<Begin Segment 6>

ES: Sergeant Ben Kuroki is a boy from Nebraska. He served in Italian theater of war, and when he returned, he came to Heart Mountain and showed us, or told us the experiences and why we should serve in the military. He was a B-29 gunner in the Italian theater of war. Every time there's a dignitary or something important, these Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Campfire girls have a parade for them. Now we are gathered in front of the administration building, and you'll see a single star there that shows every star is a serviceman from the camp, serving in the United States Army. They come from far corners of the camp just to be part of the program.

WH: How many people total?

ES: Pardon?

WH: How many total people at Heart Mountain?

ES: There were 11,000 people at the peak.

WH: How long would it take you to walk from one end of the camp to another?

ES: How long...

WH: To walk from one end of the...

ES: Oh. All depends upon how [inaudible] you are. But these, you'll see there are more girls than boys, because boys, a lot of 'em are in military service or out employment, or out to higher education.

This is George Tani of Los Angeles; he was the chairman of that program at that time. Here's Sergeant Ben Kuroki. This is Project Director Guy Robertson, and this is Chairman of Council for the Japanese in camp. Here's Sergeant Ben Kuroki. I misplaced his speech, but he gave his very nice speech. He also spoke to the San Francisco Commonwealth Club. The star and the number 336 means that at that particular time, there were 336 men in service in the United States Army. "Autograph, please."

Now, the farewell parade. The weather there on some days are very nice, and other days are windy, dusty, and very hazy. What you can't get away is cold. I think under the direction of capable Mr. Nako and Mrs. Nako, I think we had one of the nicest Boy Scout, Girl Scout, Campfire groups that I ever heard of. We had praises in nearby cities, and they participated in many programs. He says, "That's enough."

Here's me and Sergeant Ben Kuroki as he's leaving the camp to go to Minidoka. Here are the pom-pom girls that welcomed Sergeant Ben Kuroki and farewell to Sergeant Ben Kuroki.

WH: Why was Ben Kuroki a hero?

ES: Well, he's a young boy from Nebraska, he served in the United States Army, he had difficulty in serving the country because of the feelings that the Japanese had, but he was finally admitted, he was tail-gunner in a B-29 in the Italian theater in Italy.

Now, this is, again, Sergeant Ben Kuroki's leaving at the gate, and here I am about to shake his hand. He's now transported back to bus depot.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Film Preservation Project. All Rights Reserved.