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gky: You said that being in the MIS meant confidence. That's what you told me before. Can you kind of expand on that?

HA: Well, you know, the fact that I had served under the circumstances, we served, I think very proudly, and I think we were really valuable to our country. In fact, MIS was not the regular kind of soldier where you go out to eliminate the enemy physically. But MIS helped eliminate the enemy by giving information, and that information, properly used, saved many American lives, American soldiers' lives. And, in my mind, I just feel that I was in the business of saving lives. So, my paratrooper friends go even as far as to say, "You know, if you weren't around maybe I wouldn't have come home." That's the kind of compliment, you know, I receive from time to time. So it's a different kind of saving a life. You don't go out there knock out the enemy and to save a life, but you're getting information to save lives. And I think that's the part that gets overlooked. But for people who know and they really appreciate what we did.

gky: What kind of a legacy with what you did with the MIS? How did the -- what kind of legacy do you think the MIS leaves?

HA: Incomplete. Most people don't know about the real value. I, myself, was in a position to look spectacular. What I did became more noticeable. But the people who translated and interrogated prisoners in a higher echelon, gathered much material that they themselves didn't know was valuable. But then, like a puzzle, all those little information put together by the planning of higher echelon, made it possible to be far more effective as a unit, as a force against the enemy, and at the same time saved lives because of the prior knowledge. I say maybe General [Douglas] MacArthur was credited, or the leading people were credited, with accomplishing a great feat, and they get recognized for it. The MIS guys got nothing. They don't know anything about it. And so, to this day, you know, I have conversation with my MIS friends were with higher echelon, say, "Oh, Harry, you did lots, you know, you accomplished a lot because it's visible." But then I tell them, say, "No, the stuff you did made a difference in the war. You made it so that the war was won." I might have been involved in a battle, but not very significant as far as the war is concerned. So, I really do feel that those people, because they don't know the part that they played in, because, you know, it was just a piece of the puzzle and they're just doing one piece of the puzzle, and they don't feel like they accomplished anything, but they did. They really did, and I really appreciate that too, simply because I wish they would be more proud of what they did. Just like I'm proud of what I accomplished, I want them to be proud too. Because, without them, my effectiveness would not have been any good either, you know. Battles don't win war.

gky: Okay. Anything else that you can think of that you want to add?

HA: Well, I think I talked long enough. [Laughs]

gky: Okay. Thank you.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.