<Begin Segment 40>

KL: Well, my last kind of big question unless you guys have anything, just what, you know, if somebody watches this, either if next week a seventeen year old kid from Ohio who has never heard of this watches this, or fifty years...

GM: I hope none of my friends see it, they'll probably say, "Oh, George, that's embarrassing seeing you."

KL: I don't think so. I think you're a great observer, and I think you've seen a lot, and it's really wonderful to have heard your recollections. I think you're a good thinker, too, I think probably more of your dad rubbed off on you than you realize as far as observation and processing. But what, if somebody does watch this who doesn't know you, what do you want them to know about your experience?

GM: Gosh, I don't know. What do you mean by that?

KL: What about your life, or you can think about it in terms of your experience of Japanese American removal in Manzanar, or just your life more broadly, what do you want to pass on? What do you think is the...

GM: Oh, no, Manzanar was just a memorable era of my life, three years plus, and it's a wonderful experience, everything else. I have some fond memories, like in the army in Japan, and then Korea, too. I was lucky I didn't see any combat. Like in Korea I talked to a prisoner of war, that was great. It was funny, right after the armistice was signed and we were sending, I was stationed in the Kojido, and was a prison island. And we were sending the coins back, and me and the sergeant were sitting down on time on deck, smoke coming out of anther ship, and we got the word that it was a female prison ship. They were raising all kind of hell and this captain opens the gate to shut 'em up, and they didn't they jumped him. They didn't kill him, but then this sergeant was saying, "What a dumb..." I said, "I know, he doesn't know how girls fight?" So anyway, then the guys on our ship, you see movies like John Wayne, the LSTs, they land and the front opens up, and the guys, tanks come out. Well, they just converted that, put two-by-fours and barbed wire. And I'd even just watch them sometimes, and they all have to sit. And if one guy was too tired and he had to lie down, about half a dozen guys had to stand up. And then it was August, hot, and then when the food came, the guy would put his M-1 aside, open up the gate and say something like, "Hey, you son of a... come and get your food," and they could jump 'em, and they can't take the ship. But anyway, one day this South Korean soldier who was the interpreter -- and I felt sorry for him at first because he was the only non-GI and I used to talk to him. But anyway, one day he and one of the captains from the ship went down to listen to these North Korean prisoners. And I was up on deck and listening, I couldn't hear anything they were saying, but I did hear the captain say, use a cuss word, and he walked away. I said, "Oh, no," you know. So I went down there and I asked this one prisoner something, and he yells, "Who's your boss?" And then he yelled, and this middle aged man, they made room for him, he sees me and he says, "You're Nisei." "Yeah." He said, "Your country put you in a concentration camp." I remember he said that. I said, "I know, I know, but we're not here for that." I don't know how long we talked. I might have lied some, I said, "You know, we're stupid. We don't know how to handle prisoners, we're new, we're a young country," and all that. But I said, "In another day, you guys will get off the ship, get on a train, you go home." And I said, "Please, can't you just bear it and all that?" And then I remember he said, "Come back in a couple hours, I'll talk to the men." So when I came back, real nervous, he goes, "George, because you're of Japanese descent, and you showed consideration for us, the guys said we'll do ask you ask." I fell on my knees. [Laughs] And I don't know if he was pulling my leg, but I remember I fell on my knees and said, "Oh, thank you, thank you." I remember that. So that's the closest I got to a prison, I mean, in North Korea, thank god.

Off camera: That's a great story.

GM: But that was funny when he said, "Your country put you in a concentration camp." I remember even telling him, "Yeah, we're probably the best propaganda, we probably lied more than anyone else, but we are still number one," and this and that. So a lot of that is based on truth. And sure, we exaggerate like crazy. I mean, I didn't know what I was talking about, just trying to, he's talking about this and that, and I won't deny that, yeah, we probably did that kind of stuff. But I just kept saying, "Please." I had no idea how long it was going to take for them to get home. But it was really warm for me when he said... because I know how the Japanese were, I used to ask the Korean people, I couldn't believe it, how the Japanese were to them. I mean, not all the Japanese, I'm sure. They're worse than how we are.

KL: It was good for all involved in that incident that you were the person you were at that place. I want to thank you for us personally for letting us hear all these stories, and from the --

GM: I apologize for talking so much, god.

KL: You're great. Sometimes, not very often, but sometimes you'll have to encourage people to kind of give more details and share more and tell more of what it looked like or what it felt like or whatever, and you are very eloquent, I think, and I really, I feel privileged to have gotten to hear you, and I know the National Park Service really values this interview and I suspect that others who watch it will to, so thank you very much. I'm so glad you did.

GM: Oh, thank you guys.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.