Sexo

Male

Fecha de Nacimiento

1920-9-19

Lugar de Nacimiento

Pahoa, Hawaii HI, U.S.A.

Inducted

1944-1-3, Hilo HI

Tipo de Alistamiento

Volunteer

Afiliación Militar

Army

Tipo de servicio prestado

War

Tipo de unidad militar

Support

Unidades a las que sirvió

11th Airborne Division; 441st Army Counter-Intelligence Corps

Especialidad militar

Intelligence NCO 0631; Investigator 1301 (concurrent with 0631)

Asignado

USA - Camp Savage, MN; Fort Snelling, MN; Philippines; Okinawa; Japan

Retirado

Army Sep Center, Oahu HI

Responsabilidad en la unidad

Investigated violations of the SCAP (Supreme Commander - Allied Powers: General Douglas MacArthur) directives, subversive activities where Japanese military troops were involved, all disqualified political candidates, individuals who had cached military goods, and the rich absentee land owners who exploited tenant farmers. We also helped implement the SCAP-ordered Land Reform Act (which made it possible for tenant farmers to buy land at reasonable prices from former landlords) and interviewed suspected war criminals to obtain evidence against them as well as to obtain information about others.

Responsabilidad individual

Conduct investigations enumerated in the previous paragraph.

Reconocimientos, medallas, menciones (individuales o de la unidad)

Philippine Liberation Medal; World War II Victory Medal; Army of Occupation Medal w/Japan Clasp; Good Conduct Medal

Condiciones de Vida

In Army barracks in the States and in Japan; tent city in Manila, Philippines and individual pup tents on Okinawa.

Makeshift cold shower in the Philippines; Since we were bivouacked in a staging area on Okinawa, there were no bathroom showers whatsoever - we bathed in the North Pacific Ocean.

Ate only C rations (in cans).

There were no sources of entertainment in war ravaged Manila nor on Okinawa.

Recuerdo más vívido de la experiencia militar

The saddest moment was when I attended funeral service for the 10 linguists who perished in a fiery plane crash at Naha, Okinawa on 13 August 1945, all of whom I had known personally.

In mid-August 1945, General MacArthur gave the 11th Airborne Division, then in the Philippines, the honor of being the first American Division to enter Tokyo. The division rushed its various elements from the Philippines to the staging area on Okinawa. On 29 August, 1945, the 11th Airborne was the first to land in Japan to take up ocupational duties. As a member of the advance party of the 11th Airborne, I rode on a U.S. Army C-50 transport plane from Kadena Airfield on Okinawa and landed at the Atsugi Air Station South of Yokohama City, Kanagawa prefecture. I was quite apprehensive, not knowing what to expect from the until-recent enemy. Also, I was overcome with emotion when I realized that I had set foot on the land of my ancestors, and my immigrant parents.

Lo que más extraño durante su tiempo en las fuerzas armadas

Privacy and freedom.

¿En lo personal, qué obtuvo de su experiencia militar?

My U.S.Army military intelligence service experience was the stepping stone to a later career in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). I was hired by the CIA on 10 January 1952. I worked from 1952 to 1970 in the Clandestine Service of CIA. Following specialized training and on-the-job experience, I advanced through the ranks from Junior Officer GS-5 to GS-15. On August 19, 1968, I was awarded the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit. The best years of my life were those when I was employed by the CIA! It was exciting, challenging, intriguing, and rewarding. There was no discrimination against minorities within the CIA; we were promoted on the basis of ability and accomplishments. America is truly a great nation with opportunities for all.

Información adicional

I was in the February 1944 term class at the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) at Camp Savage/Fort Snelling, Minnesota. The 9-month course consisted of: reading, writing, and speaking Japanese; translation, interpretation, and interrogation; captured document analysis; Japanese military and technical terms; applied tactics and military strategy; Japanese geography and map-reading; radio monitoring; Japanese social, political, economic, and cultural background; cursive writing (sosho), and order of battle of the Japanese Army.