Gender

Male

Birth date

1922-10-24

Place of birth

Terminal Island CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1942-11-20, Poston Camp I AZ

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War,peacetime

Unit type

Combat,sup

Units served

MISLS Sec 10 (Graduated Savage, Dec. 1942)
US Army 6th Infantry Division, 1st/20th/63rd Infantry Regiments
Army of Occupation - Japan & South Korea
GHQ, ATIS Tokyo, Japan

Military specialty

Military Intelligence
Translator and Interrogator

Stationed

USA: Camp Savage, MN; Camp Shelby, MS; Ft. McDowel (Angel's Island), CA
Other Countries: British New Guinea; Dutch New Guinea; Chonju, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan; Maffin Bay; Guam; Luzon, Philippines

Separated

Zenshu, Chonju, S. Korea SK

Unit responsibility

To translate all captured Japanese documents and interrogate all the POW's we captured.

Personal responsibility

To accomplish the two duties listed under Unit's Responsibility and let the enemy die for his country and I come back a victor.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Battle of Lone Tree Hill, Dutch New Guinea; Luzon, Philippines - many skirmishes with enemy patrols. Since we always went probing in enemy territories, we were out-numbered and we had to fight our way out, most of the times.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Went out with 4-10 men squads into enemy territory several times and they gave me a Bronze Star Medal for our exploits. My 6th Division sent a citation to my brother but I didn't see it till 49 years later.

Living conditions

During combat, we slept on the ground, but once we got settled, we had folding canvas cots for a few months.
We bathed in the ocean and little jungle streams while in combat.
Had no hot meals during combat and ate 'Cracker Jack-like' C-Rations.
For entertainment I collected pretty tropical butterflies, went body surfing on 15-18 foot waves and went hunting in the jungles. No experience, no wild boar's meat.

Most vivid memory of military experience

1). During combat every unit in the division was strung-out along the miles of beachfront. Consequently, we all faced the enemy everyday.
2). All the GI's were constantly looking for souvenirs. A Japanese bugle sounded from one of the caves and scores of GI's came scrambling out of the coral caves. Turned out to be one of our souvenir hunters. Was scary, but we all got a good laugh.
3). What shocking news when a fellow GI was telling us Niseis that he saw one of us among the 19 truck loads of our dead. Turned out to be Yukita Terry Mizutari and during the Philippine campaign, hearing George I. Nakamura of Santa Cruz, CA an hour and a half later, I heard that he got killed was a great shock to me. He replaced me that afternoon at the front line.

Missed most whilst in the military

Ham sandwich with a bottle of Coke! Saw my commanding General enjoying it while we were in the jungles of New Guinea.

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

How dear our life is to everyone of us! But due to the killings I've participated in, my conscience still bothers me even after 50 years. Not that the enemy was of Japanese descent, but that they too were like the rest of us human beings. My family understood me very well. They're all gone now, and my wife Keiko and I are the last of the Haras.

Additional information

Spent exactly one year at GHQ, ATIS, Tokyo, translating Japanese documents. Had a 'Top-Secret' job with Lt. Col. Paul Rusch, translating personal diaries of Japan's high-ranking Field Marshals and full Generals.

Was discharged in 1947 at Ft. Dix, NJ after re-enlisting in 1946.

My Army serial number was changed to RA (Regular Army) 18184273. I was inducted from Poston No.I Concentration Camp.

Thanks to the US Navy, my home town of Terminal Island, CA. was destroyed by bulldozers. After returning from a victorious war (WW II), it was the saddest day for me not having a home town to return to.