<Begin Segment 18>

KM: About a month later, before we got discharged, our squad was sent out to Koko Head to learn how to shoot the rifle. Finally, they will teach us how to rifles. So we had to go to Koko Head, and it took different companies, going out there, so they were gradually teaching the different people how to fire. The first day we went to Koko Head, I'm standing in line for chow, it was the evening chow. I'm standing in line and we see this Chevrolet car coming into the place, and then I saw a familiar face from Maui. He was a couple years older than I was but I knew him because he was my brother's classmate. The father was a district judge in Maui by the name of Jenkins. So I knew who he was. But before I know it, he's talking to my captain, Captain Aiwohi. My company commander was, Francis Aiwohi was a football star from University of Hawaii. I had a lot of respect, he was one of my officers. And so Captain Aihowi, "Miho," he called me over from the chow line, I was standing for chow, and he said, "Come, come, Jenkins wants you to go to town with him." So I got into the car, it was late afternoon already. I got into the car and we drove all the way back into town. And then I found that, I didn't know what building it was. Later on I found this was the Dillingham Building right in the heart of town. Then we get out and he takes me up there, we go up on what floor, I don't know. Then I sat down a little while, it was all creepy, spooky, I'm thinking, "What the hell is going on?" And soon enough, this officer comes in. And I distinctly remember his telling me his name was Robert Louis Stevenson, he was a colonel, lieutenant colonel. Local boy. And he says that he has a few questions he wants to ask me. He started to ask me if I had heard from my father on Maui. I said, "No, I haven't heard anything from my father," or anything like that. And at that point, I had forgotten about this Shigenaga. And talking about, what he wanted to find out was, "Have you heard any rumors about your sister in Japan?" I said, "What kind of rumors?" He says, "Well, let me be frank with you. Some people think Tokyo Rose is your sister." I said, "What do you mean?" "Yeah, yeah," he says, "there is some rumors that Tokyo Rose is your sister." And they had a tape, so they let me listen to the tape to see if I could recognize that voice. I said, "No, I don't think that's my sister's voice." And I thought that was the extent of it, but then after that, he says, "Oh, by the way, have you heard, is there anything you want to talk to me about?" I said, "Not that I know." "Have you been in recent discussions with anybody about the war?" or this and that. I said, "I don't recall." He said, "Oh, how about this man from Maui?" "What do you mean from Maui?" "Didn't you talk recently to a man from Maui, you knew from Maui? What kind of discussion did you have?" "Oh, he's the one that told me about my father," my father having been picked up the first night, December 7th and all that. "Is that the extent of the conversation?" "Yeah, that's the extent of it." That was the extent of my interview. Then I went back all the way to Koko Head. But evidently Mr. Shigenaga was being followed by the FBI because his older brother was nicknamed "Emperor Shigenaga." He was so strong pro-Japan. And he was the owner of Kaimana Beach Hotel, that's Shigenaga, until they sold out to [inaudible]. But Mr. Shigenaga was a well-known pro-Japan. He didn't hold back the fact that he was pro-Japan, from even before the war. That's why he was called, nicknamed Emperor or Tenno. Shigenaga, or some kind of nickname, he had a nickname anyway, but he was a well-known figure. And the brother happened to be pro-Japan too. But my stay with the Hawaiian Territorial Guard was highlighted by that experience.

WN: Were you familiar with Tokyo Rose at that time?

KM: I think we had just heard about, this is early 1941 now. No, in fact, I don't... when Stevenson brought that up, I think that was the first time I even connected the possibility of connecting Fumiye with Tokyo Rose. But you know, Fumiye tells me that she did appear on the Japanese radio, more like a newscaster, because she was dual in both languages. So she tells me that she recalls having come on the radio, but not like in the role of Tokyo Rose, more like a newscaster. And this was when she was already evacuated to Hiroshima. And so this is toward the end of the war, but this was at the very beginning in 1941 when she was still in Tokyo. She got involved with the radio in Hiroshima as I understand.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.