<Begin Segment 22>

BO: We had one soldier that, in our company marching, and he would do stuff like a Japanese soldier, up and down, and I never stopped him or questioned him because this might be the part or training that he might be doing in the enemy zone. So he might be the one that there's one case where they march in with the enemy and listen to everything, then he come marching right back out again. They were saying, "Which section have you come from?" I come from so and so section and got lost, so then I'm coming over here, you know. I'll blend in that way. But I tell you, some of these guys, or they'll sneak in from the back and listen in to the office or tap into radio telephone line, all kinds. The other one is there is one island that nobody could understand that language. See, everyone has a different language, so that particular island is the language that they used. So they asked by listening to the radio, what is it? Oh, that's that particular island that their folks come from. So they took him to the Washington, D.C. and listened to all the rest of the lingoes and then try to find out what they're saying. Anyway, I lost part of it. That's how we snoop into the enemy, and they thought that we don't have no such a thing as a Japanese language school which we did not. This is the first time they ever started Japanese school, and they were going to move it to Maryland, and they did not. And then out of this in a very quick order, they have to hurry up and get some kids to listen and write it out so that they could follow-up and be on guard over there. They had pictures of a grandma's place over there. Then they say to look down. He says, "Yeah, that's a chicken house." That's how close they had pictures of just like we had in California. Take us out of range and merchant ship comes in coming down, they take a sound radar of the beach or the coast and they pay them for it. They do the same thing. You get paid for this plain pictures you got. And that's how -- and people don't know this. It's a big business selling pictures of each other. You know that? This is old stuff. I'm sorry. What else is there? There was one that they were actually going to invade Japan. This is a good one. They told the whole class about it. Nobody see it, nobody knows about it. It's a fish trap, long one. It's a dike at the lowest tide, it's underwater. It's green. You can't see it. So when you try to land in that, you get stuck on that rock pile. And fish that's inside, they can't get out, so they scoop the fish out. So they could really shoot and sink everybody right there. They told them about that. That's what's out there. Boy, they stopped that. That invasion was all planned, but they stopped it and saved lives on their side and our side.

SG: How did they find out about the fish trap?

BO: Because the kid that went to grandma's place, see, he came back, and he's telling them to, and they told him if you want to save your grandma, you better come out right now because that's the place they're going to go and blast and go in, and that's where his grandma was. So he told them and that saved the grandma and saved all our men from getting trapped.

SG: Do you remember what part of Japan that was?

BO: No, I don't know that. I don't know the details. That's a long time ago, back in '42.

SG: What things did they teach you in intelligence school?

BO: Okay. The thing that they taught us, we did not have a guard, entrance guard anything. It's wide open. But the civilians cannot come in and civilians are taxpayers and everything, and they wonder what they're teaching us. They must not be teaching you guys anything good things. So, we told them no. They got to be teaching something, and that's what it is. It's always, it's not written or anything. It's a lot of conversation that they explain to us, what happened, history.

SG: Japanese history?

BO: Well, or our history or you know, what we see and we bring it up, so that they be prepared. Just because you capture a soldier, says who's in charge, he says so and so major, fine. How many men he got? Maybe two hundred. Like hell. He has maybe three thousand men back there, see. So we tell them if there's only one hundred, two hundred, we could go in and get them, but better not. There's three thousand out there you can get killed yourself. Those are the things that helped our side to save our boys from getting cleaned out, and we got them.

SG: What other things do they train you to do?

BO: What other things they train?

SG: Yeah.

BO: Well, all I can say is that they went on their own, their own judgment and done it. I don't think, all they do to us was a description what is out there. But those things like changing uniform and stuff like that, no. Like Frank Hachiya, you heard about him? He went in and got the -- picked up and listened in or tapped in or something. He gave back the message. And then they asked him and we got to get one more, go back in there and find out one more thing. And Frank Hachiya, he volunteered. He said he'll go in. So he goes in and get the information on the return trip on hill side, trouble. Armed men shot him, and he dies. Before he died, he give out all the information and pass away. That's Frank Hachiya at Hood River.

SG: So the American soldiers --

BO: Because when we were going in school that there was no way of saving us. We were all getting potshot from the side, so they put MP in front, MP in back, even just to go to the fire range or to drop a bomb, benjo, you know. They had to put an MP in front an MP in back or else we were shot from the side, and they're not to shoot us. And on the one ship, they told the sergeant to keep your hands on and guard this boat. Each one is worth more than 20,000 of you guys on the ship, so they all protected the MIS boys that's on the ship. Until then, they were just pushing men around.

SG: Who was pushing you and taking potshots at you?

BO: No, no, no. In the liberty ship, you're going over, the sergeant, they're all mad at the Japs and picking on the MIS boys. The flunkies, I'm going to take the flunkies. I'm going to jump back now, the flunkies. Instead of transfer them out or give them a discharge, they said, "You're going to port of embarkation. You're going out there, shave your head, and put on a Japanese uniform on and get up in the front and display how a Jap soldier looks like." White people can't do that, but we can because we are Japanese. But then they catch you. Nobody could go up there and display without a noncom rank. You had to be a corporal and up to go on display, so they all got, even though the flunkies, they got a corporal and up rank even T-5, they get it. They were catching a [inaudible]. Interesting how to win a war.

SG: What was your first assignment?

BO: My first assignment? Well, I went to hospital when I was student. I went to hospital and by missing class and stuff like that, they finally transferred me to headquarters company instead of keeping me in a student company, and then I had to stay. And the first sergeant, he signed up for medical school, Paul Uno of Seattle. So he go to medical school, did an open right there, opening, nobody there, so they took me to take over. So I went there, and I told them I don't know how to type. I don't know nothing, but get in there and do it because it has to be done. You can't delay because the intelligence. You have to keep it going because the school is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. Okay, so I went in. Well, here I was doing the two-finger typing and all that and checking the absentees and stuff, then in comes more men. Anyway, mainland group involves Shig Hongo, Nobu Sumida, and that group. They were in and out. It's a, being in service and take a while too and coming in. Then relocation group, coming out of relocation camp, then there's a Hawaiian group. They're coming here volunteer from Hawaii coming in. I was first sergeant for those companies. One time, I was a first sergeant for two companies. What's my rank? Just lift my jacket up. It's only a sergeant, put the jacket down, I'm an acting first. In other words, there's no pay, but I didn't care. It's the work that has to be done by somebody. If they want to give me help, a clerk, they could find somebody, but they can't take a, touch the students. You got to take out of the headquarters company, some place, so I did it myself.

SG: What kind of things were you doing there at headquarters, at the hospital?

BO: Hospital? Oh, they had to, let's see. I was at hospital for carbuncle. That was the carbuncle. I had it on my leg, and I couldn't walk, so they had to open that up and put a, that's what I went up there for and that delays me. Then even I did come out, I won't be able to walk anyway.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.