<Begin Segment 1>

gky: The date is December 13, the year 2000. This is Harry, who's on our left, or who's on your left, and Ken Akune, A-K-U-N-E, in Los Angeles. Harry, how did it happen that both you and Ken were in the MIS?

HA: Well, we were in Amache, Colorado, and we had just come back from outside. We came back and we had heard about a recruiter coming in to see if they could get some Niseis to volunteer for the language school. And we had a little discussion among our friends, and we decided to -- I decided, anyway, that I would go and volunteer. And so I proceeded to go towards the administration building where they were recruiting. And Ken was just finishing out his high school education, and he kind of followed me and when I got by the school I asked him, "Aren't you going to class?" And he says, "No, I'm going to go too." And it was something that I couldn't very well say no, when I was doing it myself. So, what I had in mind was I would go into the service and maybe be able to get Ken out and go to school, you know, but as it ended up, we both went to the recruiter and took our language test, and that's how we ended up together.

gky: Ken, what's your recollection of how you all got in the MIS together?

KA: Well, all I remember is that Harry was going to administration, so I asked him where he was going. I didn't know anything about a recruiting team coming in, so he said there was a recruiter at the administration, so I naturally thought, you know, it's a chance to go. You know, people don't realize the period of time, but, you know, I was in high school and when the war began, all these young fellows my age were all going into service, and here we couldn't even go in. And, then, on top of that you go into camp and all the Isseis would tell us, they say, "You brag that you are Niseis, American citizens, but you're in here the same way we are, and your American citizen don't mean a thing at this point." And when you think about that, you know, that's pretty hard to take. Here you're an American, and everybody that you know that's not Nikkei are going into service, and you're denied because you're a Nikkei. Not that I was gung ho, loyal to the U.S., and everything else, but, you know, if you think about the time when everybody else is serving your country and you're denied, it's hard for a young guy to take. And, so, when Harry said that he was going to go in, you know, suddenly it lifted my morale. I mean, I said hey, you know, this is a point that we can do something about our situation. Because, I figured that, again, when at that stage, I wasn't too Americanized yet, but the point is I thought about the fact that why are we here. You know, is it because Japan attacked the United States, and that was it, or is it because the Nihonjins never had an opportunity to prove their loyalty to the country. And, so, I kind of felt, and I think Harry and we all talked about it, that, you know, if we didn't take this time to do something to change the way other people looked at the Niseis, you know, or the Japanese, we'll forever be thought of as a non-American. And I felt at that time when they said they needed us, you know, it made me feel pretty good, and I said that this, if we don't take this opportunity to do something about it, it'd be our fault if we're forever in the camps. So, when Harry said he was going, and it was about the Japanese language, and I thought I had enough confidence that maybe I could go in. So I did follow him. If he didn't say anything about it, I probably would have rotted in there. I mean, if the army really didn't come back to recruit us, I could have been one of those Kibei fellows that forever, you know, rah-rahed for the Japanese, because I felt that, you know, the government was just going to bury and forget about us. But here was an opportunity for us to do something about it, so I felt real good about it, and I tell the people that come around to the monument, say hey, the first time I felt like I was an American.

gky: Did the two of you ever discuss -- it's okay if you look at each other, too -- but, did the two of you ever discuss going together?

HA: No, it wasn't that. I think it all started out with a group of us were together, and there was a discussion about what would happen to us, and just like Ken says, if we remain here and just stay there, we would not be able to go out after the war and say we have served too, which means that we would not be considered a good American. And the only way we could do that was, rather than a lot of rhetoric that were going out saying that, well, they put us in here so we're not going to do anything. Well, for us, we felt that we have to do something to prove that we were Americans, and we wanted to be treated like Americans. It was very important to us to do something now, not later. So, that's why, even though the sentiment was against volunteering in general, we felt that we had to do it by action. In other words, if we have to die for it, then that would be it. But for the Japanese in general, in the United States, we'll never be accepted unless we show that we are willing to die for it.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.