Gender

Male

Birth date

1918-01-12

Place of birth

Berkeley CA, USA

Inducted

1941-10-01, Fort Douglas UT

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

MISLS (Graduated Savage, June 1942) I Corps, Sixth Army HQ, ATIS (Allied Translator and Interpreter Section)

Military specialty

Military Intelligence

Stationed

USA: Camp Savage, MN; Washington, DC Other Countries: Australia; New Guinea; Philippines

Separated

Washington DC

Unit responsibility

Translation of captured documents/interrogation of prisoners of war/ preparation of propaganda leaflets.

Personal responsibility

In charge of language detachments.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Papua Campaign Buna Campaign Philippine Liberation Campaign

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Bronze Star for performance in New Guinea Campaign Presidential Unit Citations for I Corps (New Guinea) and Sixth Army (Philippines)

Living conditions

In New Guinea we slept on makeshift beds in the jungle. We bathed in stagnant pools of water. We had Australian hard tack and bully beef. Captured Japanese food occasionally. No entertainment. John Wayne and Gary Cooper visited.

Most vivid memory of military experience

Rejection by starving prisoners of Australian bully beef. Filipinos yelling 'Baka' at us as we rode our jeeps in Manila.

Additional information

Residence: Silver Springs, MD. Retired Colonel USAR. Founder of Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) in 1992. He obtained bachelor and master degrees from Georgetown University. He joined Central Intelligence Agency after graduation and participated in the military reserve program, and served at various overseas locations, including Japan and South Vietnam. Following his retirement from the CIA in 1973, he was employed by the Food and Drug Administration for 17 years. Served a two-year term as secretary and then on the Board of Directors of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, which constructed the National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During WW II, located near the US Capitol Building.