<Begin Segment 9>

FS: I see it, the rescue of the 442nd represented...

AD: Or the rescue of the "Lost Battalion."

FS: Rescue -- I'm sorry, rescue of the "Lost Battalion" represented that we were not just fighting Germans. What I'm saying is that we were really Americans and we wanted to save other Americans. And I think we, the 442nd really justified all the confidence that the War Department and other people put it, is that we, it's something that had to happen. My story about it is this... this story. I was, I was on my way home from Europe, I landed in Newport News and there was, it was right after Christmas of 1945. Riding the train from Newport News, Virginia, to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, to fly home. And on the, I was on the train, and the train passed through Washington and stopped there. And it's the old Union Station, and you could see the Capitol Building, so I was looking at it. And somebody came by in the aisle, in the train, and saw my patch and he said, "Hey, you were with the 442nd." I said, "Yeah," and he said, "You were, you were, were you at the Lost Battalion?" I said, "Yeah." "I was one of the guys in there." And I can, no way I can explain what I felt like. I was angry. I kept thinking of all the casualties we had taken, and how many, how many people were rescued. And I said, well I, he didn't, I had words about that. I was angry. You know, and he, he started to walk away and he offered me his hand, and I refused to take his hand, and so he left. And I thought about that for years. I thought, "God, you're a real jerk, aren't you?" But, and I think about that, and I think, "That's what made the 442nd, the rescue of the 'Lost Battalion.'" They can never take anything, you can take everything else away, but we rescued the "Lost Battalion," it was Americans rescuing Americans.

[Interruption]

FS: As part of, part of my story about the statehood, and the Speaker of the House opposing statehood for Hawaii, the story came out that of course we had rescued this battalion of Texans. And so as a gesture of friendship to the, primarily to the kids in Hawaii, the Texas legislature and the government, governor signed this proclamation naming the, the 442nd from World War II as honorary Texans. And so we have this big plaque that says, hey, you're an honorary Texan. So I get my cowboy boots and hat on, you know, when I... [laughs].

[Interruption]

FS: Well, you know, you're talking about battle and the "Lost Battalion," but combat, there's just moments of just absolute terror and then a great deal of boredom when you're not, not fighting. But the most important thing, and this is what we were taught during basic, your one, the most important thing that you do is stay alive, because you stay alive and fight the next battle. But you look after yourself and then you look after your buddies, and you do as you're ordered by the officers. If they say, "Charge," you say, "How far?" And so that's, that's what war is about, is that the guy who makes the bayonet charge and gets killed hasn't really accomplished a hell of a lot, except to get himself killed. And you don't, you don't get, the officers don't get medals for killing off a bunch of their men. So that's the important thing about battle, is staying alive, prosecute the war, and, well, of course, kill the enemy. That's, I just... that's what war is all about. Yeah, we, we may talk very high-mindedly about the war now, but when you're, when you're up to your knees in mud and snow, and you haven't eaten for three days, the important thing is to stay alive.

[Interruption]

FS: Well, I look at Sidney and I think, "Now, this little girl just has unlimited opportunities. None of the, none of the restrictions, none of the things that were encumbered with as Nisei are gonna happen to her. She'll be able to go where she wants to, she can work with, at what she wants to. The, the legacy of the 442nd is that we are providing -- hopefully, with the sacrifices that were made by the 442nd, and obviously they were, they have been highlighted, is that, is that hey, the opportunities are there, they can do with themselves what they want. There's no other way to explain what will, what has happened and what will happen now. My, my children had ample opportunities, they go to college, they work at what they want to. When I was growing up, there was no -- the possibility of taking a, getting a job with any level of government was almost impossible. I guess when I was growing up, I could foresee myself ending up working in my dad's laundry. But as, as you see, I've done some things and enjoyed my life, enjoyed the work, and have a, have a lovely family. And I don't live in a segregated area like the Japanese originally in Spokane lived in a little, kind of a little enclave like a ghetto in those days. And so times have changed, and only for the better.

[Interruption]

FS: We, as a result of the beginning of the war, went through a very dark period for the entire Japanese American community in this country and in Hawaii, there was a question of our loyalty, we had great visibility, and as a result of that, we, we were sorely used, placed in concentration camps, and abused. The outcome, of course, is feeling that we, we have been able to, to lift ourselves up from that, and the mechanism of whatever happened is a result of the actions of the guys, not me, but the guys in the 442nd who were killed and wounded, and they, their sacrifice is, has produced this very salutary community. We, we, I think we can do whatever we aspire to.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.