<Begin Segment 26>

DG: What's the CIC?

SS: Counterintelligence Corps, U.S.

DG: This was in Hiroshima?

SS: In Hiroshima, the U.S. Army had a Counterintelligence Corps in Hiro, Hiroshima.

DG: So then, did you have to there, of course?

SS: No, I had to take the train from Hiroshima to (Hiro) and then my dad and my mom were able to get a job with the Australian occupation force. My mom because she spoke English, she worked as a translator and my dad, worked as a cook because my girlfriend Marion, had sent me the Boston cookbook when I was in camp. And my dad didn't read English, right? He was a Kibei, so my mom would translate for him. And he would cook and fortunately, the Australian soldiers loved his cooking.

DG: What were Australian soldiers doing there?

SS: They were one of the occupation forces now, we had occupation forces from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, British and... and I don't know if there were any others, those are the ones that I know. But anyway, so...

DG: You were living the whole time at your grandpa's house?

SS: But my mom and my dad finally rented a room in Kure because it was too far for them to commute. They tried it for awhile but they had to start working so early. And... I think I was in Hiroshima for about three or four months and then my friend, George Kawaguchi, wrote and said that they were working for the military transport section in Yokohama. He said I could get a job there if I came up. So I told my mom, I'm going up to Yokohama because I said, I think I like it better more if my friends were there. So Mom and Dad says if you go to Yokohama, don't come back. And I figured, oh, it's better than staying in this place then. So, I went, but as soon as I got to Yokohama there was a telegram from Mom and Dad saying you can come home any time you want. [Laughs] But then....

DG: This George Kawaguchi was from Tule?

SS: Yes, he was a renouncee too, uh-huh. He worked in the welfare department. And then, I think it was, I worked there for about, four or five months I guess, and then, Jean Tanaka, although her maiden name was Aoyama, said her brothers worked at the Daiichi Hotel, in Shimbashi? And so, I went and I got a job over there. And the reason I transferred was because the section I worked for -- the major was really nice, Major Miller, I forgot what his first name was. But then the commanding officer of that, M.R.S., Military Railroad Service, put me into the commander's office and he was a scary guy, and I worked for him for about a month and I couldn't stand it because I didn't choose to go there, they just pulled me out. And so, I told Jean, I said I can't work for him, she (said), my brother works in Yokohama so Mits was able to get me a job there.

DG: So where did you stay?

SS: Then, fortunately at the Daiichi Hotel, they gave us room and board. The food, they were not supposed to feed us but since it was a hotel and they fed the field grade officers, major, lieutenant colonel, and colonels, who billeted there. So, essentially even if I didn't have my U.S. citizenship at least I got three meals a day, right? And the room and board, so everything I earned, was mine. So I worked over there until I came back. So that was from end of '46 to '50.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.