<Begin Segment 9>

SG: That must have been strange to be fighting for the U.S. Army but then come back and to have to visit your family in the internment camps.

JO: Yeah. It was really disgraceful why, but that's the way they want us to live. I mean, they moved us out. And in the back of my mind, I said gee, it's too bad they do these things to us. But my attitude is to help us too because if you're here in the West Coast after wartime, why, you might run into more trouble too. So when the government forced us out of the West Coast, why, some people have different ideas why they do it, and why they didn't do it. I feel that the, I guess the government thought that if we stayed over here, and Japanese people, why it would turn against the people here, you know, what they call bomb the place or something. But then again, if we're here, our people would be here. We might have more problem because the discrimination people might get at them also, too. So to me, I don't know what would people do.

SG: Did you ever think about leaving the army because of the way your family was treated?

JO: Yeah. I did in a way because they had some paper flyer out saying if you're going to fight for U.S. or not, which way you're going to go. And of course, I'm being a soldier, I said, "Well, I'll fight for the U.S." I know they did the same thing to the people in the camp too. They had to answer yes or no.

SG: What made you want to fight for the United States?

JO: Well, I'm in the army already, so what else can you do. I took basic with other people. I know it's kind of hard, I guess, because, in the meantime, I was sent to Germany, and I was over there for a whole year in Germany.

SG: So it sounds like you didn't necessarily agree with what the American government was doing, but you, in a way, you had to fight for the, with the U.S. Army.

JO: Well, I was, I was a platoon leader and took my younger brother. He was in my, in fact, they sent him to my platoon, and I kind of complained why they didn't send me over right away to Italy. And the commander said, "No, you're not going to go over there." So they kept the 1st battalion, the whole battalion, the leaders of it. So they send the men across, but, so we had to stay there and train the new boys that come in for training. So there's another company was formed, and I was in that form of company to train the new recruit, so that's where I was. And then I, later, was shipped to Germany.

SG: Why do you think the Japanese Americans were signing up to fight in World War II even though the families were being interned?

JO: It's hard, it's hard to explain at that time.

SG: How about looking back at it now?

JO: Well, what the government did, you had to do, whatever they did. But they, I know they realized later on that they shouldn't have. But that was something, hoping that in the future a thing like that don't happen again. That's why we have the get together of fifty years after the war. I'm hoping that a new war like, you know, I don't think we have that kind of trouble, I don't think. I know the young people do kind of realize now that, what the Isseis and Niseis have gone through, made it easy for the Yonseis, fourth generation, and they do realize it. Like my grandson said something at the gathering here a week ago. Of course, my family, affected more too. We lost our son Curtis, and I don't know, affected me quite a bit. So we always miss him. We got his picture hanging back behind me. He was our oldest son.

SG: Your son was in, also in the army?

JO: Yeah. He got in the army, and he got commissioned over here. He just finished, another few more months, finished his college, and there's about three of them volunteered to join. And no sooner than four months in Vietnam, why, he got killed over there, so I couldn't get over that for a while.

SG: Even though you were in the army?

JO: Yeah. And that boy was born when I was oversea in Germany. He was born here. Then when I'm over here, he went over there and got killed. So I wasn't there both time. When he was born, when he was killed, he was there alone. So anyway, our oldest son was really close to us, but all the four sons are still here. We always get together.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.