<Begin Segment 17>

MU: Now, okay, after all that, you shipped overseas. How many of you went together on that particular shipment?

HW: There were forty of us. About six or seven were for staffing the camp.

MU: What camp?

HW: Indooroopili, in...

MU: Okay.

HW: ...in Brisbane. Kumagai was one of 'em.

MU: George Kumagai?

HW: Yeah, he went with us. He was in our group, that sailed.

MU: Uh-huh. Were you the leader of the group?

HW: No.

MU: Were you...

HW: Well, George was the leader, because he was a first sergeant. He's going over as a first sergeant of the camp.

MU: Uh-huh. So all right, now you get to Brisbane and what was your assignment?

HW: Oh, my assignment -- when I got there -- there was a nucleus there -- earlier MISers there. And my assignment was to general translation pool.

MU: How did you find the work? Interesting?

HW: Oh, it was translating diaries and things like that. It was kinda interesting.

MU: Do you recall anything in the diaries that you read that stands out in your mind?

HW: Well, I do have an interesting thing, which is -- [laughs] -- I didn't translate the particular document because by then I was the head of the technical and tactical air translation team and all mechanical things. But, one of the guys translated a diary and the diary described a new medicine that Japanese soldiers just got. And written in this diary, and it's to be taken by mouth. So the translator translated it, "New medicine, Japanese medicine to be taken orally." And then everything had to go to a editing pool and it got published: "to be taken verbally." [Laughs]

MU: "Orally" got published as "verbally"?

HW: Yeah, "to be taken verbally." But, the reason why I bring it up is, I was having trouble with technical translations. See, the editors would continually redo the technical verbiage into common language. I didn't like that -- it would change the sense of things. And I was fighting with them all the time. When that happened, I went in there and says, "This is the kind of thing that we can't tolerate in technical stuff." Week later they came to me and says, "We're gonna publish everything your team puts out -- no editing. It's gonna be released as you...

MU: Present it.

HV: ...present it." [Laughs]

MU: Was there many of that kind of thing going on where the so-called higher ups edit what you have done and...

HW: Yeah, well when they edit it, you didn't -- never see it again until it comes out in print.

MU: Oh.

HW: But I don't know how we found out about taking the medicine verbally, but anyway... [Laughs] But, you know, people like to put their mark on a piece of paper.

MU: Right.

HW: "I edited this thing," you know. And, it happens. That, in many senses just changes the sense of -- 'course, changing "orally" to "verbally" in the case of medication is...

MU: That's a big... how many were on your team there?

HW: Oh, I had about -- oh, about half a dozen.

MU: How long were you doing that?

HW: I did that for -- let's see, George Goda had the team when I was put on the team. And then he was commissioned and booted upstairs. So then I took over the team. I think I had it for about a year and a half.

MU: Did you get any awards for that?

HW: No.

MU: Okay, well, we'll stop right there for now and come back.

HW: Just had a lotta fun.

MU: Yeah, okay. Great time.

HW: Yeah, okay.

MU: Good.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.