<Begin Segment 14>

MM: You then went on to University of Hawaii for one year after high school.

RK: Yes, immediately after graduation I went to University of Hawaii.

MM: What was that like, that first year?

RK: Well, activities were limited, too, because, because of the war. And even at the university, we had one day off in which we were required to work in some defense-related activity. And for the men it was, we went out to pick pineapples. I guess it was Wednesday, or whatever, we appeared on the camp, on camp in work clothes and got on the, got on trucks and got hauled off to help harvest the pineapple crop because they had lost their manpower. That's where I learned how to test for pineapples. [Laughs]

MM: You were at UH for one year. And then you, as you mentioned, volunteered for the MIS and spent the next few years serving as an interpreter.

RK: Yes.

MM: And as an instructor in the MIS. What are your recollections of your service in the army?

RK: Well, one thing, weather-wise, I have to comment on this, in Hawaii, where we have forever, spring forever, summer. So I volunteer for the army in December. In January they ship me to Minnesota. I get off the train and had to hike for a mile in a foot of snow and said, "Oh, my gosh." Well, they gave us winter clothing, but we didn't know how to... when to put it on, how to put it on, frankly. [Laughs] And then, so I spent the winter in Minnesota. Summer came and they sent us to basic training to Alabama, of all places. Winter comes, I go back to Minnesota. Summer comes, they send me to Officer Candidate School in Georgia. Winter comes, you go back to Minnesota -- war ends and I, they're gonna send me to Philippines, and winter comes, I'm in Japan. [Laughs] So I get the extremes.

MM: Yeah, get the real cold places during the winter --

RK: My army career wasn't anything special. I got very... fortunately, I got some good assignments.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2004 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.