<Begin Segment 19>

FA: Do you feel the government used you?

BK: What?

FA: Do you feel the government used you when they sent you on the tour of the camps?

BK: Well, that all depends on how you look at it, I guess.

FA: Were you a pawn? Used as a pawn by the government?

BK: [Laughs] You're always a pawn when you're in the army. You do what they tell you and you like it. But the thing that I thought was most important about it was that they did not tell me what to say or what to do. They did not give me any instructions other than to, just to catch the bus here, and go there and then come back. And I think that there has been a misunderstanding on that. And there was quite a sense of feeling that the JACL was behind my thing, too. And I had nothing to do with the JACL at that time and I hardly knew what they even stood for outside of seeing Mike Masaoka on that day for a couple hours.

FC: The meeting at the church, was this meeting right after the church service or before the church service?

BK: It was during the church service. I was asked to speak during the church service. It was quite an experience, too. Until the war I wasn't that much of a religious man but boy, once you see that anti-aircraft shell bursting all around you, you know, God, every time it exploded there was black smoke and there were times you get out there it was so heavy you could walk on that stuff. And terrified, you sit there with two fifty-caliber machine guns and you're just helpless; you can't do a damn thing. You can't fight back cause those anti-aircraft shells, those 88mm German shells are coming up there in the tons. [Imitates noise of explosions] You feel the plane move this way and that and you sit there and go, "Oh God, let's get the hell out of here." Oh man, I'm telling you... oh, I don't know how I ever made it. I had a good pilot. And they said, "God is your co-pilot." Well, I had a heck of a good co-pilot, too.

FC: Are you satisfied, did you prove yourself? Are you satisfied?

BK: Yes, I'm satisfied and like I said, I think I was really vindicated when the state of Nebraska invited me back to be guest of honor on the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. And if you'd ask me today, would I do it again, I'd say, "You're damn right." Without a moment's hesitation I'd do the whole thing again. But I think it's because of the state of Nebraska and the way I was brought up that made a lot of difference.

FA: Thank you.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 1998, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.