Densho Digital Archive - Kenji Goto Interview (denshovh-gkenji-01-0002)

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KG: Well, I did not experience too much... in fact, none of the people who volunteered told me that they had brothers or sisters or relatives in Japan who might be serving in the Japanese army. However, personally, I had my cousin, who was a professional soldier, he was a warrant officer in the Japanese army, and well, I was afraid that someday I might meet him. Because at the time that I volunteered, I was not expecting to be an instructor, to be kept at the Military Intelligence Language School. But my cousin, who was the head person of the Goto family in Japan, was in the Japanese army. Well, however, at that time, I did not know where he had served, he was serving. But there was an inkling of fear that I might meet him. Then, well, what would I do? But besides that, nobody among the people I had recruited said anything about having a relative in Japan or in the Japanese army or navy.

LD: You never heard any of the students discuss that, or the staff itself, nobody discussed it?

KG: No, no.

LD: You never saw that as a potential problem?

KG: No. There was one person who had volunteered in Hilo, I forget the name, but just after he volunteered and he signed up with me, his brother, who was in the 442nd, got killed. And so he came and said, "My parents are worried that I might be killed. I'm the only son left." So he said he wanted to withdraw, and I allowed him to withdraw. But the enthusiasm was really great. One person who was forty-two years old, who was a theater owner at a place called Honokaa on the island of Hawaii, wanted to volunteer. He was, since he was forty-two years old, and he had been in business for many years, he was very good in the Japanese language. He was a Nisei, so he was good in English language, so I thought he seems like a good man, person. And I accepted and took him over to Camp Savage. But he was an alcoholic, and so about, after about... so every day he had to have about one quart of whiskey. So the army finally found out when he would come to class drunk, so he was discharged.

But there was another fellow who was my classmate at the University of Hawaii who took ROTC and he was commissioned as an officer. But then after graduation, he had gone to the Honokaa plantation, and there he was a field overseer. And as to his keeping up with his military training, I think he must have been a little lax about it. And he told me he was in the reserve, he was a captain. So he asked me if he could be, you know, get back his captain's commission and serve in the Military Intelligence Service. So I telephoned Major Bryant, and he said most likely no. He said, "He has to start as a buck private." So I told him that, and he said "All right," he said, "I'll start as a buck private, but I think I have the confidence that as soon as I graduate from language school, I'll try to get back my commission." And this fellow's name was Kenneth Hino. Now, he went to Camp Savage and graduated and went to... where was this place, where they make the "ninety day wonders"?

LD: Camp Benning?

KG: Yeah, Camp Benning. And he was commissioned again, second lieutenant. And so he went overseas, and I don't know what... when the Korean War started, he was a captain by then. So he had a company. But he was banged up pretty bad, wounded. And then, but still, after the Korean War was over, he kept on in the army and he retired as a major. So there were people like that who had a commission, but who was willing to start from buck private.

There was another fellow by the name of Mihata, he was a Honolulu boy. He was also a University of Hawaii ROTC graduate. But when he was, when he volunteered for the MIS, he started as buck private. But no sooner he became a master sergeant and went overseas.

LD: That was a sore point, wasn't it? Sounds to me, I've heard it many times, really, from many of the MI, that they really never got the rank that was their due. Some fellows have [inaudible], they took a lower rank just to go into this program. There were also people just, that all the fellows coming up never, most of them, made beyond sergeant. Do you recall about that?

KG: Yes. Major Aiso told us once that he had tried to get commissions for the instructors. However, he was not able to get the War Department approval on that. Anyone who became commissioned officers, officer, had to go overseas. They could not stay in the school to teach. Well, we felt that being a... well, we got the, as soon as we became instructors, we were made staff sergeant, and by the time of the end of the war, most of us were master sergeants. So when we went to town, all of us were either tech sergeants or staff sergeants or master sergeants. You know, some of the downtown hakujins used to say, "You people are a zebra outfit," because there were very few buck privates, the instructors. Well, there's no buck privates, we instructors went to town.

LD: What is a "zebra outfit"?

KG: Because we had lots of stripes. [Laughs] Master sergeants would have three stripes, and then the rocker and then another stripe below the rocker.

LD: But how about the MI guys who went, did go out overseas?

KG: Yes, well, that was the point that many times I felt that we who were instructors had very little chance of distinguishing ourselves. We had been selected as instructors because we were well balanced in the knowledge of the English language and also the Japanese language. But those people who were way below, many of them way below our ability, when they'd go overseas and we'd hear that, well, he did a good translation, found some secret in Japanese military force, and then get commissioned a second lieutenant, or get a medal. And so we felt that we were really, so-called suckers, staying back at the language school and teaching.

LD: Are you talking about the MI Issei?

KG: Well, Niseis too, that is, well, we had classes from section one, which is the top, well balanced, way down to around section 30, with twenty men each in class. Now, well, many of these people way down in the lower sections, they were more dictionary carriers. [Laughs] But the organizations there, it was a team of ten people, and usually the leader was very good in both Japanese and English. Then there would be Niseis who are good in English. Then there would be Kibeis who are good in Japanese, but not so good in English. So in reading captured documents, especially diaries, it is written in slurred style. For that reason, it would be very difficult to read, but it would be the Kibei who had maybe high school education in Japan or maybe even university education in Japan. But not well balanced, because those university graduates in Japan did not have too much of American schooling, so were not too good in English. And so, you see, then they would be way down about the ninth or the tenth would be some people, some of these fellows who were way down in the lower sections. But, well, through some luck, some of these way down lower class person would be decorated with a Bronze Star or a Silver Star or something of that sort. But we instructors at the language service, naturally, we had to study what we're going to teach the following day. I know that I used to spend 'til about one, two o'clock in the morning to get everything ready. When you teach the higher class, they can really mess you up if you don't prepare. They'd start arguing about the translations and so forth. So you had to be very sure of yourself, but in order to do that, the instructor had to study until one, two o'clock, prepare for the next day's lesson.