they all, they'd go after them and they'd come out to the grounds and they'd play. And they, well, the cook, he stayed out there, and he'll, he plays right along with these GIs. And some of these, like we had the mess sergeant, but he's like a baby. He just didn't want to lose. [Laughs]

TI: Okay. Any, any other interesting stories that, I'm sure there's lots of memories of being there during this time. I mean...

KT: No, that's just about, the main thing is his hours and his watching the movies. Every night he'd watch a movie. And he'd never have dinners like, his dinners are like lunch and, maybe two o'clock he's, all these guests that, correspondents and people from other governments and stuff, they'd come in, they'd want something with the General, then they'd have a dinner. Or we'd call it a dinner, but actually it was lunch.

TI: So here's another question. During this time, right after the war, I'm wondering if you knew about, I'm curious about the Tokyo Rose incident, Iva Toguri? Did you ever know about her case? 'Cause it was right after the occupation. For a year, I think, she was held by the military police and kind of...

KT: The only thing I know is what they wrote in the army, Japan, Nippon Times. It was kind of funny because it was pro and con. Some of the guys enjoyed her music. [Laughs]

TI: But I guess in her case, I mean, eventually it was shown that there was no wrongdoing. And I think she was actually investigated by the MacArthur's staff, and they, through this initial investigation, showed no wrongdoing. It was much later, when there was some bad press in the United States, that made it hard for her and that's when she was found guilty. But I was just curious --

KT: Yeah, I don't know. It's...

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.