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TI: Okay, so let's keep going because we could talk -- and I want to get to it -- talking about the people you knew in government, because it's not only the congressmen, it's the presidents, and so right now we're still at the University of Washington. And tell me what you graduated in and what you did after you left the University of Washington.

FS: You know, I got my BA in accounting, and I'm a CPA. Basically my profession is in audits. So when I finished the university, the interesting thing is I applied to all the, at that time, the Big 10 accounting firms, national firms. Not a one would hire me. Ed Wong and I were two of the top ten student in the class, and we had the support of our professors who encouraged us to interview with them, but none of them would hire us. And I remember the partner from Arthur Andersen said to me, "Frank, we'd like to hire you, but our clients aren't ready for you." And I said to him, "Look, why don't you give us a try?" But they never would. So anyway, I had an ROTC commission, I went into the Air Force, and guess what? They assigned me to the U.S. Air Force Auditor General, which is the audit arm of the U.S. Air Force. And so I spent two years there, and when I was getting ready to get out, I was going to go to, hopefully back to a CPA firm. But here again, none of the national firms would hire me. So the Air Force wanted me to stay as a civilian. And since I couldn't get a job with a national CPA firm, I took the job as a GS-9, which is the entry level in the U.S. government. And that's where I started in 1955. But the interesting thing is, Tom, when I was getting ready to leave, the commander of the Air Force Auditor General group in Los Angeles made a special trip up to McChord where I was stationed, they wanted me to go into pilot training. They said, "Frank, you're the perfect candidate for pilot training. We want you to go into training for being a fighter pilot." And I said, "Wait a minute." That was the last thing in my life that I was thinking about, and I turned it down. But I have to admit that I've regretted that, because I thought in later years that I could have been maybe an F-4 pilot like Yuzo Tokita, and I would have liked that. But instead I had my sights set on working for a couple years, saving money and going to law school. I really wanted to go to law school but it never happened. And the reason why it never happened was they kept promoting me.

TI: This is while you were at McChord, or where were you at this point when they kept promoting you?

FS: Well, you know, I started as GS-9 at McChord. A year later they promoted me, and they also made me the office manager. And then about a year later, they promoted me to Los Angeles at the district headquarters. And interesting things happened, Tom, you say how can a young farm boy like me ever get the jobs that I got? I had some very key breaks. When I went to Los Angeles on this promotion transfer, I walked in the door and my boss said, "Frank, we have this special job for you." And I wondered why they gave that to me, because I was the youngest and least experienced guy on the staff. But who was I to question? I just took the job and ran with it. And so when I finished this job, they were pleased with the assignment, gave me another promotion, and I'm sitting there thinking, wow. But an interesting thing, Tom, as I look back at my career, one doesn't go into Washington, D.C. and have the miraculous career I've had. And as I look back on it, that special assignment in Los Angeles introduced me to this guy by the name of Jake Gardiner who was head of the project in Washington.

TI: How much can you tell us about this project? I can tell you're kind of talking around it, but is there something, can you tell us a little bit more what this special project was?

FS: What it was was... yeah, I can talk about it, but I don't remember too much about it anymore. It's been too long ago. But what it was was a special job regarding Air Force depot operations. And I remember spending the summer in Sacramento flying back and forth to L.A. And the man that was heading this thing up was a guy by the name of Jake Gardiner who was heading the project in Washington, D.C. He came out to see me a couple times, I had never met him before, but he was very pleased. And I was just happy that he was happy and the job was successful.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2017 Densho. All Rights Reserved.