<Begin Segment 28>

AI: Well, looking back on your service, was it meaningful to you?

KO: Oh I think so, and I met a lot of good people in the service. I don't know, I must have been lucky that I, wherever I went, I was able to meet people that I got along with, and had a great time because of it; that life didn't become a bore. I can remember one instance where this lieutenant kind of took a liking to me, and every night, you know they'd have assembled all these people together and they'd have to report if everybody was present and all that stuff. So, he had me, have those sergeants report to me before I reported to the... [Laughs] And I, I think, I didn't want to do it, but he insisted I do it. So... I think it must have been a strange sight for those people to report and salute toward me, and I'd salute back and then I'd salute the lieutenant saying, "All, the company is all present and all accounted for." That thing kind of stands out in my memory as one of the stranger things that have happened to me.

AI: Right, being put in that position.

KO: That's right. And being Japanese, and being as small as I was -- I bet it must have been strange.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.