Sexo

Male

Birth date

1919-02-14

Local de nascimento

Salinas CA, USA

Inducted

1941-09-11, San Francisco CA

Tipo de alistamento

Volunteer

Ramo das Forças Armadas

Army

Tipo de serviço

War

Tipo de Unidade

Combat

Unidades onde serviu

Battery F, 188th FA, 41st Division Battery A, 522nd FA of 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Military specialty

Field Artillery

Stationed

USA: Camp Roberts, CA; Ft. Lewis, WA ; Camp Shelby MS Other Countries: Italy, France and Germany

Separated

Ft. Lewis WA

Unit responsibility

Support the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

Personal responsibility

Manning the 105 Howitzer as a gunner. Field artillery specialist.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Rome-Arno Southern France Northern Apennines Rhineland Central Europe

Living conditions

In most instances, the artillery positions were away from the front lines, so we were able to dig foxholes large enough to accommodate sleeping bags. We used pup tents over our dugout to shelter rain and cold. As for bathing, most of the time we bathed ourselves by using wet towels and shaved. Our metal helmets were used to heat water. Periodically, we were provided with showers and a clean underwear during the break. We were able to get hot meals most of the time. Thanks to our own mess section. No complaints. For entertainment, there was not much to do during the war--wrote letters, played cards and talked about ourselves sitting around the bonfire in winter months and between firing orders. During the break, we were treated to a movie and visited to Nice during the Champagne Campaign.

Most vivid memory of military experience

My first encounter with the liberated Jewish inmates from one of the sub-camps of Dachau remains vivid in my mind. It was shocking to see them--skin and bones due to malnutrition and hunger. Horrible deteriorating conditions of human being! It was coincidental or ironic to meet an ethnic group of people who were incarcerated because of race, as we, persons of Japanese ancestry were similarly incarcerated. We in the U.S. were given an opportunity to prove our loyalty to our country as American whereas Jewish people in Germany, etc. were not. In fact, they were subject to extermination! What a difference!

Missed most whilst in the military

I missed the Japanese home cooking prepared by my mother. Also, I missed my immediate family and friends.

Most important thing, personally, to come from military experience?

The most important thing to me to come out of my military experience is that I am very proud that I was part of the famous 100/442nd Regimental Combat Team with its outstanding records during WWII. As a loyal U.S. citizen, I was given an opportunity to prove my loyalty to this country by volunteering for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team from the concentration camp! As Americans, we fought not only the enemy, but prejudice for a better America! I would like my family and close friends to know the story about the patriotism of the Japanese-Americans during WWII; the incarceration of persons of Japanese ancestry into internment camps because of racial prejudice. Despite the despicable treatment, Japanese American soldiers fought for this country with unmatched courage in WWII in the Pacific and European Theaters. After many years passed, both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government acknowledged a national mistake. Reparation payments of $20,000 each was made to surviving victims.

Additional information

Residence: Rockville, MD. Earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Business Administration from Benjamin Franklin University in Washington, DC. Retired after 37 years of federal service most of which was spent at the US Agency for International Development. Dedicated countless hours supporting the causes of organizations such as the Japanese American Citizen's League, National Japanese American Memorial, Go For Broke National Veteran Association, Japanese American Veterans Association, National Japanese American Veterans Council and the Agency for International Development Alumni Association.