Sexo

Male

Birth date

1927-1-25

Local de nascimento

Los Angeles CA, U.S.A.

Inducted

, Los Angeles CA

Tipo de alistamento

Volunteer

Ramo das Forças Armadas

Army

Tipo de serviço

War

Tipo de Unidade

Combat

Unidades onde serviu

7th Div. MECZ. Cav. Rcn. Trp. Seoul, Korea

Military specialty

Jeep driver/ interpreter

Stationed

USA: Camp Beale, CA; Ft. Knox, KY;
Other Countries: Seoul, Korea; Shizuoka, Japan

Separated

Camp Stoneman CA

Unit responsibility

To patrol the 38th parallel and monitor the N. Korean Army.

Personal responsibility

Jeep driver in scout section of platoon also drove company commander.

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

W.W. II Victory Medal
Korean Occupation Medal (Japan)

Living conditions

We were stationed in Japanese Army barracks in a large area with 7th Div. Q.M., 7th Div. Band, 601st Malaria Detachment Grp.

Most vivid memory of military experience

The Korean people couldn't understand how a Japanese could be in the U.S. Army. They wanted to know how I, a Japanese, was in a U.S. Army uniform. The Koreans didn't realize Koreans and Japanese had emigrated to Hawaii and U.S. and we were born there and citizens.

Missed most whilst in the military

Rice, plain (steamed) rice

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

As a boy of 14 years of age, I and both parents were interned at Heart Mtn., Wyoming. As a U.S. born citizen and to be interned as an enemy of U.S. was an outrage. We are Orientals, our facial and physical feature are not Anglo. We will always be a minority even after all these generation in America. Are we totally intergrated now or just tolerated?

Additional information

After service in the Army, my father, mother and I started a business. We three worked very hard from early morning to late at night. After 2 years, my father passed on. My mother and I had to work harder to pay off debts. I am now nearly 70 years of age. The last 50 years of work and play has produced 3 children and 1 grand child. A good wife makes me a very contented retiree.