<Begin Segment 1>

gky: Okay. In what year were you born?

SY: Born in 16 August 1917.

gky: Okay. And this is an interview with Steve Yamamoto, Y-A-M-A-M-T-O, in Los Angeles on December 13th, the year 2000. What years were you in MIS?

SY: I beg your pardon?

gky: What years were you in the MIS?

SY: What year? Well, I started out with the first class at Presidio, San Francisco, and the class began on the 1st of November, 1941, and so I guess I was with the MIS until the occupation in Japan. But I was not always with ATIS, as such, I was assigned to the International Prosecution Section of the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo, but I began my MIS career at Presidio, San Francisco. And how I got there was, I was, I volunteered into the army in 19... that must have been March 1941. And after I was drafted into the army -- I volunteered, of course, but I was assigned to the 66th Medical Battalion in Fort Lewis, Washington. In the summer of 1941, the unit went on a summer maneuvers down at Fort Hunter Liggett military reservation near King City. And while we were on maneuvers, I was informed by headquarters that I had a visitor from the War Department, now, of course, Department of the Army. A Captain Rasmussen from the War Department wanted to talk to me. So I reported to Captain Rasmussen and he stated who he was, identified who he was, and he says, "I'm here to test your skill of the Japanese language because we might be establishing a school in preparation for any language requirements they might need during wartime." So he said -- he took out a book and told me to read this chapter and tell me what it said there. So I read and I told him what it said there, and he said, "Very good. You'll be hearing from us after you get back to your unit, back to Fort Lewis, Washington." And sure enough, in October, I got an order to report to Presidio, San Francisco. And, this was mid-October, and, of course, when I got to Presidio, San Francisco, on the 30th of October, I was told to report to Cressy Field. And when I got there, there were other members of the class that would be, members that were to be in the class already there and I was about the last one there.

gky: Okay. One thing that's sort of unusual is you were in the A-1 class, a Nisei with a lot of Kibeis.

SY: Yes.

gky: How did you get to, how did your language skills get to be good enough to be with Kibeis? You'd only been to Japan once.

SY: I was in Japan once in 1939 and I took two months' sightseeing tour with the judo team. But other than that, I was never in Japan. And I guess I got my Japanese language skill, if you may call it that, with the folks living in San Gabriel, I guess were very much interested in their offsprings learning Japanese. So my father was one of those parents that got together and established the San Gabriel Japanese School. So I attended a Japanese school there. When I was in grammar school, I used to, the rest of grammar school would let out about 3 or 3:30. We used to walk to the Japanese school and study there for an hour or so until about 5, and then on Saturday, whole day. But after I got into high school, yeah, I guess about high school age, it was only a Saturday only session that I attended. But I imagine, I guess, some of these teachings just soaked into me, I suppose, and I feel flattered the fact that I was with the other -- they were all, I think most of them were all Kibeis. I think I was the only Nisei. So I feel flattered to be associated with these people that were educated in Japan.

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

<Begin Segment 2>

gky: Okay. Now, you volunteered for the army in March of '41 when you got in.

SY: Yes.

gky: Why did you volunteer?

SY: I wanted to volunteer to -- you know, at the time, it speculated that young men would be drafted, and I had my number for draft call on the third draft, and they had the first and second draft already called in. But time dragged and they didn't, I didn't know when they were going to call me in, so I felt rather than wait for them, I'd volunteer so that way I'll know I'll get in service and perhaps get my obligation over with insofar as conscription duty was concerned. So, that's why I volunteered. And...

gky: So it was sort of before anybody was volunteering to kind of prove themselves or prove any loyalty, or anything like that.

SY: No, I didn't have anything of that sort of thinking in the back of my mind at all. I just wanted to fulfill my obligation for draft and get it over with.

gky: Okay. Then, after you were in language class, what was it like generally at school, at the MIS language class? How did you know what was secret, what wasn't secret, what you were being trained for?

SY: No, I had no idea... it was, what kind of subject or what kind of topics would be classified secret or not. I thought that the entire undertaking of my attendance at the school, and the fact that the school was at Savage, was all confidential, secret information, so I didn't look to see what aspect of the training would be secret or not. I had no idea what would be secret, what subject would be secret; I just felt that the entire curricula, the fact that I was attending the MIS, MIS classes, was secret.

gky: You were learning the -- or you were studying the Japanese language, then obviously it had something to do with Japan. What were you thinking about when you thought that you would be fighting, or you would be facing the Japanese, people of your own ethnic background?

SY: That sort of thing didn't occur to me at all. It was quite obvious that the type of teaching they were giving me that we would be confronting Japanese prisoners. In what aspect, at that time, I had no idea what I was doing, but I, the fact that I would be confronting Japanese didn't give me any special feeling at all.

gky: When you went to see your parents before you left, you took a three-day pass and went to see your parents; this was in May of 1942.

SY: Correct.

gky: They were getting ready to be evacuated.

SY: Correct.

gky: You both had packed suitcases, only they were going to American concentration camp, if you will, and you were going overseas. What a funny kind of reunion that must have been for you.

SY: It was a very depressing meeting and, you know, you're supposed to be happy to be able to see each other again. But when I got home, like you said, or you mentioned that my folks were all packed up ready to be interned, where they didn't know. But my brothers and sisters and my parents all had one suitcase apiece, and just waiting to be sent to where they didn't know. And here I was going overseas. So it was kind of a sad atmosphere that I faced, and I think they did, too. And it felt that, I felt very odd that here they're going to the relocation or concentration camp, and I'm already in uniform, and I was already going to, what is it, serve overseas with, in the intelligence aspect.

gky: Were you given sealed orders when you went?

SY: I beg your pardon?

gky: Were you given sealed orders? In other words, did you know where you were going?

SY: No. I had no idea. Probably Major Swift knew. I had no idea. I didn't know where we were going. As a matter of fact, when I got back from my three-day leave, back to San Francisco, I was told that to report to the Hudson Park staging area. Because the war broke out suddenly, the facilities for embarking or disembarking was inadequate. So they ordered us to go to Hudson Park. They created a staging area where you were shipment for overseas. So we were at Hudson Park staging area for about three or four, no, no, a couple weeks I suppose. And we boarded a ship. It was a ship converted to a troop ship, civilian ship called steamship Uruguay. So we loaded onto the Uruguay and we were in a convoy, the ship was in a convoy of about, oh, countless other ships, and it took us about three weeks, almost three weeks, to get to Auckland, New Zealand. After we got aboard ship, they said -- I knew where I was going to Auckland, New Zealand and then to Australia. But until then, I had no idea, no semblance of an idea where I was going or what I was going to do.

gky: When you were sent to San Francisco, were you billeted at Angel Island or were you billeted at the Presidio somewhere?

SY: No, I was... billeted? You mean prior to going overseas?

gky: Uh-huh.

SY: No, no Angel Island. There was, like I said, Hudson Park is the park of San Francisco as you know, and they commuted that to a staging area for you to await shipment overseas.

gky: Is that an area below the Golden Gate Bridge?

SY: Yes, yes.

gky: Did you ever doubt your decision to volunteer in the army when you saw your parents, or when you were going overseas?

SY: No, I had no misgivings of my volunteering at all. As a matter of fact I felt that, especially after the war broke out, I felt that it, that my duty to be serving in service more than when I first volunteered.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 3>

gky: Can you tell me a little bit about your first interrogation that you did, about the prisoner who committed suicide?

SY: Oh, yeah. This was because I was chief of the interrogation section, I had the privilege of interrogating the first Japanese prisoner that was brought into MacArthur's headquarters, or at Camp [inaudible]. And his name was Miyazaki and when I, the first meeting when I confronted him, I thought instead of my talking I'd tell him, let him talk. But I posed a few questions since as far as his unit, his name was alright, but I started asking him about what unit he was with, and what the objective of the unit was, where their unit was going, and so, in answer to my question, he started telling me the organization of his unit, and his objective where he was going. Before I got to the point where, where the unit was going to advance to, he started telling me the identity of his unit which didn't sound like a unit that was from some homework that I did, I didn't feel that he was telling the actual truth, as far as unit was con -- that he didn't know or what, I had no idea. But, anyhow, I couldn't believe his explanation of his unit. So I told him, "Well, I just can't believe what you're telling me, so you go back to your cell and see me tomorrow. You think about it overnight and see me tomorrow morning." So when he arrived, came up to my interrogation area, he, the first thing he said was, "I'm sorry, I wasn't telling the truth. I was lying to you and hereafter I'll try to tell you the truth." So after they...

gky: Can you start that again, just because you cleared your throat.

SY: Yes.

gky: And so, the next day he came up to you...

SY: The next day he came up and he told me that he was lying, he wasn't telling me the truth, "But from here on in you can rest assured that I'll be telling the truth." So he became very cooperative from then, that point on, and two or three meetings every day I'd see him, and he'd go to the extent that even he was with the 56th Anti-Aircraft Battalion. And he went to the extent that even drawing a picture of the type of armament that they were using. He became very cooperative and we communicated very well. But about that time, I was appointed warrant officer. Kodani, Ishi and myself, we were the first Niseis in MacArthur's headquarters to get warrant. So couldn't imagine when the commanding officer said, "I'll give you guys a three-day pass. Go into Brisbane and get yourself outfitted to officer's uniform." So we were out for three days, and when I got back to -- we had this Commander Bartlett that was in charge of the whole operation. He says, "What did you do to your prisoner? He committed suicide." And I was stunned with this. And he left me a note and said that, "Since you haven't being seeing me for a few days, I felt that you weren't seeing me because you weren't believing, and you weren't believing even though I was telling the truth. And that hurts my pride. And so I have no recourse but to end my life." So he -- Japanese are very honor bound -- and so he, that's the reason he committed suicide and I felt very stunned and in a way I felt sad, because he was a prisoner that turned stake and was telling me the truth. So that was my first experience in interrogation and it, you know, it was happy in a way that I was able to break the person and the way he was telling me he wasn't telling me the truth and came straight, he straightened out, and tell me the truth. But, on the other hand, since we communicated and saw each other for a few days, it kind of saddened me to see somebody die on me in the first interrogation that I undertook.

gky: Yeah, and that was one of the -- just a stunning story, shocking story. Tell me, how did it come about that you were the head of the interrogation section?

SY: I was -- I don't know. I guess Commander Bartlett who was a linguist in the U.S. Navy, and apparently he, there were others, of course, in the interrogation section, not interrogation section, but they were picking out who would be in the interrogation section, who would be in the other areas, transportation section, and he just picked me out to be the chief of the interrogation section.

gky: I've heard that the interrogation section, actually the interpretation section, that you all interpreted more. What do you think the difference is between when you actually interrogated where you were the interrogator and when you acted as an interpreter, not the interrogator? What do you think the difference is in the kind of information that you get?

SY: Uh...

gky: In other words, the dynamics of an interrogation are different when there are two people, you and the prisoner, and when there are three people, you, a hakujin officer and the prisoner. I mean, you build up a different kind of rapport, I guess, with the prisoner.

SY: I hadn't, as far as the interrogation in the front, I hadn't, I was not in a position to interpret, because most of the -- well, let me put it this way. I had no requirement to interpret because I was doing my own interrogation. And so I would feel that if you were interpreting, the subject himself would be a little bit reluctant or hesitant because of possible misinterpretation of information. But, that's only conjecture on my part. But I've never had an interpreting job insofar as prisoners in the, both front, New Guinea or Philippines.

gky: Okay.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 4>

gky: You said that fought a battle of prejudice. You said before that you fought a battle of prejudice. In what way?

SY: Well, prejudice insofar as how the Japanese Americans and my folks and most of the others were being treated, I mean, all of the people being relocated and put in the concentration camp. And so I would consider that prejudice. So as far as personal prejudice, I didn't feel any prejudice at all except a few words of slang words thrown at me when I was in San Francisco. But other than that, I didn't feel too much prejudice, except the fact that this, the thing that really stands out in my mind is the fact that my folks were put into concentration camp when I was already in uniform, and so I thought this was not right. And so, I consider that to be the main stigma as far as prejudice is concerned.

gky: Did your parents have a hard time in camp because you were in uniform and here they were in camp?

SY: I don't know. I never had a chance to talk to them about how they felt or how they were treated. I wouldn't think they should be. In the eyes of draft resisters, so to speak, I wouldn't know. But I did not get any idea or any feelings to how they felt because I was already in uniform overseas and here they were in a concentration camp. I have no idea how they felt.

gky: Looking back on your experiences during the war, fifty years later, you can say, "My civil rights were taken away." But that sort of wasn't the mood back then. I mean, how'd you feel about your civil rights being taken away, and you're fighting discrimination, as well as fighting for the United States?

SY: I didn't think, personally, I didn't think that my rights were being taken away because I was already in uniform, and we in uniform, especially I was operating out of G2 section, the 6th Army, most of the time in New Guinea, and my colleagues, Caucasian colleagues, treated me as one of their own. They showed no sign of prejudice or the fact that I was of Japanese descent. They showed no sign of that at all. So on the war front, among my colleagues, I have felt no prejudice. I didn't feel that any of my rights were being away at all, because I was treated as one of, as a true one same as Caucasians.

gky: You were attached to an Australian unit. When you were attached to non-American units, did they treat you any differently because you were of Japanese descent?

SY: No. As a matter of fact, I was in the Australian unit for -- I've forgotten how long, it was maybe about a week or ten days, I was a warrant officer already. And so they treated me just like any other Australian officer. As a matter of fact, the Australian units, even at the war front, had great privilege. And each officer was assigned an orderly, so to speak, to make your cot, shine your shoes, if your shoes needed shining, and so I felt no different when I was assigned to the Australian unit as opposed to if I was assigned to a U.S. unit. And they thought, as a matter of fact, they sort of felt that here is a Japanese American in the war front doing intelligence work against their own kind. So they felt that this was a great honor.

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

<Begin Segment 5>

gky: This is tape two with Steve Yamamoto in L.A. on the 13th of December, the year 2000. Steve, were there any other anecdotes that you remember about any of the interrogations you did, or any of the other times you were, your time overseas?

SY: During most of the interrogations in New Guinea or in the Philippines, I found that the Japanese prisoners were very cooperative that confront me the first... various prisoners that would confront me for the first time would look at me in disbelief, or look at me oddly wondering what nationality I was. I imagine they knew, but they had a little bit of doubts as far as who I was. So I'd tell them I'm a Japanese American, and they thought that this was quite remarkable, because here I'm Japanese American doing intelligence work interrogating my own kind, and they thought possibly only in the American army things like this could happen. But most of them were very cooperative after I'd tell them who I was and what I was there for, and I attribute the cooperativeness to the fact that we treated the Japanese prisoners very well in accordance with the Geneva Convention. If they were injured or wounded, or if they were sick we'd give them medication, and they were treated; they were not maltreated in any respect. So I think they -- most of the prisoners felt that they were going to be maltreated because the test in the Japanese military, you get all sorts of things, [inaudible] and things like that, and so many of them, I think, were sort of overwhelmed and very appreciative of the fact that they were treated very well, and so I think this caused them to be very cooperative. I had very little trouble insofar as not being responsive to my questioning. I think there were a few, but those that were not cooperative, I would just don't bother with them because we had so many prisoners that I could talk to without spending my, wasting my time with uncooperative prisoners. Very few. But anyhow, many of them would be very cooperative and many of them would tell me, after they finish talking to me, "Will you take your .45 and shoot me?" And so, I said, "Why do you say that?" And said, "Well, I'm a prisoner of war and as a prisoner in Japanese it's a dishonor, and I will never be able to go back to my homeland and face my neighbors, my friends, my parents, my folks, as a prisoner." And so I thought, "So that kind of questioning." I thought the answer would be to tell them that well, Japan's going to lose anyhow. "Look at the status now, we're winning the war and eventually Japan's going to lose, and when Japan loses then you if leave the country, you have to go back to your homeland to a defeated nation, so you don't have any need to feel that you're dishonored because you're, if Japan had won the war and you go back probably you'd feel ashamed. But your countrymen are all in the same category." So I guess that sort of reasoning that I would tell them after they asked me to shoot them sort of calmed their ideas, I suppose. They heard me and they didn't argue back at all. But this is how most of the prisoners that tell me to shoot them, this is what I told them.

And, insofar as the war front is concerned, we went to the Philippines, and of course we -- in landing in the Philippines, our ship was bombed and Kent Hirata and Spaday Koyama, two of my people in the interrogation section, were hurt, fortunately they lived. But we faced great opposition in the Philippines landing on Leyte, and this was where our ship was bombed. Eventually we landed in Manila, and eventually the war ended and we went into Japan. And when we went into Japan, we landed at Wakanoura Beach in Wakayama. And see Japanese people at the eki, at the station, Wakanoura Station, to get back to Kyoto where our headquarters supposed to be established. They would look at the occupation forces coming in, and particularly us Niseis, and they, you could see that they were kind of surprised to see us Japanese Americans coming in American uniforms. But we were treated no differently from any other occupation soldiers. As a matter of fact, they felt this was quite odd, quite, what is it, good to see these Niseis coming in. And so, we, as far as sentiments of the Japanese is concerned, we didn't feel any bad feelings at all.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 6>

gky: The first time you went to Hiroshima was in December of 1945. What was it like?

SY: What prompted me to go to Hiroshima was I was picked out to go to Kure with the IG section to go interpret an inspection trip, and while I was there I thought that I could go see Hiroshima, and so the commanding officer ordered the driver of the jeep to drive me to Hiroshima. What was quite... it was a very eerie feeling is as far as you can see, the Hiroshima city was just barren and a burnt city, and hardly any people were in the streets at all. And, like I say, it was sort of an eerie feeling. But I had a aunt in Hiroshima. This I knew because when I visited Japan in 1939, I visited by aunt in Hiroshima, and they said that most of the people that were in the city proper, on the banks of the Ota River and established a rough shelter on the banks of the Ota River. So I got my driver to drive along the banks of the Ota River, and it's amazing that as I was driving by I thought I saw my aunt on the banks of the river in a helter-skelter house -- not the house, but the shelter that they had put up. And she recognized me and I found out that a family of ten, only one perished because of the atom bomb, but all the others were safe and living. What I want to say is it's amazing that people were living after the city was just in a total destruction. And it's a half year later. But in August of the following year, I happened to go to Hiroshima, and the Japanese were very industrious. They had come back to the city and put up shops and so forth. Of course, it wasn't a permanent building, as such, made of plywood and other galvanized iron and all that. But people were back in the city establishing their livelihood. And so within a year's time to see, sort of a, to see a city come up with energy was very inspiring to me.

gky: How'd you feel about that? I mean, how did you feel knowing that you were from the same cultural background?

SY: I -- as far as the atom bomb, the feeling about the atom bomb was concerned, I thought it was very cruel. But that was dropped because of the wartime condition, and in wartime you just can't have feeling about how warfare is fought. The idea is to win. So I felt badly about the people, but I had no misgivings insofar as the action by the Americans, so to speak. So, from Kyoto, I was in the 6th Army and the 6th Army was one of the units that was in New Guinea from the start. And so, in January of that year, '46, there was the first units to come back to the States. But I wanted to see the home country a little bit more and so I volunteered to, I asked them to have me reassigned, and when I found out that I was reassigned to Tokyo, I thought this was a chance for me to see more of my ancestral country. And I was assigned to the Lido section of the International Military Tribunal on the prosecution staff. So when I reported back, reported to the tribunal, my first job was to indict the last major war criminal who had not been indicted. Twenty-five others, including Tojo, were already in Sugamo Prison awaiting trial, but Admiral Nagano had not been indicted, not been brought in. So my first job was to go down to Takamatsu, Shikoku -- that's where he was at -- to bring him back. So I was assigned a legal officer so that everything would be legal, and a military police captain to come with me to apprehend him and bring him back to Tokyo.

So I went to Takamatsu, Shikoku, and the first couple days what I did was have the RCIC unit down there, sort of see what the situation was, if Admiral Nagano was still there and, if he's there, where he was. And so they found out that he was in, temporarily in a Japanese ryokan with his family. And so, after I found that out, we thought better go and indict him, and to do that I had to take him by surprise because the people back in Tokyo, the tribunal, wanted to bring him back alive. They didn't want him to commit suicide. So in the early evenings, in the early evening, there were three of us stormed up the -- he was on the second floor of the ryokan, and so we stormed up. We took the innkeeper by surprise because he would have stormed up the stairs shoes and all and, of course, you don't do that in Japan. But we stormed up and got into the second floor and through where Admiral Nagano was, and he was spending a quiet evening with the family, he and his wife and two sons. And the two sons were still not quite teenagers yet, but anyhow, he was there sitting, the family was sitting at the kotatsu, and when we got there, of course he was surprised. And so I told him what I was there for, and I read him the indictment in Japanese. And after, Admiral Nagano said, "Why didn't you tell me you wanted, the American MacArthur and the tribunal wanted me back in Tokyo as a war criminal? I would have come myself without being indicted, as are being done right at the moment." So, after that, he didn't put up any fuss at all. He agreed very kindly. So that evening we got him to a Japanese koban, police station and had him put in a cell in this police station.

And the following morning, we got on the train trip back to Tokyo. So, on the train -- every train in Japan had a special, what is it, train I guess, or passenger train that was solely for the occupation use only, and had a white stripe across, occupation troops, or whatever. I forgotten exactly what it said. But, anyhow we got on the occupation train and just the three of us heading for Nagano. And as the train from Shikoku on to Tokyo, every time we stopped at the station, people on the platform could see inside that Admiral Nagano was there. So you could read the lips of the Japanese on the platform saying, "There's Admiral Nagano." Of course, they didn't know what he was there for or where he was going. But I became quite friendly with Admiral Nagano in the three days up, and so when he passed away during the trials -- he contracted tuberculosis, and he died while his trial was still on -- so, I thought, "Well, it's better than for him to be hung or being tried by trial court or any other punishment." This way, to find that Nagano died on his own, what is it, strength? I thought was befitting.

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

<Begin Segment 7>

gky: Can you talk a little bit about what it was like to be in the head of the interrogation section for the Tojo trials, for the Tojo trial, the war crimes trial?

SY: I was... for the Tojo trials, I was most of the time in charge of the translation section, and I had a section of, I had three Niseis helping me to check the translation done by Japanese translators. I had about fifteen Japanese translators in my section. And they would translate documents that contained the information to incriminate the Japanese, particularly war leaders. And the Japanese would translate it, and I'd have my Nisei checkers check the translation and, of course, at the end I'd look it over, too. But most of my time was spent not interpreting in the courtroom scene, but in the translation section, translating Japanese documents into English. I did this for the better part of the, tenure of the trial.

gky: So they were in 1946?

SY: Yes. After we came back from, after Nagano came back to Tokyo, they thought that they needed translation officers to verify translations done, and so most of my time after that was doing translation work.

gky: Did you ever meet General Tojo?

SY: No, I never met him, as such, but certainly I saw him many times in the court where all the twenty-six major war criminals were lined up in dark and here we were on the prosecution staff confronting the twenty-six war criminals.

gky: Can you describe physically what it was like, what the feeling was like when you went into the tribunal room and you saw all the prisoners lined up? Physically, what did it look like?

SY: It was very military, so to speak, because, of course, the supreme commander being General MacArthur, and the tribunal was established under him. So it was a very military setting, and very -- the scene was very overwhelming, let me put it that way, to see that the proceeding, the interpreters sitting in the courtroom to find each individual why they were responsible for their part. And specifically, they had for the gallery, relatives and friends of the criminals, as well as other spectators, and Tojo's daughter, two daughters, were there almost every day in the gallery. Of course, Tojo was found guilty, found guilty and hung, hung in the end, so to speak. Other lesser criminals were of course given longer imprisonment, but Tojo and six others, I've forgotten who they were, six major war criminals were hung.

gky: And will you talk a little bit about the Bronze Star that you got? It wasn't addressed to you, but it had down your parents' address in Gila River.

[Interruption]

SY: My first award was in New Guinea, and it was in recognition of my job as a chief interrogation section and also the fact that the sections were responsible for interrogating some 3,100 prisoners in New Guinea alone. And, of course, like all citations read unselfish in furtherance of military operations and that sort of thing. But this was my first award, so to speak. And, subsequently, I received an award as the translator, the chief of translation section in the Philippines. And also my duties in the war tribunal, but that first one was for conducting interrogations.

[Interruption]

gky: But will you talk a little about here it's being addressed to your father in Gila River?

SY: Oh, yes. Of course, it's very unusual for a citation or anything to be referred to the home front. And, of course, at the time my folks were in Gila River, and so next of kin, my citation at the end reads "Next of kin, Koichi Yamamoto, Gila River, 64-4-D," which is barracks number. Sort of ironic to see the citation being referred to somebody being in a relocation or concentration camp. So it be. So it was, so to speak.

gky: When you think about the time you spent in the MIS, what kind of legacy do you think will it leave?

SY: I believe it leaves a good legacy, because in contrast, not looking down on the fact that the 442 and the 100th infantry battalion in Europe didn't have any direct impact as far as Japan is concerned. But everywhere in MIS we were -- what is it? -- getting information in the defeat of our ancestral country, and I think the MIS, in that respect, not bragging or anything like that, but I feel very good about the fact that we played a big part insofar as defeating the Japanese nation by our intelligence work. And, as General Willoughby cited, he said that the Nisei effort in the Pacific Theater was responsible for shortening the war by two years and saving millions of lives. And General MacArthur stated, of course, everybody is aware of it, but he said, "Never in the history of the American army did we know so much about the enemy before we confronted them." And so these remarks by the head of the G2 and General MacArthur I think just paid tribute to the Nisei cause in the MIS.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 8>

gky: This is tape three with Steve Yamamoto. The date is December 13th, the year 2000, in Los Angeles. Steve, can you tell me a little bit about the other things that you did during the Occupation after working on the war crimes trials?

SY: I was back with ATIS for a few years. Of course, we were back at the NYK building, and I was the... a civilian, what's the head of the translation section, and I don't know, but I was captain major. But anyhow, I was the assistant chief of the section and checking the translation done by, of course, ATIS was all Nisei translators there. And I was checking the translation done by the translation team. And after two or three years, ATIS became, was no longer in existence, and the remnants of the ATIS moved out to Camp Drake, the outskirts of Tokyo and became the 500th MIS group. When we moved over to Camp Drake, I was the executive officer for the translation section, not necessarily doing the translation or checking the translation itself, but as an executive officer to make sure that the operation translation work was being done properly and was being administered properly. So my final days in Tokyo was in that capacity, as an executive officer of the translation section.

gky: Did you think that the Americans -- what did you think of what the Americans did in helping the occupation, I mean, being a Nisei or part of the occupying force? What effect do you think that had on Japan?

SY: You mean Niseis or you mean the occupation troops itself?

gky: More the Nisei; what effect did the Nisei have on being part of the occupation?

SY: I think the Niseis did a tremendous job, because in all aspects of the occupation work...

gky: Excuse me. Would you mind putting your hands down...

SY: ...in all phases of the occupation work...

gky: Sorry, would you mind starting over?

SY: Okay. I think Niseis made a major contribution to the occupation work, because whether it be in the economic stages or political, they all needed interpreters and translators. And Niseis were used in all areas of the occupation duties. So I think the Niseis did, I don't whether I can say major work, but certainly they made a major contribution to the occupation duties.

gky: One thing you can't really interpret for people is another culture. Do you think the Nisei had a greater understanding of the Japanese culture?

SY: I believe so. Inherently, I think as far as culture is concerned, even those people that have never been to Japan, the cultures of the Japanese are inherent and in the body or in the soul itself. So in answer to your question, I think yes.

gky: What year did you retire from the army?

SY: I retired from the army in -- getting back from the occupation, may I add one more thing?

gky: Sure.

SY: You know, MacArthur's tenure as supreme commander -- Truman, of course, you know Truman fired him from the scene while he was still over there. And I thought, not because General MacArthur was my boss then, but in the eyes of the Japanese, to cut somebody off from his duties like Truman did to MacArthur, I thought it was a bad gesture on the part of Truman, although Truman probably had his reasons. But the Japanese people, the kind of people they are, to see somebody that had been revered so much to be, what is it, fired from his job, I thought was not very good in the eyes of the Japanese, because the Japanese, as you know, thought he was the second emperor, so to speak. And I think the occupation work, or the occupation went smoothly as it did partly because MacArthur didn't try Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal. You know certain countries wanted Hirohito to be tried just like the rest of the war criminals like Tojo and all that. But MacArthur didn't consent to that, and I think it went a long way insofar as the success of the occupation duties go.

gky: Would you tell me the year that you retired from the military?

SY: I retired from the military in 1961.

gky: So, twenty years?

SY: Twenty years. And I retired lieutenant colonel. And soon, upon retirement, I came back to Los Angeles with my mother-in-law and my wife, of course, and a couple weeks later I get a wire from the Pentagon saying, "We need you. If you want to work in civilian, report back to the Defense Intelligence Agency by the 5th of July of 1961." So before I could unpack my suitcase, I was back in Washington and in the Pentagon. And I was a GS-14, Department of Defense civilian and Chief of the Information Security Program implementing DoD policy, security policy for Defense Intelligence Agency. And so I stayed on that job until 1986, I believe it was, when I retired for the second time after twenty-five years at the Pentagon. So totally, I worked for the government for forty-five years.

gky: Can you think of anything else to, that you want to say or you want to add to what we talked about?

SY: No. I felt that the work I did throughout the war in interrogating prisoners or at the tribunal, well, I felt it was very challenging and I was happy I was able to do my, conduct my duties and, what is it, for the government, so to speak.

gky: What effect do you think that your service and the service of all your comrades had to do with redress?

SY: Let's see, by redress, what do you mean by redress?

gky: The government apologizing and paying the people who were in camp. In other words, the image of Japanese Americans, what effect do you think that the MIS and the MIS accomplishments had to do with, had to do with the American...

SY: I think, from the outset, doing the work, intelligence work against an ancestral country and being very loyal, patriotic, and the work -- with full determination to do what you set out to do, I think it went a long ways. I don't think it was insurmountable. I believe it helped a lot insofar as the redress cause is concerned, because it proved to the people, American people at large as well as the military that the Niseis could be trusted in a situation where things were very challenging insofar as work is concerned and insofar as the spirit is concerned in doing the work that we did. I think it should have helped considerably in the redress movement.

gky: Anything else?

SY: No, I can't think of anything at the moment. I'm hoping that I was able to express myself clearly. I have misgivings sometimes that my communication wasn't as flawless as it should have been.

gky: No, but no one's is. So, yeah, very interesting. Okay. Thank you very much.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.