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LT: And so you taught a self-improvement course, and you also taught orientation sessions on history of war. And before you were preparing to leave to come back to the States, you were involved in some situations that caused you to think that, in your words, "I could not avoid getting into hot water with the military system." Can you explain what happened during the final inspection when you and the other soldiers were participating in a training march?

GT: Okay. I had been informed that I was eligible for release unless I chose to sign up for reenlistment. And I told them that I would prefer to be released so I could continue my education to become a doctor, and I would not turn down this opportunity if it was extended to me. So I was just sitting around the post with really nothing to do. Then we were then informed that the Inspector General of the 25th Division was sending someone to the 10th Corps, which was the next major breakdown of the organization to inspect the 4th Infantry Regimental facility while the commanding officer of the 4th Infantry Regiment just went bonkers. Because his facility was the campus of the Osaka Commercial College, and it was not built like a military post, and they had to convert classrooms into barracks where we slept, and they had modified all the buildings to use as they needed to, and it looked like anything but a military post. And the officer in charge of the 4th Infantry Regiment just knew that his future would be shot. Because he had some ambitions of spending the rest of his career as an army officer.

LT: So he made a decision about how you would spend your time then.

GT: Yes. He wanted all the idle individuals to be out of sight. So he said, "You are going to be assigned to a special group," and that special group turned out to be about a hundred fifty to two hundred soldiers without assignment. They were just standing around waiting to be transferred so they could go home and be released and so forth. And they didn't want those people around.

So we went on a, quote, "training march," and we walked up along the narrow river that ran past this commercial college. And we walked about five, six miles, and then we crossed the river, across a half bombed-out bridge that was partially destroyed before the surrender. And then we were walking down the other side of the thing when the alarm, siren went off. The understanding was that when the inspector general visitation ended and they left the area, they would sound the old air raid siren that was on the roof of the commercial college and let us know when we could all come back to camp. And we happened to be right directly across the river from this. And the sergeant who was in charge of us wasn't happy about being selected to take us on this hike, the guy's assignment. But he said, "Let's cross over and we'll be back in our place in about fifteen minutes." Well, as I was taking off my shoes, I said, "Sarge, this area, the whole bank is black with periwinkle shells." They're little snail-like things about like this, all about the same size, and a tight spiral, cone-shaped shells. And, of course, these were, they were all dead. They said, and then when you look at the fact that they were all dead, there's another parasite that will attack these called schistosoma. And so if you get in the river, you'll be bitten by schistosoma, and it'll get into your bloodstream and wind up in the liver, and you'll die of untreatable cirrhosis of the liver. So he said, "What the hell are you saying? Where'd you get this information?" I said, "I'm sorry, but I studied four years ago, and when I was in college, the biology professor..." Said, "You're going to listen to all those dumb professors?" And I said, "I'm sorry, but it was taught as a fact, and I just happened to remember it." And said, "Well, we'll see what happens." He says, "You're being charged by a court martial offense." I said, "What for?" "The charge will be inciting the troops to rebellion. And you'll lose all your benefits, you'll even lose your citizenship. You won't get any of the benefits of the veterans and so forth, you'll lose your right to vote." That's all I got. "That's terrible," I said. "Well, it is, but you caused it." I said, "By doing what?" By telling this to the troops, and now half of them are refusing to cross this river." Well, and all the way home, this sergeant decided that there are too many people opposed to it, and that you better march back up and around. And all the time he kept saying, "Once we get back, your life isn't worth a damn. And then any good things in your records will be wiped out and you'll be essentially a man without a country."

LT: So what was the consequence for you?

GT: What was the consequence?

LT: What happened then? Was there a punishment afterward?

GT: Well, we got home to our headquarters, and we were told to get out of our marching fatigues and get into our regular dress uniform and get ready for dinner. And about this time, a young private from Headquarters Company said, "I'm looking for Private Tanaka." And I said, "I'm here." He says, "You're ordered to report to the regimental medical officer immediately." So I thought, "Oh, my god." So anyway, I went to the medical staff building, and there was a first lieutenant, and this was obviously the first duty assignment he'd ever -- he was more of a doctor than an army man. And he said, "I understand you caused a bit of a hassle out there." I said, "I didn't mean to, I just mentioned this, and I didn't riot anybody. As a matter of fact, I was ready to jump into the water and cross." "Well, that's what I understand. But to tell you the truth, when they told me what you said that caused this thing, I couldn't remember enough about it, but I looked in the manuals and still couldn't decide. I called the 10th Corps medical thing, and they weren't quite sure either, but they said that he ought to be given a chance to defend himself." So the word came down that I was going to be questioned by the 10th Corps medical officers. Now, 10th Corps, that's the high-ups. They don't treat patients there. They're the generals and the colonels, they're mostly administrative people. So they make the big decisions. He said, well, this medical officer for this regiment said, "I couldn't remember anything about this, so I'll have to send a report up to them suggesting that you not be charged." Now, they apparently read everything over, and they decided that they were not going to charge me with a court martial offense, but they never passed it on to me. And for a whole week, I kept thinking that someone's going to come around and tell me that, to come with them, and they'd stick me in the stockade, but it never happened.

LT: Were there any consequences or any punishments at all for you then?

GT: I thought that was punishment enough, to spend a week or ten days waiting for something to happen.

LT: Did the sergeant do anything to you?

GT: Well, he made a point of running into me every day and saying, "Gosh, what are you doing out here? You should be in the stockade," and kept rubbing it in. And even when the day came that I was supposed to report to go to the ship to take me back to Seattle to be discharged, it was kept away from me. They kept rubbing it in. And the train, most of the guys in my group, my company, every time they would see me, they'd say, "Hey, you still around?" They just made life miserable for me at that point.

LT: Now, you had a few extra duties that last day, too? A few extra duties that last day?

GT: Oh, yeah. The most demeaning thing is by this time, the army was trying to relieve the enlisted men from doing menial things like cleaning toilets and cleaning up the camp, which was hard to take care of because it was not built to be an army camp, it was a college. But they had started a program in which they would hire Japanese civilians to come and do that kind of work, and then relieve the military men from that kind of menial duty. And so...

LT: So the sergeant meted some duties, extra duties to you that last day?

GT: Yeah. He kept assigning me, and then having other men come back and see me working with the Japanese civilian laborers cleaning toilets and so forth, and they were taught to tease me, saying that, I guess, "Once a Jap, always a Jap. Can't be trusted." [Laughs] It was terrible.

LT: And as it turns out, they did investigate the river.

GT: Yes.

LT: And found that what you had conveyed was correct.

GT: I guess it was, yeah. As a matter of fact, they had to send officers from the 10th Corps down to do the research, and they found everything I said was true.

LT: What does it do to someone to try to convey the correct information and then have others come back and...

GT: Tease you about it?

LT: ...punish you for speaking out?

GT: Well, by this time, we were pretty well trained about the military systems. And I felt that I won, and all this other stuff actually never got on the record, it was all talk.

LT: Did this have an effect on what you considered when you thought about speaking out later on?

GT: What's that?

LT: When you faced other similar situations later on, did that affect whether you spoke out again?

GT: No, I guess I... well, when I was in Seattle, the sergeant who was processing my discharge said, "You know, how would you like to join the reserves? You'd advance one grade higher to join the army reserve." I said, "You know, I'd like to turn that offer down. I've had enough of the army, and if we have another war, maybe I'll have a better experience." He said, "Like what?" I said, "I'm interested in becoming a doctor, and as a doctor there, I hope that they would treat me a little differently than the infantry. I think I'll take my chances by turning down your offer." He said, "Well, but what you have to do is two weeks out of the year, you'll be asked to report to one of the facilities and review what the infantryman should know." I said, "I'll take my chances."

LT: Thank you.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.