Gender

Male

Birth date

1922-5-6

Place of birth

Los Angeles CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

1944-6-19, Camp Robinson AK

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

Company L, 442 Regimental Combat Team

Military specialty

Squad Leader - 745

Stationed

United States, France, Italy

Separated

Fort Sheridan IL

Unit responsibility

Fight the german military

Personal responsibility

To prove that Japanese American people are loyal citizens of the U.S. and to help release Japanese American people from America's concentration camps so we can live free in America.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

North Appenines, Po Valley, Rhineland

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Victory Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon with thee bonze battle stars. Three overseas service bars, Good Conduct Medal, Distinguished Unit Badge

Living conditions

On the front line,we slept in fox hole or dugout. In the rear, we slept in tents. We ate K rations on the front lines and ate in the mess hall in the rear. We took no baths in the front, but had showers in the rear area. For entertainment we played cards, read, visited towns, slept and told stories.

Most vivid memory of military experience

I remember a member of our platoon sat by the trail and cried because his twin brother had just been killed. I was informed that a professor at the University of Chicago had his office trashed and a sign left - 'Go Home Dirty Jap'. The University president dismissed it as 'vandalism'. His name was Najita. I called him because my squad leader, killed in the next to the last fire-fight was named Najita. The professor was his brother. I wrote to the university president to inform her of this. She apologized and an article appeared in the school paper regarding this.

Missed most whilst in the military

I missed my sleep, rest and privacy

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

I am proud that I fulfilled my duty as a U.S. citizen by serving in the armed forces. I can face anyone who challenges me because of my Japanese ancestry. However, I want to make clear that I do not consider myself a patriot. I was fighting for the rights of Japanese American people to live free in the United States. This freedom can be extended to all Asian American people because the general public identifies us as one and the same.

Additional information

As minority spokesperson and member of the National Legislative Council of the AARP, I have been asked to speak to groups about America's concentration camps and being part of the effort to free the Japanese American people by serving in the 442. I organized the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society, in order to continue to inform the public about us and to record our continuing efforts to adjust to the racism through our oral history project.