<Begin Segment 24>

KP: One of the questions I want to ask is while you were over in Europe did you hear anything... you weren't where the 442nd was, but did you hear any stories about the 442nd at all?

RD: The Four what?

KP: The 442nd, the Japanese American troop?

RD: No. You know, the first I ever heard of that was when we got back here and they made that one movie where Van Johnson played there, played the lieutenant or something about Japanese Americans. What did they have, ninety percent casualties in that outfit?

KP: I think they ended up with three hundred percent casualties.

RD: Yeah, somewhere between ninety and a hundred percent casualties, yeah. And I imagine some of those kids from Manzanar were... I think there were some kids that, when they became eighteen, was able to enlist in the service, I think. Some went from there, I think, I'm not too sure.

RP: Actually, that raises another question, Russell. Did you, whenever you were on duty, even at the gate, at the front gate, do you remember seeing any Japanese Americans in uniform who came back to the camp to visit?

RD: No, no. I don't think they would have been allowed to come there anyway. Even if their parents were there... they might have, but I never did see any. I know I've seen a documentary, they had some movie on one of the programs there. I guess it was Cold Case. You ever watch that program on TV? They went clear back, and it was camp Manzanar, about there, in the service, some were in the service. But I kind of remember some things there, and I can't remember whether his son was able to come there and visit him or not. I don't, I don't remember. So I was thinking about that.

RP: He was allowed to come.

RD: But I never, I never did see anybody, that might have been after I left there, too.

RP: '43/'44, yeah.

RD: We left there in May of '44.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.