<Begin Segment 7>

gky: So in terms of your importance as a translator, how important is a translator in Europe?

KY: Europe, needed... actually, you see, because of the fact that Japan was an Axis partner and they must have had exchange of strategy or military equipment, you know, that type of, nothing of that phase. It's more the fact that Europe, the European war was going to be shifted to the Pacific, and they must have had some military exchanges or strategies, and I think that's the area we were at. But our mission, we were only enlisted men. So, we find the documents and then if they have translation, interrogation, they want our help, you know. But that was our extent. But in my case, when I found the document for the munitions and all that, that was something that nobody would come to look for that document. I come across that document, I tell them the importance, you know. So we evaluated and report to them. So ours was kind of a halfway, that's beyond our enlisted men's status.

gky: But you were there sort of as insurance.

KY: Yeah.

gky: What would you call that document that you found when you back in Camp Ritchie?

KY: What would I what?

gky: That document, the munitions document?

KY: Actually, the title was Imperial Japanese Army Officers' Register. No, no, that's other one, the Pentagon. The document was the inventory of armaments and munitions of the Japanese army. And that is not only the homeland's now, they had listed, I think, if I remember correctly, Korea and Northern China already. Because they were at war from 1935, I mean, Northern China and Manchuria. So I don't know from what Drew Harrington must have found out. I don't know too much about it, but Drew Harrington said that as soon as the document was translated, sent over to the high Alps where the B-29s were sent over to bomb already, you know. That I don't know. That's what I read in Drew Harrington. Drew Harrington must have found out that type of information. I don't know.

gky: How long did you wind up staying in Europe?

KY: Six months.

gky: At that time, did you think anything about, you know, you're Nisei, you're over here. It seems like you should be in the Pacific rather than in Europe, because there were only three of you guys over there.

KY: Well, the only thing is I had a choice. The rule says I can get my discharge at 85 points. I got over 100, number one. And, actually, I got four brothers in the army already, and I think we served our country more than 100 percent. But my father, he's, he was eighty-one, I think, yeah, and he had a stroke and he had nobody to help him during the war. And we ran about 150 rental units, and we had a merchandising store, and we had other retail establishments. And all our men employees were all drafted and the ladies were home, the families were all taken. So I felt that at least one, I said to myself, "The first son should be home to help," you know. That was my thinking, anyway.

gky: Did you ever talk with your parents about going to war, volunteering for Camp Savage, volunteering to go to the 100th?

KY: No, that's all my decision, and, of course, you got no choice in the army. They tell you go, you go. And that's the way it was.

gky: Did you ever think about the idea of serving your country and patriotism?

KY: What?

gky: Patriotism.

KY: Oh, yeah. Unquestionably, I am American. I was in Japan '35 to '40, and it was getting pretty bad, yeah. They had these, they started, was it the Manchurian Incident first and North China, and then China. In 1934, I went to Harbin, Manchuria, near the Russian border on the Southern Manchuria Railway, beautiful train, wide gauge. But they had armed guards on the train, mind you, even at that time, '34.

[Interruption]

gky: This is tape three with Kazuo Yamane in Hawai'i on January 8th, the year 2001. Go ahead, you were talking about patriotism, how patriotism played a role in what you thought about when you volunteered, or when you were drafted.

KY: Well, the draft -- I don't think Hawai'i had any dissenters, those who objected. I think the volunteers for the 442nd, for instance, was overwhelming, all the quota needed. And MIS was the same thing, too. So from the standpoint of patriotism, there's no doubt, you know, that Hawai'i Nisei are very patriotic, strong in their patriotism.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2001 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.