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gky: Let's go to the Pentagon then. How did you wind up being part of the first team that went over, the first team of Nisei that went to the Pentagon?

KY: Well, you see, we got our furlough after our graduation from Camp Savage, and as soon as I got back from furlough, I was one of the first to be called. I went over to Mr. Aiso's office, he's a director over there at Camp Savage, and he said, "Well, you better pack up. You're going to go on a special mission." So not knowing who else was going, he just called me in there and said, "Get ready to ship out tomorrow." So we had a team of four: one man, one sergeant, tech sergeant from Los Angeles, one from San Pedro, and the third man, he's from Hawai'i originally but lived in Los Angeles. The four of us went on the train. Orders read get on a certain train. We went on the train and... so we don't know whether it's overseas or what, you know. To our surprise, we end up in Washington D.C., the Pentagon. When we opened the order, they specifically, you know, report to Fort... gee, I forgot the name of it. Anyway, it's right next to the Pentagon building.

gky: Myer?

KY: Fort Myer, which is a very exclusive camp there for general officers and so we lived there, you know, and the camp, the barracks, were men who were stationed at the Pentagon. We were assigned there and lived there, but our duty or mission wasn't spelled out. I was to report to the Pentagon and we kind of surprised them; we ended up in the Pentagon.

gky: What was it like being one of the first Nisei in the Pentagon?

KY: Well, you see, my understanding is that they needed some good Japanese linguists. They were using other nationalities like Chinese, Korean, so they didn't get what they wanted, and they were still not sure about the Niseis' loyalty, so they were using them. But in time, after, you know, the excellent record of the 100th, maybe, I think, they could use the Nisei for that type of work. And actually, being in the Pentagon is very highly secretive. Everything is top secret. So, I guess the army must have really checked us out. And four of us were there for almost a year and a half.

gky: And what did you do?

KY: Well, actually, our special mission was this: see, General MacArthur's forces had, and the navy, I suppose, had found a box, a crate of Japanese documents floating in the Marianas, Battle of Marianas. And they picked the box up and it was taken to General MacArthur's office at General Headquarters. So General MacArthur's headquarters had his team of linguists over there, they're known as ATIS, A-T-I-S, Allied Translating and Intelligence Corps [Allied Translation and Interpretation Section]. And they made a fast translation of this book which was, listed executive officers, Japanese imperial army officers' register.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2001 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.