<Begin Segment 9>

MU: Then, then you went into Camp Savage?

GK: First to Fort Warren, Wyoming, from there to Camp Savage.

MU: How did you get, what were the circumstances that brought you to Savage? Somebody come recruit you or...

GK: Yes. I was at Fort Warren, Wyoming. Doing nothing except the camp... menial jobs around the camp. Then one day, Mr. Aiso and somebody else came to Fort Warren to interview Nisei for language school. And I talked to Mr. Aiso. And he asked me, "Would you like to volunteer for Camp Savage?" I said, "Oh, no. I don't want to volunteer for anything." I got my license, and only thing I (was) hoping for is the immediate discharge so I could go back to Colorado and start practicing. At that time I used to receive letters from my friends in Denver saying that they're in a dire need of an attorney. I was the only one there, first one in Colorado. Lot of people evacuating from the West Coast were looking for house, jobs, and there were lot of legal services required for those people. So, hearing those, I thought, gee, I should be right in the middle of it. So I wanted to get back and get out. So I asked for a discharge. Nothing happened. And then so...

MU: Let me ask you: what did Mr. Aiso say to that?

GK: Mr. Aiso said, "Yes, that's understandable. But we need your service at Camp Savage, in the MIS." And he had a legal background, too, so we had something in common. But he felt that our first duty is to serve the country (...), then do whatever we could with the rest of the time, or rest of the public sentiment.

MU: But eventually you were convinced that the right way for you to go was to go to Camp Savage?

GK: I never was convinced. But then I was sent to Camp Savage anyway.

MU: Ordered to it.

GK: Ordered to it. When Aiso asked me to volunteer, I said, "No." But next thing I (knew) I was ordered to go to Camp Savage.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.