<Begin Segment 16>

SG: Were you drafted before or after Pearl Harbor?

BO: I was drafted ten months before Pearl. That I want to tell you, February 20, 1941, yeah, '41. I was supposed to go in December of '40, but the volunteer pushed me back to next one, so I got drafted on February 20, 1941, and December 7th of '41. So I was in ten months but one week private and next acting corporal. Then you serve so much time, then you get the certificate. You're a full corporal. Then they can't take that corporal away from you. It takes a court martial to take that stripe away because mine is not a temporary corporal. It's a permanent corporal. Then you can go and actually get promoted on up, you know. It all takes time. But one year draft, I think often. I didn't sign no paper. I stayed in. As long as they need me, I served the best I can. We're on different subject now. Full ride, I got a sergeant. They want me to be a staff, staff to take over the, not the motor pool that I was in charge of. They want me to take over the motor repair shop, and a hakujin was in there. I didn't see him. I asked the major who's up there, you know. He's a hakujin. "Well, I want you to go up there and straighten that thing up." I said, "No. I got these boys to watch, take care them." I go there's nobody here who wanted to take the lead and stick their nose out and iron itself out. So the major says, well, see, I didn't take that staff sergeant at that time. I could have taken staff. And then the intelligence got me. Then I had to leave the boys back and go to the intelligence, but that's all in there.

SG: How did you feel when you were, first heard you were drafted?

BO: Oh, boy, everybody doing this, doing that, you know. There's formation. Formation you go out there, "What the heck am I doing here?" All the big giants standing there with a rifle, and me a little shrimp. That's exactly what you are, little tiny guy with all that. Then we go marching down the road, you know. They said, "Butt right, butt right." Where is your butt? Butt right, no that's wrong way. Butt right, butt left, see the rifle, see. That's what you get the first time. He shut his mouth, butt right. You better tape that. [Laughs]

SG: How did your mom feel about you being drafted?

BO: Mom, she missed me, you know. I kind of felt sorry, but you know, she had tears. But other than that, said, "Take care yourself," and I told her not to worry, you know. It will be like, the way I explained it is like a Boy Scout camp that we all take care yourself and do what they tell you on time, you know. Well, Dad didn't want me to go because there's no more, nobody to drive the horse or tractors. But my brother was there, and he had to do everything. Boy, he really missed me. He never jumped on me after that. Till then, he always jumping on me about this or that or going too fast. After that, he never jumped on me because I always stayed in the service. Boy, I hope he was in here with me to see what we are going through. He will change his mind, but he never came in. What he did is he volunteered for the Multnomah County Sheriff Pistol Club, and he was practicing pistol, and he got a lot of medals on pistol and still stayed home and take care the folks, but that was fine. Here we're out there, you know. And the, "You." "What?" "You're a corporal." You're in charge of this or you're in charge of that. They don't tell you what you're supposed to do, you know. They give you rank, and so you do the best you can. You keep your eyes open and do the best you can, what you're supposed to do and do it. They, keep going military? And then you look up, and the company commander, Captain Heinichen, Heinichen is German? Oh, tough guy, you know. Boy, I think that guy got lots to do with it because even that I was a Japanese and they, nobody tried to pick on me. But here again on the base, they tried to pick on me, and that's when they got whammed. It's in there. I'm an innocent guy. I didn't touch those guys.

SG: When you're going to, when you left -- first left for boot camp, did your mom or dad say anything to you? What did they say to you in Japanese?

BO: They said since I'm going in first, that they tried to [inaudible]. That's wind the road for the others that's coming in and take care yourself. That's what they told me. So I turn around to Dad, I says, "You know, I'm going in as a private. How can I step out of line and tried to wind the road for the other guys?" The other guys can wind the roads themselves. I tell him that. I said, "Well, I'm going to go in and do the best I can." And as you see, I did.

SG: You were the first Japanese American?

BO: Draftee. The draftee got to be in there, in the State of Oregon. It got put on the newspaper. See the newspaper article, Gresham Outlook and all that, it's all in there. You can look at it. I'm a railroad, lots of railroad in the army.

SG: So were you scared?

BO: Oh, yeah. I was scared because all the other big guys do this, do that, lots of horseplay too. It was the army cots, they break a leg, look like normal, you know. So you come home and you get in the bed, you're sitting on the floor. The hakujins, they do a lot of horseplay. But Nihonjin wasn't that way. I ran into Nihonjin as I left Fort Lewis to go to the, let's see. I went to... anyway, from thereon, I ran into all Nihonjin. They're more cooperative and they watch yourself, and everything is just orderly. You don't have to tell them too much either. They all do it, real nice.

SG: Why do you think that is?

BO: Education. All Nihonjin has gone to high school, and a lot of them has entered into college, that I'm going to say. So you cannot go and tell you did this wrong or that. They know what they did. They all went to high school. That's what the parent did, made sure that the kids all went to high school so they won't be below their next door's kid, so have a good cooperation. They understand things faster, and they do it. It will come up later on.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.