Interviews
Writing a novel on the 442nd
Well I am writing a novel about the 442nd infantry where three of my uncles served in WWII. When I talk to my 90 year old uncle in Hawai'i, and I visited him recently, he doesn't want to talk about it. He said, "I just did what I had to do. I just did the right thing." So I'm going to be writing a novel from the perspective of my mother as a little girl. Her brothers were seven years older. And all the men suddenly from her little farm village in Kona, Hawai'i left at the same time to go off to war. It was like there were no men left. Her and her sister and her mother and all the women of the town had to get together and keep the farm going and keep the little mom and pop grocery store going. It will be from the perspective of her as a child seeing all of this happen. I've been doing interviews with a lot of veterans and veterans wives and what they experienced, love affairs and marriages and some of them cheated when they were over there. It's gonna be this meaty, lovely, passionate, tangible great story about the Japanese Americans who went to fight in World War II. So that's a book I'm writing on. I'm writing it really as... I'm thinking about it as a gift. The Jews call it a 'mitzvah'. It’s like my gift to them, to tell their story and to tell it in a respectful, honorably way.
Date: April 4, 2013
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Patricia Wakida
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
Camouflage Net Weaving in Manzanar
Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)
Miscommunications
(1916 - 2013) Member of the U.S. Military Intelligence Service
Writing Letters
(1916 - 2013) Member of the U.S. Military Intelligence Service
Developing Art Skills in Camp
Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)
Return to Los Angeles
Japanese American animator for Walt Disney and Hanna Barbera (1925-2007)
Grandparents were incarcerated in Jerome, Arkansas
(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii
Memories of the ship heading to the U.S.
(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City
Grandfather's business in Hawaii while in camp
(b. 1952) Former banking executive, born in Hawaii
Thunder in Crystal City
(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City
Having a house at camp
(b. 1938) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City
Growing up in segregated schools
(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Joining the army
(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Animosity between the Hawaiians and the mainlanders
(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Being scared during combat
(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team