Entrevistas

1. Family nursery business

2. Living through the Great Depression

3. Hearing about Pearl Harbor

4. Traveling to Manzanar

5. Jobs in Manzanar

6. The riot in Manzanar

7. Sugar beet and potato farming in Idaho

8. Sugar beet farming process

9. Being inducted into the army

10. Being called out of Reserves

11. Fort Snelling

12. Traveling from Manila to Tokyo

13. Serving in Tokyo

14. Visiting Hiroshima

15. After being discharged and returning to the nursery business

16. Meeting his wife, Eileen

Fukuhara,Jimmy Ko

(n. 1921) Veterano de guerra nissei que serviu na ocupação do Japão

Being called out of Reserves

After George and I got to where we were working and we worked there, like I mentioned, Frank had come out with his family. He said, “If you don’t like where you’re working, there’s plenty of work in Chicago if you want to work there.” Being in the city, it seemed to be better. So we went to Chicago and worked there.

That was the middle of summer, and I think it was about October. They called me up and they called George. They had pulled us out of the Reserves. By that time, they had the 442 and they had the 100 Battalion pretty well organized. They could have been in Africa by 1944. Because the war ended in ’45.

We still hadn’t taken our basic training. Before I took my basic training, or when I was called up in Chicago, they said, “Do you have choice of where you want to serve in the army?” I said, “Yes, I’ll volunteer to be in Military Intelligence school.” And they said “Fine.”

George was inducted and he didn’t care where he went, so that’s why they send him down to Florida. And they took a basic training, and he was signed to go to replacement for 442. But by then, by then the war was over in Europe.

forças armadas Chicago Illinois militares Estados Unidos da América Segunda Guerra Mundial

Data: February 6, 2015

Localização Geográfica: California, US

Entrevistado: John Esaki

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevistados

Jimmy Ko Fukuhara nasceu em 21 de setembro de 1921, em Los Angeles, Califórnia, de imigrantes japoneses, Ume e Ichisuke Fukuhara. Em 1927, seu pai levou a família para Santa Monica, Califórnia, e começou nos negócios de viveiro. Depois de graduar-se na Santa Monica High School, Jimmy trabalhou no viveiro até 1942, quando ele e sua família foram enviados para o campo de concentração de Manzanar.

Jimmy conseguiu deixar o campo de concentração cedo e mudou-se para a Pensilvânia com seu irmão mais novo, George. Em sessenta dias, Jimmy foi chamado para o serviço militar e ofereceu-se para servir na Escola de Inteligência Militar. Depois de passar pelo treinamento básico, Jimmy foi enviado para Tóquio, Japão. Lá, trabalhou para o Departamento do Trabalho no quartel-general do General MacArthur. Antes de deixar o Japão, ele visitou Hiroshima na esperança de contatar os parentes de seus pais. Após ser dispensado, Jimmy retornou à Santa Monica e aos negócios do viveiro da família. Jimmy continuou a trabalhar no viveiro com seus quatro irmãos até se aposentar em 1986. (Maio de 2016)