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I: How did you first hear about the 442nd and what motivated you and your brothers to join the army, and where did you join the army?

CT: I had applied for a job in Washington, D.C. with the government. I couldn't get one locally because of the war, and my understanding was that it was, in St. Louis, because of the nature of the war munitions and aircraft factories there, they were a little loathe to take on Americans of Japanese descent. I looked in other areas, but they were also a little wary. So I applied to the government, and they said, "Sure, come on in to Washington, D.C."

[Interruption]

I: Were there any, what company were you originally sent to then? Originally K Company, you were assigned to for training purposes? This was in Camp Shelby.

CT: In camp, you go to, you're not assigned to any rifle company, you're in a rookie school in a training group. And they have provisional companies, I don't recall the name of the company, but it was not K Company as such. We were trained... you stay in training for about three months or so, or more, and then you go on maneuvers and other type... so your training goes on for about a year. This was a little bit longer than usual, because I think they were still testing us.

I: This was in Camp Shelby?

CT: This was Shelby, Mississippi, near Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

I: Were you aware, while in Mississippi, of the Jim Crow segregation --

[Interruption]

CT: They would use the bathrooms or the buses up front and so forth, but they weren't too happy with the situation, because they understood discrimination. But they just wanted to get their training over and get into action, and so they didn't want to really create an incident, although some of us were really upset with the whole thing. I don't know if it ever came to a confrontation.

I: When did you enter Camp Shelby, Mississippi?

CT: I believe it was in October of 1943.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1980 The Center for Educational Telecommunications and Densho. All Rights Reserved.