Densho Digital Archive - Roy Matsumoto Interview (denshovh-mroy

<Begin Segment 16>

JD: So after you were involved in the negotiations --

RM: And decided where gonna have, then since they agreed to have one in Nanking, Nanking is the nationalist capital at the time. Now it's Peiping, but at the time, Nanking, so that's where they're gonna surrender. So we asked them to promise that they were not gonna attack us, and officially that was ended, so they agreed, so there was a meeting, then PIO, Public Information Officer want to cover that. But this is a secret. So you stay away, and if you mention it, General Boatner told this lieutenant, "Gonna court martial you, so just forget about it. Don't say anything." Then also, "Akiji, you stay out, don't mention anything." And me, so naturally, I don't mention it, but I'm with the General, and General told me. Anyway, they negotiated, but don't need me too much because Japanese had their own interpreter and talking Chinese. China and Japan fighting, see, we're helping them, so we observe what says, safe conduct, and we found out where they're going to do that. And this, so I had a peace, I mean a surrender, peacefully, in Nanking. Then I went as an observer there, and so happened that Grant Hirabayashi was one of the interpreters there, and Akiji Yoshimura and me were just observers, went there. So I saw these real negotiations there. That's part of my story. What happened was when this thing ended, now we know, I'm still OSS. And General... I don't know what General Boatner to do with OSS. General Donovan was the head. But anyway, General Stillwell was the staff, also General Boatner was the one assigned me. Then also, I think he's the one probably told them that I'd be transferred to investigate the war crimes now, different things. So I understood that if I stayed there, I'd be transferred to special forces. Then officers were assigned to [inaudible]. What happened was when war ended, President Truman abolished OSS. Then create special forces, so soldier all went there, so I could be in special forces, but no, transferred to military police, then assigned me to 701st Military Police Battalion in China command. So I'm already a sergeant and military police.

So then this war crimes, they assigned me to CID, Criminal Investigation Detachment of the China command. So I became an agent. Well, I'm in uniform, so just a sergeant in the military police in charge of investigating. That's why, so my duty was, duty was the judge advocate general's office, just a lawyer office in the army to conduct this war crime. So they wanted me to pick up the suspect and a material witness, and they gave us the name of a staff officer, so I got interview to see who was there. Then who was there, find out who got a certain unit. So they gave me a bunch of unit rosters, each different unit. And also shipping, too, there's supposed to be war ending, so surrender, so they're going to be repatriated to Japan. But we don't want to release them until clear, may be involved in war crimes. So that's why those lists, I was looking at the headquarters, and find the name Yoro Omoto. Name sounds familiar, and I knew the people, my second cousin's name is Harry Omoto, used to stay with me, and he attended UCLA while I was in Los Angeles. So look down where the domicile was, where come from. Then was Hiroshima, and the same village that my grandfather came. So I knew right away, that's the same person, my relative. So I want to go see him, not investigate. The purpose was, you didn't give me my authority to investigate anybody anywhere, so they assigned me the jeep, transportation, with a Chinese driver.

So I know where it's located, so he knows where to go. Took me there, then when the MP, master sergeant come down there, I didn't use Japanese. I pretended American officer, and asked him, "I want to see this Omoto, Corporal Omoto." And they're talking in Japanese, "Oh, another one got caught." [Laughs] They thought... everybody commit minor atrocities, and so they think they picked up because commit a crime. So I told 'em, "Bring this Iromoto here." So they told 'em, and way back there, I think, notify him, and some MP was looking at him, and mentioned that he was a criminal. But as soon as he turned the corner, he said, "Hiroshi Niisan," that means, "Elder Hiroshi," that's me, in other words, English. "My dear elder brother Hiroshi." He recognized me right away even though I'm in uniform. The reason is he was living with me when he was going to school. Then he found out, well, I located him, and I didn't ask him, there's criminal things, I just personal, family things. And first thing is he says, "Your family's safe." They moved out a few months before the bomb was dropped, to Jigozen, where's the country he came from. So that's the time, first time I found out they're safe. Until then, I thought they all perished. When he told me it was safe, because he was corresponding with my family.

Then, so I asked him what, asked him not the criminal things, but his activity, I asked him what they do. So they said was... as I told you before, he went to Japan as an exchange student, but actually didn't go, and he was picked up, and they sent him to south Manchuria, and the Kwangtung army in Manchuria pick him up and made him a translator and interpreter. So I asked him what his job was, he said, "Well, I listen to the air to ground or air to air verbal communication," so translate what they say. So in other words, that's like the same thing we did, listening to what the enemy's doing. So they let him do it because he's a college student in the United States, UCLA, so let him, and they know... he said some Japanese guys knew, the understand. So that was the hard part, says, "I cannot mistranslate." You've got to translate what they say, so that's the hard part. But even though he's the American army, he was born in the United States, in our heart, he want to be truthful to own country, so that's the hardest part, he said. You have to follow. But the reason, even though how good he was, never being... some people made promotion, but he was only made a corporal. And don't trust him, so don't award him higher rank. Same as, he told me, "Oh, by the way, your kid brother is in the army. I didn't even know that he was drafted," because war broke out. But he was in the army in certain unit. So then, this the same way. I didn't pick any suspect or criminal. But anyway, I went to see my brother there. Then I had a chance to talk to him about a couple hours, and he told me all the family things. And so I gave him some advice, and that's the end. In the meantime, I have to pick up other criminals because name there.

Meantime, I was an MP, so first I was investigator. Then we got to wind up all the suspect and material witness, then put 'em in jail. So I'm all wound up. Now, trial gonna start. So now I already picked all of 'em up, so made me in charge of, a provo sergeant in charge of jail. I had about fifty people cooped up in jail, Chinese Kenwan Road prison. Chinese execute the mayor there, I witnessed that. But anyway, I took a picture, too. I lost the film. But anyway, jail I kept, so now I'm like a warden in the prison, in charge of prisoner. There's a picture that I'm escorting one of the staff officers to the court, and have an MP band, MP armband there.