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gky: How do you think the, what the MIS during World War II helped with the redress movement in getting an apology from the U.S. government?

SI: It's hard for me to gauge something like that. I can only say that I guess it had some effect because, after all, what we did was something that was for the good of the country. As a matter of fact, in the -- I may have told you about the conference at the White House, the Niseis, when Bush was president. This was the first year of the 50th anniversary of the war. He wanted our opinions on that. He felt that there would be some loud reactions to the Japanese because of the fact, of course, economically they were doing so well and all that, and there was conflict there. And also, if this 50th anniversary thing came up, he was going to talk at the Arizona Memorial. So I said, "One of the best things you could do is say that well, the Americans who fought in the war, both in Europe and the Asian Pacific theaters, contributed so much that we have a unit that's the most highly decorated unit in the United States army for its size. In this MIS, as I said, we shortened the war, saved thousands of lives. I wish you would say that. Just say that there were Japanese Americans who fought for America."

gky: You were in the occupation as well?

SI: No.

gky: Oh, you came back in...

SI: From the Philippines.

gky: You were in the Philippines? Right after the war, were you there with the war crimes trials, the B class trials?

SI: No, I came back here and I was assigned to the intelligence hearing in Washington.

gky: Did you feel any effect that you had had when you fought in the Pacific when you worked here in Washington? I guess, could you feel that the Nisei had done something when you were working here in the United States? Here you are, half a world apart from them, and there's still all this stuff going on. ATIS is still there, they've got the war crimes trial going on, and you're doing other government work back in the United States. What was the big difference for you as a Nisei, and just as a soldier?

SI: Well, I was assigned here as a soldier, so my work was still connected with the MIS type of work. It had beyond -- of course, on a more strategic level, not on a tactical level. So we were involved in more long-range type things. But I was still involved in intelligence with MIS.

gky: And did you feel, I don't mean the same kind of discrimination, but that there was a feeling of separateness with you and the non-Nisei soldiers you served with?

SI: Not with the soldiers. They were very, we got along very well. The officers, I got along very well with the officers. The only time that I felt a little upset was in San Francisco when people go around saying I'm Chinese or Filipino or Korean, or whatever.

gky: So you still were very proud of your heritage?

SI: Oh, absolutely. I believe that, I believe that our children and children's children, as far as possible, should be aware of what their heritage is. I sometimes wonder whether they do or not. The farther away you get, in terms of generations, I think you're going to lose a lot of the -- what I'm trying to do, for example, here in Washington and the Japanese American Veterans Association, I'm trying to get some of the younger people interested in taking over and carry on this type of work. Not this type of work, but carrying on the heritage, the legacy. And as a matter of fact, next year we're going to have a reunion in Los Angeles, 2001 reunion, the National Museum is sponsoring, and that's what the theme is going to be, to carry on the legacy. And that's what I think is important. Where like in Hawai'i and Los Angeles area, you have your Sons and Daughters organizations which are very active. But out here, we don't have very many involved in Sons and Daughters activity, but I think that's what should be done. I think that's -- so what I'm trying to do is we have a number of people working here, younger people working at the Pentagon, and we have some of them in our organization now, but I want to pull them in. I'm thinking get some of the midshipmen at Annapolis and let them know we exist, and have them join in some of our meetings.

gky: Okay. Any last thoughts about being in the MIS, about being Japanese American, about serving your country?

SI: Well, I think I've said my piece about that. I guess my voice is running out.

gky: Okay. Thank you very much.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.