Interviews

1. Growing up with both Japanese and American influences

2. Starting to get angry

3. Finding out Roosevelt wanted Japan to attack

4. Strictly American, but sympathize with Japan

5. Parents expected to be taken by the FBI

6. Angry about the mistranslations of his father’s testimonies

7. Not able to go to Manzanar on a furlough

8. 525 Quartermaster Corps

9. Fort McClellan soldiers

10. “All I have dear to me is in the camp”

11. Try to be a bridge between both countries

12. Common Grounds

13. Interpretation of Nikkei

14. The Meaning of “Nikkei” (Japanese)

Shimo,Cedrick

(1919-2020) Member of the 1800th Engineering Battalion. Promoted Japan-U.S. trade while working for Honda's export division.

Angry about the mistranslations of his father’s testimonies

I wrote to Washington, D.C. on one hearing, I think it was Santa Fe, and the unfortunate part was there was a Korean – they didn’t have Niseis interpreting, they’re all in camp – so they had Koreans who speak a little Japanese I guess as the interpreter. And I know she meant well, cause she was struggling with English, you know, and probably struggling with Japanese too as my father was answering it. And I know it didn’t come out the way my father was saying it, I was starting to boil, so I wrote a letter to Washington, D.C. saying that this hearing…the record – I asked for a transcript but never got it – but I says it’s not right cause the translator, the interpreter, was completely off base.

And I wrote that letter to (Edward) Ennis, I think I wrote to Ennis, but I just got an acknowledgement, I received your letter, but nothing on that. So I can’t say anything, I’m listening to all that, and that’s the first time I’ve seen my father he was…first time I’ve seen him in tears, I just pictured him as a samurai all the time and he just looked haggard, you know. So that’s when I really start to get angry too, you know…

World War II

Date: March 25, 2005

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sojin Kim

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Cedrick Shimo was born in 1919 and grew up in the diverse neighborhood of Boyle Heights. He was active in the Boy Scouts, kendo and the Cougars, a Japanese American athletic club. He received his draft notice the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor while he was at graduate school in Cal Berkeley so he joined the army and signed up for the Military Intelligence Service Language School. However, when he was denied furlough to visit his mother in Manzanar, he became outraged and refused to fight overseas and was placed in the 1800th Engineering Battalion – a segregated group of German, Italian, and Japanese Americans who were considered suspect. Their role was to repair damages to roads, bridges and fences caused by combat troops during training maneuvers. He returned to Boyle Heights after being honorably discharged from the 1800th and went on to become vice-president of the export division for Honda.

On November 20, 2008, Japan awarded him The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays for his efforts in promoting Japan-U.S. trade during a time of trade friction between the two countries while he was at Honda.

He passed away in April 2020 at age 100. (April 2020)