Densho Digital Archive
gayle k. yamada Collection
Title: Don Okubo Interview
Narrator: Don Okubo
Interviewer: gayle k. yamada
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: January 8, 2001
Densho ID: denshovh-odon_2-01-0001

<Begin Segment 1>

gky: This is the 8th of January, 2001. We're talking with Don Okubo, O-K-U-B as in boy - O, in Honolulu. Now, Mr. Okubo, you were born on January 22, 1919?

DO: Yes.

gky: And how many years were you in the MIS?

DO: From 1943 -- oh, the MIS club changed, but twenty, thirty years.

gky: I know, but when did you first go into the MIS? What were you...

DO: After I was discharged, see, I don't know exactly what date, but...

gky: How about when were you first inducted?

DO: MIS?

gky: Uh-huh.

DO: That's our own club here. That's Military Intelligence Service club.

gky: No, not the club, but the years that you served.

DO: Oh, in the service.

gky: Yes.

DO: Oh, military service. It was 1943.

gky: Until when?

DO: I got discharged in 1946.

gky: In what month?

DO: January.

gky: January of '46?

DO: Uh-huh.

gky: And what month did you get inducted in?

DO: That was 1946. Oh, I think June.

gky: Okay. You volunteered for the army.

DO: Yes.

gky: First, will you tell me about volunteering first for the 442nd?

DO: Well, actually, at that time, that's when they had announcement to that, after the 100th Battalion made such a good record in Italy, our government trusted the Japanese, so I guess they wanted Japanese boys to volunteer that time for this group. So without asking anyone, I just volunteered for the group. But three days prior to my report to the precinct, I had, I received a card not to report because they had enough boys already in the precinct. So the second time when they ask for language, people with language background, and they're recruiting them, so I said, "Well, it's time again for me to volunteer and serve the country." So I volunteered again without consulting my parents or anybody on my own. And I had to go and get, take a test to qualify. So one day I was going to go to YMCA and take exam. Of course, I had Japanese background, so I had no problem taking the test. I was picked out as one of the boys to go to the mainland for military training and for intelligence, Japanese language.

gky: Where did you learn Japanese?

DO: I learned, actually, in Hawai'i after the English school. My parents sent me to the language school on Fourth Street. And from 3 to 4, or 3 to 5 o'clock every day, we learn Japanese language from the beginning, from elementary to twelfth grade.

gky: What was Camp Savage like?

DO: Camp Savage was just, to me, was just way in the sticks up in the mountains some place, and it was just like another camp. And was okay. I think it's much better than some other places.

gky: What did your parents finally say when they heard about you volunteering?

DO: Well, you know, they are first generation and they're from Japan. So, they didn't say anything to me. You know, since you volunteer, that's okay, you know. And they didn't say I did the right thing, or whatever it is. So I said, "I'm going to fight for the country."

gky: Why did you volunteer?

DO: Because I strongly believed that as an American citizen, is time to prove to our country that the Japanese can be trusted and we are just as good as any other citizen in the United States and [inaudible].

gky: And had you been feeling any kind of discrimination as a Japanese American?

DO: Oh, yes, in fact, even in my uniform, I was discriminated all the time.

gky: Will you tell me about that?

DO: Well, you see, we translate and all important documents from the -- you see, we used to do all the translation in Hawai'i, we were shipped back to Hawai'i. And all that they boxed it and then we get, and then the information we get -- one day, I delivered top secret, marked top secret on the envelope, I deliver to the navy, and I was in American uniform and I couldn't get through the gate over there. The sentry would not let me get in. And maybe I was Japanese. And I think that's discrimination.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright &copy; 2001 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.