<Begin Segment 28>

TI: So when you think back, I mean, what kind of reflections do you have about your experiences? I mean, it's kind of, you grew up in a small town, Auburn, you lived in Japan with these major generals.

KT: I thought I was pretty lucky that, why did I get that job, you know? There's a lot of guys that, they know Japanese well. Like there's a lot of Japanese I don't know. Most of the Japanese at the school was military stuff, just like one time one general says, "Tell him I want to shake all their hands." So shake hands? How do you say that in Japanese? I don't know. So I told him, "Hey, come up here and grab the general's hand." So they come up there and they grab for his hand, so naturally, he shakes 'em. But things like that -- hammer, sometimes pounding away and we don't have a hammer. I says, "Hey, Haamaa mottekoi," Because Isseis, they all, they use the easiest word. Kanazuchi would be Japanese; it's easier to say haamaa, hammer. So I said, " Haamaa mottekoi," and he says that he doesn't know what that is. I said, I said, "Are you Japanese?" And he says, "Of course." I said, "Don't you know what a haamaa is?" And he said, "No." I said, "That's a kugi no tatakumane." "Oh," he says, "kanazuchi desu ka." Then he runs to get it. [Laughs] Lot of things I don't know in Japanese.

TI: So why do you think you were chosen, then?

KT: [Laughs] I don't know.

TI: There must be some reasons why, that you were good at that. I mean, what was it?

KT: I don't know. I have no idea why I, the only thing was, in my mind... I shouldn't, I shouldn't embarrass the Niseis. [Laughs] When you get in the army, you see a second lieutenant and he stands tall, and here, I got all these generals, colonels, and he has a party or something. One time General Clark was leaving and he wanted me to hand him the briefcase when he gets in the car, so I took the briefcase down, I'm waiting there, and a bunch of the other big shots are out there, and some colonel comes and he grabs the briefcase out of my hand 'cause he wants to make points. I said, "Colonel, did the general ask you to hand him that briefcase?" He said, "No." Then he thought a little bit, and he said, "Oh, you better do it." So he gives it back to me. [Laughs] There's a lot of little things like that, goes on at the... one time Shigemitsu, he used to be the Japanese foreign minister and he's the one that signed the unconditional surrender, he was invited to a cocktail party for some reason, I don't know. And Ray Katayama's standing on one side, and he's got a nice fat face, and he's smiling away like a, like a Japanese, they say ebisu daikoku, happy guy. He's just smiling, and Shigemitsu walks in and walks over to Katayama, sticks his hand out and just shakes. [Laughs] And Ray is just a sergeant. He's looking at me. That was so funny.

TI: Yeah. Those are good stories. Okay, well, Kiyo, thank you so much for doing this interview. I mean, we've been in here almost three hours doing this, and we covered a lot of great stories. I think you are right, you were able to see and live a lot of things that most people don't get a chance to.

KT: Yeah, I really don't know why I was so lucky. That's probably why I stayed in the army. Otherwise I'd have probably got out.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.