Densho Digital Archive - Frank Isamu Kikuchi Interview (denshovh-kfrank

<Begin Segment 14>

JA: Tell me about the... as time went on, I think that there was a movement about, from some young men to want to join the military service. Did you know people who joined the U.S. military?

FK: You mean volunteered?

JA: Yeah, volunteered.

FK: Oh yeah, there were a lot of them that volunteered from the United States concentration camps. If you go into that, you have to mention the fact that there were a lot more from Hawaii, though. But then the Hawaii people had a little different situation, I guess, you know, they weren't incarcerated, they didn't lose their possessions or their jobs, or anything like that. And those people were treated fairly decently, so when there was a call-up for volunteers, they had a lot of 'em volunteering. In the States, there was a little different situation where the parents and the families were all incarcerated, we lost everything, and yet in spite of that, when there was a call-up for volunteers in our concentration camps, there were people that volunteered. And there were... also on top of that they were subject to draft because we had to register and submit to a physical for our classification. All of us had to do that, just like anybody else outside, and from that classification we were called up, they were drafted, in other words. But there were volunteers also, though, I know that for a fact.

JA: That's quite an irony isn't it?

FK: Yeah, it's one of the sticking points. But, before I get too negative about it, I still think this is the best country in the world, hands down. Got a lot of warts, but still, you know, everything in balance, it's the best country in the world, and it's just up to everybody to see that it stays that way.

JA: At that time, did you feel your country had let you down?

FK: Yes. I didn't see the justice at all in demanding service from incarcerated people. We were incarcerated by our own government. It wasn't that we were soldiers of an enemy country or anything like that, we were incarcerated by our own government that mistrusted us. Or it was war hysteria or whatever, or commercial interests, they just banded together to have us incarcerated.

JA: And yet the 442nd served with a lot of distinction.

FK: Yeah, they were the most highly decorated unit in the whole history of the United States Army. They're a wonderful group. And on top of that, don't forget the MIS, the Japanese that served in the Pacific. They were unheralded for a long time. They shortened the war by two years, according to MacArthur's own aide.