>
Densho Digital Archive
gayle k. yamada Collection
Title: Harry Akune Interview
Narrator: Harry Akune
Interviewer: gayle k. yamada
Location: Monterey, California
Date: July 1, 2000
Densho ID: denshovh-aharry-01-0004

<Begin Segment 4>

gky: Can you tell me a little bit about -- Occupation trains were special trains for the service people, for the American military. Can you tell me about helping the Japanese women and children who were on the crowded part of the trains?

HA: Oh, yeah. Well, maybe Ken could tell you. It just so happened that we were going to Kagoshima, and it also happened that I was a second lieutenant at that time. But anyway, when we came across into Kyushu, there was no allied troop train that we could get on, so a lowly second lieutenant went to the stationmaster and asked him to put an allied troop train on it. And, of course, there were several other American air force people traveling too. So they put the train on for us, held the train up and put it on, and we had a whole car and people, native Japanese, were just practically popping out of the windows, you know. They're just so full and looked so dangerous between trains and everything. We saw women and children in that kind of condition. So, Ken and I thought well, gee, we don't need all of this, and the other officers don't need it, so I went over to the air force officers and asked them, say, "There's a lot of people out there on the train endangering themselves. Do you mind if we let them in, women and children?" And they said, "Sure." So, we kind of roped off half of it, and Ken and I went back there to tell them, you know, that we would be willing to open this up for women and children. And, you know, the men, the first thing they think about was, "Yeah, American soldiers, they like women," you know, things like that; made really snide remarks at us. They even tried to get in; we'd keep them out, you know. But I don't know if it was the war that created that kind of atmosphere for those people, but from our point of view, we were just trying to be kindly to these people who couldn't probably do anything for themselves, see. So, that's why we invited them to come in, but we really got a lot of static doing that, yeah.

gky: And from Japanese, not from...

HA: Yeah, Japanese, yeah.

gky: How long were you in the MIS?

HA: Three years.

gky: So, from '42...

HA: Yeah, '42 to the first of '46, January '46.

gky: So, three years. And you -- or it was a little over three years, and then you got out of the army?

HA: Yes.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.