Banco de Dados da Experiência Militar Nipo-Americana
Yoji Ozaki
Sexo
Male
Birth date
1922-5-6
Local de nascimento
Los Angeles CA, U.S.A.
Inducted
1944-6-19, Camp Robinson AK
Tipo de alistamento
Draftee
Ramo das Forças Armadas
Army
Tipo de serviço
War
Tipo de Unidade
Combat
Unidades onde serviu
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.