Densho Digital Archive - Shiuko Sakai Interview (denshovh-sshiuko-01-0017)

<Begin Segment 17>

KL: How did you decide to leave Japan?

SS: I felt that I was there long enough.

KL: Did you come back to Washington, D.C.?

SS: Yes, uh-huh. I was still under the embassy, so I went back to the Pentagon. And then I went home to New York, I was still under the payroll. Then when the time ended, they told me that I would no longer be on the payroll, so I went back to Washington, D.C. and got a job.

KL: Was that all pretty quick still in 1953?

SS: Yeah, uh-huh. I got a job in the Pentagon with the army. Again I was under army intelligence, G-2. And I decided, I got a job as a clerk in a section (...). And I decided I'm going to work in one job for five years, and then I'm going to move on. And I was pretty lucky doing that. From the section, I went up to division, and division I went up to the foreign liaison office. That office, oh, got a job as administrative (assistant in the) office of the general, G-2.

KL: I should probably know those terms, because my dad had a career in the air force.

SS: G-2 is Intelligence.

KL: What kind of projects were the different offices working on? Like you said it was a division and then a section? What was the division office doing?

SS: What can I say? I don't know. But anyway, you get, you do more research work, I think, in the section. Because I wanted to get a job as a research assistant somewhere, but I didn't have college education, so I didn't get the job. Although I was in Japan, I knew more about Japan than anybody else, but I couldn't get that job. So then I decided I'm going to night school and get myself a degree. But in the meantime, I figured five years at a job is long enough. From section I went to division, and division I went to an office, foreign liaison office, which dealt with the attache offices of different countries. And from there I got a job in the office of the assistant general, Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, which is G-2.

KL: Were these offices interested in intelligence related to all countries, or did you have, did your office have a specialty in Japan?

SS: No, just... when I was working in the... the last office I was working there was during the Vietnam War, and then do you remember the Mi Lai Incident? One of the generals there sent over to Vietnam to investigate the Mi Lai Incident.

KL: And you were still, you were still working in that office when that happened?

SS: I was working as an administrative assistant there.

KL: What kind of tasks did you do in that work?

SS: Any letters for... any letters that come up to our office to be signed by the general or whoever, I would have to scan it, we'd make sure it's correct, typing and everything. I had to make sure it was correct before you went in for a signature.

KL: So you knew everything that was going on. [Laughs]

SS: Not everything.

KL: But you had a good, you had a window, sort of, on what was happening with military intelligence from the 1950s to the 1970s.

SS: When I was working there, yes. I wasn't working there all the time. I had to work myself up. In fact, our office was located... you remember when the Pentagon was bombed? I wasn't working there all the time, but at the time I was working G-2, our window looked out where the helipad, helicopter pad was, and that was the area that was (hit). So I know exactly where it was bombed. We used to look out the window and watch the Kennedy children getting off the helicopters when, either going or coming back from someplace. So it was kind of interesting.

KL: Yeah, yeah.

SS: And from there I went up to the chief of staff's office, the military historian's office for a short time. Then from there, I went to work for a general who started the all-volunteer army.

KL: Huh. Yeah, I want to hear a little more about all of those things. You mentioned the Mi Lai Incident. What do you recall about that investigation?

SS: Well, I don't recall anything. I don't remember reading anything about that. All I know is that the general... you know, it's classified. If it's highly classified it's done someplace else.

KL: It's different treatment, yeah. And you remember the Kennedy children.

SS: Yeah.

KL: What was it like working for the historian's office?

SS: Nothing. I mean, it was just a small office, just a general, his name was Collins. I don't remember anything.

KL: I would think that would be neat to get to do with your interest in history.

SS: Yeah. But military history. They had a general, his name was G.I. Forsythe, the (volunteer) army. From there I went to the chief of staff's office.

KL: When did that change happen? I'm sure it was affected dramatically by Vietnam

SS: I don't remember. You're talking about the draft?

KL: The change to the all-volunteer army.

SS: I don't remember the exact dates.

KL: I didn't mean to cut you off. You said from there you went...

SS: I went to... well, we were actually on the Chief of Staff's office. Actually, I went to the office of the Secretary of the Army, a cabinet officer. I went there as a secretary, but I did appointments, appointment secretary. So that was interesting.

KL: I'm sure it was.