>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington D.C.
>> Gary Rhay: So, this
hour we're going to talk
about the Japanese American
experience in World War II.
We have a great panel of
Veterans to talk with you,
and we also have
a gentleman here
who you might guess is
not a Japanese American,
but he has a great story about
them, so he'll also contribute.
We're going to let each of
them take a little time,
introduce themselves,
and then we're going
to have Marty's story
and then we'll open it
up for your questions, so
we'll go in that order.
>> Frank Sogi: My name is Frank
Sogi, I come from Kona, Hawaii,
on the big island of Hawaii,
a location where the only coffee
is grown in the United States,
and it is a Gourmet coffee.
So, if you ever see Kona
Coffee please buy and drink it.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
That's my speech.
[laughter] Now, when the war
started on December 7, 1941,
I was a freshman at the
University of Hawaii,
and as required I was
taking a Reserved Officers
training course.
After one semester of that
I was a seasoned soldier,
so on that day all ROTC students
were called in and activated.
From December 7 to
about February 1942,
for about 3 months, we
guarded electric plants,
water facilities, and so forth.
But the United States government
saw that we all looked
like the enemy, so we
were summarily discharged
from the Army.
I went back, all though
it was on the West Coast,
and the other speakers may
talk about this, they were not
as fortunate, we
were not incarcerated
in the American concentration
camp, but the Japanese Americans
on the West Coast
were incarcerated
in the American concentration
camps
for the duration of the war.
In 1944, or by 1944, early,
we knew that we were going
to win the war and
the government saw
that there was need
for linguists,
people who could speak
Japanese, so we volunteered.
I had 4 sons in my family
and 3 of us volunteered.
My brother, oldest
brother and I volunteered
for Military Intelligence
Service,
and my second brother
volunteered for the 442 and went
to Europe with that unit.
In January or February
1944, I volunteered
for the Military Intelligence
Service and I was sent
to Camp Savage and Fort
Snelling in Minnesota.
And then, I did not go
overseas like my brother,
who went overseas, I had not had
any military battle experience,
I was teaching the
language in Minnesota.
My brother unfortunately died
in Okinawa two days before the
war ended on August 13, 1945.
After the war ended, I wanted
to see my relatives in Japan
and to see how they were
doing, how they were fairing,
so I volunteered for
one years' service
in a County Intelligence
Core in Sapporo, Hokkaido,
where we did continuous
interrogation
of military personnel,
Japanese military personnel,
returning from Russian territory
like [inaudible] Vladivostok,
and an island in
the Northern part
of Hokkaido called Segholand.
[assumed spelling] And during
my one year in Hokkaido
with the Military Intelligence,
County Intelligence
Core we learned,
and we discovered two
teams of Espionage agents
that the Russians
sent into Hokkaido.
We compromised them and used
them by sending messages
that we drafted, and
they sent by Morse Code.
In that door of duty
in Japan for one year,
I learned when I visited
my parents Prefecture
in Southern Japan, then my
mother who had 7 sisters
and 2 brothers, and in Japan
the large family was very common
in those days.
The youngest brother, or my
uncle was a Navy Fighter Pilot,
and I learned that he
was one of the pilots
who attacked Pearl Harbor and he
returned successfully to Japan
after the attack and
received some imperial medals,
which I saw.
On the second mission in the
Battle of Midway, on June 6,
1942, the Battle
of Midway happened,
and he was killed
in that battle.
As you may, some of you know,
by June of 1942 we had
broken the Japanese code,
so we knew exactly what
the battle plans were.
Their plan was to bomb
the hell out of Midway
and land their troops, but
Admiral Halsey, I think,
or Nimitz, I forget which, had
the information of their plans
so we attacked them first, and
that's when my uncle was killed.
So, in the occupation one year
it was quite an experience,
and I must say, my
experience in the Army was one
of the best experiences I've
had, I've learned a great deal
and matured very quickly.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Warren Tsuneishi:
Thank you Frank.
My name is Warren Tsuneishi,
I was born on July 4,
1921 in Monrovia, California.
My father named me after
the then President,
Warren G. Harding, possibly the
worst President this country has
ever had the misfortune to have,
but please don't judge
me by his behavior.
I will be celebrating
with my family
and friends my 83 birthday
on July 4 of this year,
about 5 weeks from now.
[ Applause ]
[laughter] And I will
be called upon to sing,
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy,
Born on the Fourth of July.
[laughter] But, I would hesitate
to do that for you here today
because my age-related hearing
loss has made my signing voice
less than that of, let's
say, an American Idol.
[laughter] So, despite
my good looks,
I would never win that contest.
[laughter] I was educated in
the schools of California,
had all kinds of friends from
all over, and all racial groups.
I was in the Boy Scouts, and
you know, the Boy Scout code is,
"On my honor, I will do my
best to do my duty to God
and my country", and my
country was the United States
of America.
You know the West Point
code, Duty, Honor, Country.
People asked me why I
volunteered for the U.S. Army
when after Pearl Harbor my
family and I had been put
into these detention centers.
Pearl Harbor was the worst thing
that ever happened in my life,
I thought my life
was coming to an end.
People asked me why I
volunteered, and I said,
this is my country, I
have to fight for it.
That was the feeling in those
days, anyone of draft age
when war came, they willingly
went into the service,
I was no different
from most Americans,
of that, males at that time.
I went into those detention
camps with my family.
My family consisted
of 9 siblings,
4 of us at draft age eventually
wound up in the U.S. Army,
all of us in the Military
Intelligence Service
because we had some
Japanese language capability.
There's a very well-known
photograph of my mother
in that relocation
center in Heart Mountains,
holding a small bannerette
with 4 blue stars denoting
that she had sent 4 of
her sons into the service.
I met Frank Sogi through the
Military Intelligence Service
Language School six
months prior to training
and then was sent
overseas to Hawaii,
where I joined the 24th Core.
24th Core is a very large
organization and ten
of us Japanese Americans
were assigned to it
as the 306 Headquarters
Intelligence detachment
for our expertise in
the Japanese language.
The war department and
the Navy department know
that if war ever came between
the United States and Japan,
they would need people
competent in the languages,
in the language of, in
the Japanese language.
I wish that they had heeded that
same knowledge before they went
into Iraq with an
inadequate supply
of Arabesque speaking soldiers.
But that was our job, to
interrogate prisoners of war
and we were taught that
you do not humiliate,
you do not abuse prisoners
of war, there is such a thing
as the Geneva Conventions.
And we found that if you
treated these captured soldiers,
and despite their reputation
to fight till the bitter end,
quite a few of them
surrendered or were captured,
we found that if you treated
them with some kindness
and with some respect they would
tell us anything that we needed
to know, what was their
unit, how were they trained,
what were they trained for?
What was their equipment,
what kind of ammunition
and fueled artillery and guns,
and machine guns they had?
What was their mission
on the battle field?
This kind of information is
of the greatest importance,
technically it's called
Order of Battle Information
and that was our major
contribution I would say,
to the winning of the
war against Japan.
My jobs especially,
was to translate
captured enemy documents,
Japanese language documents,
and the Japanese
Military was very careless
with these documents, even
top secret battle filed orders
and battle field
strategy documents,
because I believe they
felt that there was nobody
in the U.S. Army who could read
and translate those documents,
but that was our job to do that.
I was never in the front
lines, I was always
at the headquarters,
but I did volunteer once
for a reinforced
battalion to go into the,
an island in the Philippines.
You will remember that
in the initial places
of the war we were in the
Philippines of course,
the U.S. Army was defeated
and General McCarthy,
the Commanding Officer had
to retreat to Australia
where he mounted
a counter offense,
he was to mount a counter
offence and he vowed
that he should, I shall return.
He returned on October
20, 1944 and I was
with that Army organization
that returned.
The Battle of [inaudible]
was relatively short,
and by Christmas of that year
the island was declared secure,
but McCarthy's headquarters
received an urgent call
from a small group of islands
called the Sweet Potato Island
but in Spanish the [foreign
language spoken] Islands,
that they were being massacred
by the Japanese troops still
in command in that area.
They asked for a reinforced
battalion of about 800 men
to be sent in to liberate the
[foreign language spoken],
and two of us Japanese
American men,
and Loyston Santo [assumed
spelling] from Honolulu
and I volunteered for
that liberation battle.
That was the first time I
came under direct enemy fire,
but most of the time I was
safe in the rear echelon
with the echelon troops.
I was also after that, involved
with Arket in the Battle
of Okinawa, the bloodiest single
battle in the whole Pacific War,
that was a, as you
know, the last battle.
That was when Japan
surrendered after the bomb,
dropping of the atom bombs.
So, after that Ryan Archard
was sent into the occupation
of Korea, and after
that they offered
to grant me a field commission
as a Second Lieutenant
and I said, no thank you,
I've had enough of war,
I want to go back home.
And I did.
The government had a wonderfully
generous plan called the GI Bill
of Rights, under which it
paid for my College education.
I had been a junior at the
University of California
when Pear Harbor was attacked,
I had one more year to go
and I was able to get out
of camp to finish that.
But I wanted to do some graduate
work and that was as far
as I was concerned,
their greatest investment
that the United States and
tax payers in those days made
in educating its
citizen soldiers.
It was because of the graduate
school education that I was able
to get that I was able to
obtain some very good positions,
I ended up at the Library or
Congress right down the road
as Chief of the Asian Division,
and I thank God all mighty
that I was a citizen
of the United States
and that these opportunities
had come to me
so that I could reach the
status that I finally reached,
I've been retired now for
a little bit over 11 years,
and I spend most
of my time working
with a Japanese American
Veterans Association.
We have a both down the road
in the Veterans Affairs Services
tent, and I encourage you
to visit it, you will get
a warm welcome from them.
Thank you very much
for your attention.
[ Applause ]
>> Jimmie Kanaya: My
name is Jim Kanaya,
I'm from Clackamas Oregon.
Are there any Oregonians
out there from Oregon?
Anybody from Oregon?
Hey, welcome to Washington
D.C. Do you know
that there's only one state
in the union named after
and Irishman, or Regan?
Well, that's supposed
to be a joke.
[laughter] Anyway, I joined the
Army before the war started,
I felt that my destiny was
in the Military at
a very young age.
I used to watch all the parades
and the National
Guard enactment,
and so I found myself
trying to enlist
in some branch of the service.
Well, I went to the
Marines, this is 1940.
I went to the Marines
and they didn't even look
at me, no we don't.
I went down stairs to Navy.
No, they came and looked at me
and they wouldn't even
say welcome or nothing.
So, I said, [laughter] the
Navy guy says, why don't you go
to the Army, they're
taking anybody in the Army.
So, sure enough I went to
the Army, and do you know,
even though I was
over 18 they wanted me
to have a complete physical
when they were taking guys
with only one hand practically.
They were drafting guys
who could walk and talk,
and they were in service a year.
I had to go through a real,
a long process of physicals,
in fact, I had a
couple of bad teeth,
I had to have they
either pulled, or filled,
or a bridge put in or something.
It took me about 2 months, and I
was knocking on the door trying
to get in and finally I made it.
But anyway, that was
the days of $21 a month,
$21 a month Buck Private.
You had $21 a month
for 3 months,
at the end of the third
month he drew $30 a month.
And then, if he made PFC,
one strip, you $36 a month.
Well, low and behold
I found myself
in the Army Medical
Department not having one day
of medical training, well
I just learned everything
by on the job training,
how to take care
of patients in a hospital.
And I had a very fine mentor
and a lady nurse, and Miss.
Higgins, she taught me
everything I should know
in the ward and how to
handle the ward patients.
How to carry bed pans and
urinals without spilling them,
and how to feed patients who
couldn't be fed by themselves.
It was great, I kept
getting promoted.
And at one point as a Private
First Class withdrawing $1 a
month more than a Buck
Sergeant, a three striper,
because I had a specialist
rating, a first class,
a second-class specialist
rating.
That paid $61 a month, I do
that for one month and low
and behold they promoted me to
Corporal and I lost $7 a month,
go back down to $54 a month.
Now, I really don't know if
anybody can take a promotion
and make less money, but
that happened in those days,
and I'm sure it doesn't
happen now.
But December 7, 1941
I was stationed
in Santabarbara California at
the general hospital, and you,
back in those days
on the West Coast,
Japanese Americans
could not swim
in public pools unless
you're accepted at an hour
when there are very
few people there.
So, what I did was every
Sunday morning, you know,
by the way we got
just one day off,
back in those days we worked
7 to 7, six days a week,
and every Sunday
we got one day off.
I would go to the YMCA
Santabarbara and go swimming.
Nobodies there, everybody's
supposed
to be at church anyways.
So, as I was coming out
there was a man standing
at the counter on December 7,
it was about, what time was it?
7, that would be
what, 10 o'clock?
Something like that.
He looked down at me and said,
hey, you guys here already?
He said, you guys here already?
Looking at me he says,
what's he talking about?
But he said, listen, the clerk
behind the counter, well,
had a radio and he had his
ear tuned to the radio,
the description of the
bombing of the Pearl Harbor.
And boy I tell you, when I
heard that I shagged back
to the hospital, and of
course from that point
on the details are kind of
fuzzy but the hospital personal,
the command and all the
nurses still treated us
as if nothing happened,
and I think that is a great
credit deal to the Army,
well Army Medical Department.
Anybody from Medics out there?
I think they did a great
job at that moment.
And as we were rounded
up about a month later,
a couple of months later to
be evacuated inland ahead
of our civilian Japanese
Americans,
the commanding Officer
of the hospital came down
and gave us a pep
talk, you know?
He didn't have to do
that, he could of said,
I'm glad to get rid of you.
But he appreciated what
we did, there was about 25
of us Japanese Americans
at this hospital
of about maybe 300
total number of troops,
and he gave us a pep talk, he
said, you guys did a good job,
keep it up, you're going
to make it, you're going
to come back, with
congratulations.
And I felt that really
odd, you know?
If I was in an infantry
they would, they took,
they got their riffles
taken away and they were put
in confinement in
some cases, secured,
so that they wouldn't go
off base or start a riot
or something, and they're
somewhat distrusted in a sense.
Anyway, I stayed [inaudible] and
I joined the full 42 infantry,
went overseas, and then I
got captured and I came back.
Out of the 1 year overseas
I spent 6 months in combat
and 6 months in captivity,
but always as a medic.
And as a medic I got a little
special treatment by the way,
some of you may not realize it
but if you're a medical
personnel we are considered
protected personnel by the Red
Cross by the Geneva Convention.
And we were given a
little extra privileges,
instead of one letter a week
in prison camp we could
write two letters a week,
and we were supposed to be given
some kind of a walking freedom
about once every two weeks,
all the medics go out the gate
with a guard and go
walk around the country.
An of course when we did that
in the middle of the winter,
we would run into the
potato patches and pick
up some little potatoes
at the, we were in Poland
by the way, in Poland.
Pick up little tiny potatoes and
bring them back to the apartment
and we'd give it to all the
other prisoners, we called each
of the Crigies, [assumed
spelling] Crigies,
Crigs Apartment means Crig
is org, apartment in prison.
We were called Crigies,
the rest of us Crigies,
I would share these
potatoes with them.
Well, we had no way of
cooking the potatoes,
where are you going to get
the wood, fire, and stove?
So, we'd eat the raw.
Have you ever eaten
raw potatoes?
You know what happens
to you don't ya?
[laughter] Well, that
didn't go over very good.
But anyway, I cam back and by
that time my parents are
relocated back into Chicago area
and they stayed there, and in
fact, I'm going to say something
about that evacuation movement
of 120,000 Japanese Americans
from the West Coast to inland,
anywhere from Idaho, Montana,
even had two camps in
Arkansas by the way.
And to me, I think they
had some kind of advantage,
there was an advantage to that
because my parents are barbers,
they work seven days a week, sun
up to sun down, and they're 55,
66 years of age and they're
kind of pooped out by that time,
30 years of farming in Oregon,
so this was I think kind
of a restful break for
them you might say.
Well, at the same time, as
you can probably realize,
among the Japanese families
in the West Coast, the father,
the father of the family rules
the roost, he's the king,
but once they were
incarcerated all that leadership
of a family was broken up.
The father had no more
responsibilities for his family.
They were being fed and if they
worked, they got $9 a month.
And so, the father lost
complete control of his family,
but yet the kids
stayed together,
and I think that was one
principle that was inherited
by the ancestors who were
being, what are they called?
A Filial Piety, being loyal
to your parents whatever
the consequences.
Well, I'm going to give you
one example of what happened,
before we went overseas,
I was a First Sargent
and I had five strips as
an acting First Sargent.
In order to visit my parents in
the camp, the relocation center,
they had barbwire fences all
around it, they had watch towers
on every corner, machine guns
pointed at them if they tried
to escape, a typical
stockade atmosphere,
I had to get permission from a
Private to open the gate for me
so I could go in and
visit my parents,
I had to show my
furlough papers.
I dint think anything of it
at the time but now I think,
why did he, why did I
have to go through that?
And I had to set my bag
on a table and take out,
make sure I didn't bring any
Whiskey, or booze, or guns,
or knifes in the camp, you know?
But another funny
thing happened,
in camp I had quite a few
friends in Portland area
in camp, but do you know,
none of them came from it.
They made me, I put in, as
I said, it's already 3 years
and I got the benefit of all
the advantages and they put me
through all the schools,
they tried to teach
me something that,
even if I didn't
want to be taught.
[laughter] He called me, and
I said, I'm talking too much.
[laughter]
>> Gary Rhay: Just
doing [inaudible].
>> Jimmie Kanaya: No,
once I get carried away,
I'll have a hard time
stopping because I, really,
I've never talked to
people before about this.
Just the last couple of
years I've been working
with High School students
in History classes
about World War II and
I've talked to Army troops
in Fort Lewis Washington
and Fort Sam Houston Texas
at the graduating classes
about the medical aspects
of World War II and a career
in the military, and I'm kind
of a wondering recruiter,
you know, you might say.
And I don't get paid for
it either by the way,
it's just all voluntary,
and of course I take it
up on my income taxes,
but I enjoy it.
And I'm going to thank
you all for being here,
and I appreciate your interest
in what we are doing here.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Gary Rhay: And now, Marty
has a story that he would
like to tell, and it's about him
and a group of men that he was
with in combat and they
own a debt of gratitude
to the Japanese Americans.
[ Applause ]
>> Marty Higgins:
I'm 88 years old
and this is the first time I've
shown others showing prejudice,
these got 10 minutes,
I'm getting 5.
[ Laughter ]
I went through the National
Horse Calvary and we were called
up to active duty, I won't
go through all of that
but basically, I was
a horse Calvary man.
We volunteered for the infantry
and I won't go through that.
I eventually became
a Company Commander
and being a Company Commander
is an awesome responsibility,
you're responsible for
all these young men.
I prayed every night I would
never get caught in an ambush,
I could never live through it.
Now, I'm the, captive
story, we all resented in go
on the Lost Battalion,
the Lost Battalion,
well actually the division
at the coordinates,
we knew where we were, and the
Germans knew where we were.
And lost sounds you're roaming
around the forest looking
for someplace out, but since
then, actually we were trapped.
We were going in, my company
was spearheading the battalion
and we were attacking
on the front,
and we were being
attacked on the right
and the left [inaudible].
I told Lieutenant [inaudible]
very in franticly we're going
to get cut off, and
he said, press on,
there'll be troops behind you.
And he went back to look
for the troops behind us,
and there weren't any.
Well, the Germans closed the
gate and we were trapped.
We had expended so much
ammunition fighting our way
through that there was no way
we could start attacking back
so we had no choice but
there was, oh by the way,
I suddenly went from
a Company Commander
to a Battalion Commander.
Now, if it's tremendous for a
Company Commander it's awesome
for a Battalion Commander, I
never got paid for that week
but that's another point.
What we had to do was establish
a strong defensive position,
which we did.
They were sending food
into us by shells, debars,
halazone tablets, if
you don't know what
that is it's to purify water.
They were trying to divebomb
food into us for five days,
on the fifth day they
succeeded and in those,
in those belly tanks we
had ammunition, more food,
and more medical supplies.
We had so much ammunition
we could arrange for 50 men,
well not, actually not 50,
we asked for volunteers to go
into combat patrol to
try to break through
and 50 men volunteered, no
coercion, and they went out
and only 5 came back,
somewhere they were ambushed,
we never knew what found,
what we found out about it.
Well, I'd been asked at
the most serious point
of this reason why being
here, what was my feeling
when the Japanese
Americans broke through?
Well, I was told
meant by many people,
I was asked by many people,
Japanese, what did I think
of these little guys
coming through?
I swear to good they
looked like Jives to us,
we knew their combat record in
Italy, some of my noncoms were
in the hospitals with the 400
battalion that were wounded.
Now, when they finally broke
through the war was not over.
I would like to say I
acted with joy, I didn't.
I still have that
awesome responsibility
to get my men out, to
get security posted
by the Japanese American 442.
And actually, I have
gotten to know,
well I'll go back a few years.
In 1948, Mike Musyoka [assumed
spelling] came out when I was
in Chicago and their parents
were having a citizenship bill
pending and he asked me
to lie to every Democrat,
Congressman controlling
the bill, which I did.
Mike never mentioned
the casualties,
he just said his brother
died in the operation.
We never knew until 1997, I
should back up a little bit.
All the news clippings got
after the Lost Battalion,
I'm saying it too, they
never mentioned the 442,
they refer to them as soldiers.
I think the U.S. government
deliberately censored them
out because they had
an egg on their face
and they had to eat crow.
They could not admit
that these men who came
from parents whose farms were
confiscated, homes confiscated,
business confiscated, and
they were incarcerated
into [inaudible] camps,
could be so brave.
Now, there was some question
about General Dahlquist was
using these men to save Texans.
When I joined the Texan division
my Platoon Sargent was Texan
and my Platoon.
By the time Rick [inaudible]
left there wasn't a Texan left
in the outfit.
Now, Dahlquist used these
men because they were one
of the finest fighting
machines in Europe,
it also would have
been a disgrace
if you lost a battalion.
I pledged my honor and heart
to these men, we owe them,
there's nothing I
wouldn't do for them.
I love them.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Gary Rhay: So, remember that
as we turn some time over to you
for questions that
these men and those
like them fought
not just racism,
but having their families
in prison unjustly
without any cause, and
they still volunteered
and still fought
for their country.
And now, we have
to excuse Jimmie,
he has another appointment,
so we'll turn the rest
of the time though over to
you for questions answered
by the other two gentlemen.
[ Applause ]
So, are there any
questions out there?
>> Frank Sogi: My I say, I would
like to add that the occupation
of Japan I feel was very, very
successful because of the fact
that our military had the
language ability we knew the
custom of Japan, and also,
we knew the Japanese.
And many of the Military
Intelligence Service personnel
in the occupation of Japan did
a great deal far beyond the
official duties.
For example, while
I was in Hokkaido,
I collected my candy rations
and cigarettes ration,
which I didn't smoke I
sold, and saved the money
and gave a Christmas party for a
Catholic orphanage in Hokkaido.
There were others in other
parts of Japan who got together
and planted, for example cherry
trees in devastated condition
in Japan, which they were
welcomed by the Japanese
because as you know,
cherry trees are very
valuable in Japan.
And also, because of the success
in Japan and the democratization
of the country I think we
should have learned a lesson
when we went into Iraq.
New York Times reported
several weeks ago
that they were having a great
difficulty in the occupation
of Iraq because of the
lack of language ability,
let along not knowing
the culture of Iraq.
There is an inscription on
the Archives building here
in Washington that says, that
reads, what is past is prologue.
And a cap driver was taking
an out of town passenger
and the passenger said,
driver, what does that mean,
what is past is prologue?
He says, it means you
ain't seen nuttin' yet.
[ Applause ]
>> Gary Rhay: Okay, we
actually have a question.
>> Colin Heaton: Hello
gentlemen, I'm Colin Heaton
and I had the great privilege
of interviewing Daniel Inouye,
and I know your unit
history very well.
I want to say one
thing, then a question.
I don't know if many people
here know that your unit man
for man had the highest ratio of
Medals of Honor, Silver Stars,
Bronze Stars, and
Purple Hearts of any unit
in the U.S. combat history.
And General Albert Kesselring
put a bounty on the head
of your Commanding Officer,
whom he thought was Japanese,
of 100,000 rash marks.
So, you guys were basically
stocked by 3 SS divisions,
2 German parachute divisions,
and a pendular gridded air
battalion because they saw you
as the greatest threat.
That's just so you know that,
that's how much your
enemy thought of you.
My question is, do you
feel that the Regan Act
that gave renumeration for the
incarcerations was adequate
and do you feel that this World
War II Memorial dedication is a
good way to heal some
of those wounds as well?
>> Warren Tsuneishi: I'll
try to respond to part.
I don't think the monitor
remuneration will ever undo the
damage that was done.
The thing is, what
I remember most
and cherish most was
a letter I received
from President Bush
Senior, in which he says
that the U.S. Government
apologizes
for what happened to
us during the war.
I think that is a lesson that
the American people have learned
through the Civil Rights
Movement, or the 1960's
and 70's, that this country
is made up of people from all
over the world and that
if you diminish one group
you diminish the whole
of this country.
I think, I think that it
is time, so over 200 years
after the declaration
of Independence the American
people live up to the values
of these words in that document
that is basic to our country.
The ideas that are imbedded
in the Bill of Rights,
especially the Fifth Amendment,
that you cannot be arrested,
imprisoned without
due process of law.
I hope and pray that
the Arab American people
in this country today, those
of the Muslim faith will be
given the complete protection
of the Constitution of the
United States and that we,
all of us as Americans live
up to the fundamental values
of the, what makes America great
and what makes America the ideal
to be followed by people
all over the world.
[ Applause ]
>> Marty Higgins: I have
a very short comment.
I think it's 20 years too late.
[ Applause ]
>> Gary Rhay: Any
other question?
>> Warren Tsuneishi: [laughter]
You are asking me the same
thing, [laughter]
Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Did I hear you correctly?
>> Audience Member: I am,
I went in the government
in 1943 making maps for the
United States government here
in Washington.
While I was also in High
School doing the time
when they had the, when you
were put in those prison places,
and we were told
that the reason was
that the American didn't
know the Japanese language,
so they didn't know what
these people were talking
about at all.
I mean, you said that
yourself, that you were used
in the military because
there wasn't hardly anybody
that knew the Japanese language.
Now, as I understand, they
were not conscripted in Hawaii
because Hawaii was not a state
and that makes it
very interesting
and probably very hard
for you to stomach also
because that was, as I
understand the Japanese
in Hawaii we not conscripted.
>> Frank Sogi: Yes,
there was some talk
about evacuating the
Japanese in Hawaii.
I was born and raised in
Hawaii but the relationship
between the military and the
Japanese citizenry was very,
very good and they
understood the community,
they did not understand
that language
as your question indicates, but
it was not a problem for them.
They knew that the
Japanese could be trusted.
As I mentioned earlier, I
was conscripted in the Army
on December 7 and kicked
out 2 or 3 months later
because we looked like the
enemy, but this was a decision
that was made in
Washington and not made
in Hawaii by the military.
>> Gary Rhay: My understanding
in research by the way suggest
that they didn't do that to the
Japanese Americans in Hawaii
because the economy would
have fallen completely apart,
maybe that's part of the reason.
Another question?
>> Audience Member: Is Jim,
is that your name, James?
Lost Battalion?
>> Gary Rhay: That's Marty.
>> Audience Member: Marty?
Well, I was there Mary.
I'm half Japanese and I was in
the artillery part of the 442,
and I saw the [inaudible] flying
by, and we fired artillery
into the area and so on.
So, I know all about
your Lost Battalion
and how you felt
when you came out.
>> Marty: [inaudible].
>> Audience Member: I can't
exactly hear you there Jim,
Marty.
>> Gary Rhay: He was letting
you know you fired the cannon
martyrs into him.
>> Audience Member:
Yeah, we did.
And I understand that one time
on of the cannon [inaudible]
fell on one of you guys heads,
that's how accurate they were.
[laughter]
>> Marty Higgins: Was it your
artillery outfits sending
in the debars and
halazone tablets?
>> Audience Member: Yeah, yeah.
>> Marty Higgins: Chewing
tobacco and cigarettes?
[laughter]
>> Audience Member: Yeah.
>> Marty Higgins: Well,
that you very much.
My son has a picture that
was in the New York Times
of showing those
shells being loaded.
He's sitting over here,
somewhere, oh did he just?
No, he's sitting over here,
and if you'd be interested
[inaudible] it was
in the New York Times.
>> Audience Member: Well.
>> Marty Higgins: We didn't have
a man hurt with those shells.
Your grid coordinates
were great.
>> Audience Member: We were
at the ceremony about 4
or 5 months ago to the
dedication of the monument here
on the Japanese Americans, and
Bob Dole was our spokesman there
and he said that you guys,
we lost going in after you,
we lost 800 people and you,
we save 211 of you people.
And I said, well, you know,
the Pentagon has studied this,
and they said that was
not a good Army decision.
However, I said, well, you would
have to talk to the 211 men
that came out from the Lost
Battalion and they'll say
that it was a good decision.
>> Marty Higgins: Well,
if you mention 800
casualties, I have documents.
The 800 casualties were
for the month of October,
it included Brier Befontane,
[assumed spelling] I got this
from a data manager,
Jimmy Yamashita.
There were 74 men
killed liberating Brier
and 54 men rescuing us.
And some of the columnist,
just gather that thought,
I read one place where they
said there were 800 killed
in our rescue and that's
when I got in touch
with Andy Ono [assumed spelling]
in Hawaii and Jimmy Yamashita,
and its been documented.
Okay?
>> Gary Rhay: Thank you.
And if you're interested in the
Lost Battalion, he'll be happy
to talk to you about it.
>> Marty Higgins:
We weren't lost.
[laughter]
>> Audience Member:
Hello Gentlemen.
I know you were talking
earlier about,
you were both MIS
in the Pacific.
And you were, my question is
that the Japanese forces were
absolutely fierce opponents,
and my question is, well
I guess to give an example
of that you mention Okinawa, I
believe we lost 12,000 Sailors,
Marines, and Soldiers, and the
Japanese Forces lost 120,000.
I wanted to know how many
actually surrendered,
because I know the Japanese
Forces did not surrender very
easy, and I wanted
to know how many
of the Japanese Soldiers
actually surrendered,
and was it hard to get
information out of them?
Thank you.
>> Warren Tsuneishi: I don't
have any figures on that issue,
however the entire
Japanese nation surrendered
after the dropping
of the atom bomb.
They had this indoctrinated
in this death before
dishonor business,
to die with the Emperor of Japan
was the most glorious thing they
could do.
Above all they should
never be captured,
that was the ultimate disgrace,
but they we human
beings after all.
One of the Kamikaze attack
pallets up to the Battle of,
in the Battle of Okinawa, you
know, their basic strategy was
to lure us ashore in Okinawa.
They let us land without
opposition that is contrary
to basic Military doctrine.
But they let us land, and
then their idea was to come
in with their Kamikaze
suicide attack planes
and destroy the U.S. Navy
and the U.S. troopships
and supply ships that were
anchored all off Okinawa.
We fished one of the pallets
off of the, out of the water,
the Navy did, and he was
brought in for interrogation.
Well, it turned out
that, you know,
the Kamikaze pallets were
young men, 17, 18, 16,
about the same age of
the suicide bombers
in Israel and Palestine today.
This man was in his 30's.
They were reaching, must
have been reaching the bottom
of the barrel.
They had reached him, he
had been a civilian pilot
and he was quickly trained
for this suicide mission.
But he had a family, a wife
and children who couldn't come
to the interrogation, and he was
not about to give up his life
for the Emperor of Japan.
And so, he, instead
of diving his plane
into a Navy ship he pancaked
it along side the ship,
was fished out of the water, and
saved his life and provided us
with some considerable
information on the training
of these suicide bombers.
As I said, I don't know
how many actually decided
that they would fight till the
bitter end, there were a lot
of so called Bonsai attacks
and several of the battles
of the pacific were,
after it became clear
that they had no chance of
winning they would gather
in one final attack,
suicide attack
in an attempt to destroy us.
None of those attacks
had succeeded of course.
And as I said earlier, there
were quite a few who were
in fact captured and
became prisoners of war.
>> Gary Rhay: I'm sorry,
but our time is up,
and I hope you'll join me
in thanking these Gentlemen
for coming and sharing with us.
[ Applause ]
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.