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TI: Okay, so this package was sent. What was the response? What happened after it was sent off? What was the response back from the government?

BT: Okay. That package in 1996, I think it was on June or so I think, when it was put together. The Army Board for Corrections of Military Records told Kashino that he would get his staff sergeant stripe back, his fines would be rescinded. And, let's see, well, and they said that his court-martial conviction still stands. They cannot erase that. It would have to be the Judge Advocate General. But Kashino was happy that he got his sergeant stripe back and his fines were rescinded. So, in other words, it seems as though the court-martial was in error.

TI: But it was -- so at this point, so he got his rank back and the fine rescinded, but the court-martial was not overturned?

BT: Yes.

TI: How did people feel about that? Were people pretty pleased? Was that pretty much what people expected? Or were they expecting more?

BT: Well, I think Kashino was very happy on that, and Louise, too, that he got his sergeant stripes back. And his, well, the fines was small amount. But the main thing was that he got his sergeant stripes back, that his demotion wasn't done properly.

TI: So was there -- did some people want to just stop right then? Or did the people want to say, "Let's keep going and go for the overturn of the court-martial?"

BT: Well, I think Louise and Kashino, discussing that over the phone, mentioned that, well, his goal was to get his sergeant stripe back, but maybe we should stop now. But when we first started this, we didn't know anything about the Judge Advocate General role in the court-martial conviction. You know, we thought that the Army Board of Corrections for Military Records would handle everything. But when we found out there was this other thing, that the court-martial still stands, then we said, "Well, we've come this far. Why not go all the way?"

TI: And, this is sort of a tangent, but can you explain the Judge Advocate General and his role in that? So is it one person or is it a panel? How does that work?

BT: I'm not sure. On TV you see what, the, "JAG"? Handsome guys running around, but no. The people that we dealt with were colonels and major generals. And I think looking at the correspondence that Patsy Mink and the others, or Senator Dan Inouye had written, there were different major generals involved. So they have, well, I guess they got many cases to handle, so they probably have different judges that sit in.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.