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HH: I understand that you were in the military service. At what point did you enter the service?

BO: My military service? Well, when I first came to Philadelphia, I was in the reserves as all Japanese Americans were. And after that, I signed up for immediate induction, because we were in a separate category. And then from there, I did go into military service and relocated back to Pennsylvania.

HH: How would you describe your experiences in the service?

BO: My time in the service was, well, I felt it was my duty. And because of that, I took my training seriously. The time, of course, I was being trained to go as a replacement for the 442nd. Our brother was killed, and I was notified three days before I went into the service, and that had an effect in my military life, because my brother often wrote that the primary thing was to get the family relocated, and now that was gone because of course my brother was going to do it, because he was left. And my purpose then was to train. My brother who was in combat and was killed, he said, "Then take your training seriously because you're going to use it in combat." And after that I was ready to go overseas and they took all the Japanese Americans who had officers IQ, and they put us into Fort Snelling to train for the military intelligence. And from there, I went to Japan. That was a great experience.

HH: So your overseas duty was as an interpreter in Japan.

BO: My overseas duty was as an interpreter.

HH: How old were you when you entered the service?

BO: How old was I when I entered the service? I was about twenty-four, roughly, twenty-five maybe.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.