1 100 7 https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/1d462b724e40ed3f85efc7a6a9b40eae.xml 637eced507659356c17d6b5030238b86 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, November 29, 2002 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, part 8 of 8, November 29, 2002 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_08_Asato Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Description An account of the resource In this video clip, Tets Asato talks about the efforts of the 100th/442nd/MIS that benefited the Japanese Americans of today, as well as future generations. He presents important advice and values for future generations, and shares his thoughts about the 9/11 attack. At the end of the clip, he shares different souvenirs from his military experience. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Horsting, Robert: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Subject The topic of the resource World War II--Nisei soldiers Identity and values--Youth World War II--Collectibles World War II--Medals Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral Histories Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Video/m4v Extent The size or duration of the resource. 00:24:53 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, part 7 of 8, November 29, 2002 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_07_Asato Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Description An account of the resource In this video clip, Tets Asato talks about his experience overseas. He describes his homecoming and what he did upon returning to the states. He talks about the insurance company that he and his friend started in J-Town, Los Angeles, and also, talks about his family. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Horsting, Robert: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Subject The topic of the resource World War II--European Theater World War II--Military service--Discharge Industry and employment--Business Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral Histories Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Video/m4v Extent The size or duration of the resource. 00:29:00 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, part 4 of 8, November 29, 2002 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_04_Asato Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Description An account of the resource In this video clip, Tets Asato talks about the Loyalty Questionnaire that the Niseis had to answer while in camp (internment camp) and about the "No-No Boys". He talks about being drafted into the army and his experiences in basic training at Camp Shelby. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Horsting, Robert: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Subject The topic of the resource World War II--Loyalty Questionnaire--No-no boys World War II--Recruiting, enlistment, etc. World War II--Military service--Basic training--Camp Shelby Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral Histories Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Video/m4v Extent The size or duration of the resource. 00:29:44 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, part 3 of 8, November 29, 2002 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_03_Asato Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Description An account of the resource In this video clip, Tets Asato describes being transferred to the Heart Mountain interment camp and what the living conditions were like there. During his stay there, he helped work at the local farms topping sugar beets. He also worked for the Fire Department within the camp. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Nakamatsu, Karen: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Subject The topic of the resource World War II--American Concentration Camps--Heart Mountain Industry and employment--Firefighting World War II--Loyalty Questionnaire Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral Histories Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Video/m4v Extent The size or duration of the resource. 00:29:53 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Torrance, California American Concentration Camps Fire Department Heart Mountain Loyalty Questionnaire Pomona temporary detention center https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/c052f6d8ba8f90b580b633efa560cfbd.xml e104acd6e6aa612a6cb61d29b903f64c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, November 29, 2002 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, part 2 of 8, November 29, 2002 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_02_Asato Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Description An account of the resource In this video clip, Tets Asato describes going to Japanese language school as a child. He also talks about the relationship with his siblings and family, and going to the movies with his father. He describes what his life was like when the war broke out, and how his father was taken by the FBI. He and the rest of his family were then evacuated and relocated to a relocation center in Pomona. He talks about his experience battling Locked Jaw as a child. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Horsting, Robert: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Subject The topic of the resource Education--Japanese language schools Social activities World War II--Mass Removal ("Evacuation") World War II--Temporary Detention Facilities--Pomona Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral Histories Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Video/m4v Extent The size or duration of the resource. 00:29:20 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Torrance, California FBI Issei parents Japanese language school language barrier movies Pomona Assembly Center siblings Tujunga https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/36387691182436edbe400e984e190acc.xml 8497739e9bc37b95a408dd4acebf6886 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, November 29, 2002 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Indexing Metadata hidden field containing indexing metadata 26 --- --- --- Baldwin Park;brothers;California;communication;farm;farming;father;first generation;immigration;Issei parents;Montana;mother;Okinawa;railroads;siblings;sister --- --- --- --- --- ::: 399 --- --- --- family;farm;farming;father;Issei;Issei parents;mother;tuberculosis --- --- --- --- --- ::: 516 --- --- --- Baldwin Park;California;chores;El Monte;farm;farming;Great Depression;school;siblings;wholesale market --- --- --- --- --- ::: 620 --- --- --- Christianity;religion;siblings;sports;Sunday school --- --- --- --- --- ::: 714 --- --- --- ":okazu";Emperor of Japan;farm;Japanese culture;Japanese food;Japanese household;Japanese traditions;mochi;New Year's Day;ozoni;rice;sushi;tsukemono --- --- --- --- --- ::: 938 --- --- --- Buddhism;California;Caucasians;Christianity;El Monte;farm;farmland;Hispanics;Japanese American community;Japanese Americans;Japanese farmers;Japanese festivals;New Year's Day;Nisei --- --- --- --- --- ::: 1092 --- --- --- basketball;Caucasians;childhood;El Monte High School;father;football;friends;grammar school;high school;Los Angeles;Nisei;picnics;softball;sports --- --- --- --- --- ::: 1441 --- --- --- brothers;family;farm;farming;father;high school;Issei parents;mother;tuberculosis --- --- --- --- --- ::: 1633 --- --- --- grammar school;school;school newspaper;sports;student;writer --- --- --- --- --- Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, part 1 of 8, November 29, 2002 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_01_Asato Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Description An account of the resource In this video clip, Tets Asato describes his Issei parents, growing up on a farm in El Monte, California, and growing up in a Japanese household. He talks about his childhood - friends, school, playing sports, etc. - and about his mother's passing. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Horsting, Robert: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Subject The topic of the resource Identity and values--American Japanese Identity and values--Parents Social activities Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral Histories Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Video/m4v Extent The size or duration of the resource. 00:28:20 Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Torrance, California basketball childhood church farm Issei parents Japanese household https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/5ed00072fb4b721592017da84006f667.pdf 1562fa7f9b1638cef21553b6e9f158f6 PDF Text Text Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Oral History Interview with Tetsuo Asato, November 29, 2002, Florence, California Hey, it is November 29, 2002. We are in Florence, California. The veteran we are interviewing today is Tetsuo Asato, on camera is Steve Wasserman, on audio is Richard Hawkins, on cataloging is Laura Narumatsu and interviewing is Robert Horsting. INTERVIEWER: First of all, I want to thank you for coming in today and welcoming me here and please, let us start off by stating your full name and date of birth. ASATO: Tetsuo Asato, August 19, 1925. INTERVIEWER: And where were you born? ASATO: I was born in Baldwin Park, California. INTERVIEWER: And how about your parents? Could you state their names first? ASATO: My dad’s name is Tokuske Asato and my mother is Kamado Asato. INTERVIEWER: And when did they, were they the first generation in the United States? ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: And where did they come from? ASATO: Okinawa. INTERVIEWER: What type of stories have you heard about their coming over to the United States? ASATO: Well, my dad came first. He went through the Northern State of Montana. He came to Washington, went to work in the Montana railroads then he worked himself down to Southern California. INTERVIEWER: Did he come alone? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 1 of 87 �ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: And how is it that he got into railroad work? ASATO: Apparently, that is the type of work that was available when he came. INTERVIEWER: What did he do in Okinawa prior to coming to United States? ASATO: I am not really sure what he did. INTERVIEWER: What can you tell us about the ​--​? ASATO: He was a young man at that time, a fairly young man. INTERVIEWER: Do you know how old? ASATO: Well, he came (00:02:00) early 1900’s, somewhere early 1900 maybe 1890, I do not know. I do not know exactly when he came here but it was, I think it was early 1900. INTERVIEWER: What did your father do in Okinawa? ASATO: I do not know what he was doing. INTERVIEWER: And how about your mother? ASATO: Mother was in Okinawa and she was just a student, I guess, she was not doing too much there, I guess. INTERVIEWER: And how is it that she came over? ASATO: She came later and joined my father in 1907 or 1908, somewhere around there I guess, or maybe little later than that, I do not know exactly. I did not look that up, I should have. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 2 of 87 �Do you know how or how is it that they were introduce or met? ASATO: Well, they were married before in Okinawa. In fact, I still have a sister over there. INTERVIEWER: And is this sister, is she the eldest in your family? ASATO: She is the eldest. She is 88 years old today, 88 maybe 89 now. INTERVIEWER: And you say, you still have a sister over there. Did she ever come to United States? ASATO: Never did. INTERVIEWER: How is it that she ends up staying in Japan? ASATO: Well, my mother came over and someone else was taking care of her in Okinawa. INTERVIEWER: Was that a family member or who did she stay with? ASATO: Some relative. INTERVIEWER: I am sorry, can I get that sister’s name? ASATO: Kyoko, Toshiko, I am sorry, Toshiko, the daughter’s name is Kyoko. Toshiko is her name. INTERVIEWER: What is your earliest memory of your parents? ASATO: My earliest memory was… (00:04:00) I guess it would be around 1930. INTERVIEWER: And what did that consist of? What event took place that you recall setting that they were in? ASATO: Well, I remember we were living on a farm in Baldwin Park and we used to do farming and used to also grow orange trees, you know, Southern California had a lot of orange trees at that time. We used to grow orange trees and sell it. I remember when it got real cold, and I was really small but then we got real cold This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 3 of 87 �and frost, we would get this rubber tires and burn them in the orchard, you know, where they grow the trees to keep the frost away and that was those little things I remember. I was about 5 to 6 years old at that time. INTERVIEWER: Now, do you have besides Toshiko, your eldest sister, do you have other siblings? ASATO: I have two brothers and a sister here. INTERVIEWER: And could you give me their names please? ASATO: Saiski Asato, he is my oldest brother. INTERVIEWER: How much older was he than you? ASATO: He is born in 1920 so he was about 5 years older and I have one other brother next to that, George Tokuzo, he was born in 1921 I believe, then I have a sister born on 1923 or 1924, I can not remember, and then myself. INTERVIEWER: And your sisters’ name? ASATO: Kazukoke​,​ she is the only one alive besides my self (00:06:00) and then my oldest sister in Okinawa. INTERVIEWER: Now, as far as your father getting into farming, do you know what happened or what occurred after he worked in the railroads that he made it down to California? ASATO: You know, we had a difficult time communicating. I did not speak, you know, I did not speak any Japanese at the time and you know, it was difficult so communication was tough and all I can remember is like I told you, we were living on a farm in Baldwin Park. INTERVIEWER: Physically, what kind of man was your father? ASATO: He was wiry, on a husky side, little tall, about my height and he worked real hard. He is a hard worker. He likes to drink a little bit. I​ ​guess all the Issei’s like to drink a little bit and smoke. What else do you want to know about him? I know he was a farmer, so you know he worked on the fields. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 4 of 87 �What was his character like? ASATO: Very quiet… like me. (Laugh) INTERVIEWER: How about your mother, describe your mother for us? ASATO: Mother was more on the chubby side and she was quite intelligent. She was I think the brains of the family but the she died in 1939. INTERVIEWER: What did she die of? ASATO: Tuberculosis (TB). INTERVIEWER: What was her character like? ASATO: She had a pretty good personality and we used to have friends come over and she did, you know, cooking and socialize (00:08:00) with other people more than my dad but she was so quite intelligent. INTERVIEWER: Now you said that twice so what were this outward signs? ASATO: Well, everything you know, she took care of all the paper work, the books, everything on the farm. She did everything as far as I was concerned, the billings and like I said she run the finances of the family. INTERVIEWER: Being on this farm, what type of duties that you have? ASATO: Oh I did not, in Baldwin Park, we moved from Baldwin Park to El Monte in the early 30’s and grew strawberries and carrots and raspberries, boysenberries, and you know, tomatoes, everything. People from the wholesale market used to pick it up, the LA wholesale market used to pick it up. But as far as duties, well, I was going to school most of the time so it is only after school that I would help out and I would do my chores and whatever. INTERVIEWER: What do they consist of? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 5 of 87 �Well, whatever, hoeing,​ ​cut weeds, thinning carrots, picking strawberries, picking raspberries, boysenberries, whatever. Whatever what was had to be done, I just help out but I was also lucky, I was the youngest one in the family so I was, had more freedom than my older ones. INTERVIEWER: And the older ones, what type of the things that they have to do? ASATO: They help in the, well, they were going to school too naturally, so after school they would come home and we do the same thing (00:10:00) that they have to work in the field you know, it was during Depression. It was tough, but one thing we always had food. We did not starve, so were kind of fortunate there. INTERVIEWER: Within your household, let me ask you, what religion was practiced in your household? ASATO: Christianity. Not Buddhism, it was Christianity. In fact, in El Monte, there used to be Sunday school. The bus would just come after us and I used to hide from it but I had to go to Sunday school. (laughing). INTERVIEWER: Why did you hide from the bus? ASATO: Because I did not want to go. (laughing). INTERVIEWER: What made Sunday school such a difficult thing for you? ASATO: It was not difficult, I just did not want to go, that is all. I did not enjoy the Sunday school. INTERVIEWER: What did you prefer to do instead? ASATO: Play at home. INTERVIEWER: What kind of things would you do playing? ASATO: Well whatever, you know, my brothers and us we used to throw the football around and baseball and things like that, you know. INTERVIEWER: Now, were you and your siblings really close? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 6 of 87 �Pardon? INTERVIEWER: Were you and your siblings real close? ASATO: Yes, quite close. Never had any problem with them. INTERVIEWER: Who were you closest to? ASATO: My oldest brother. INTERVIEWER: So, one with the widest age range. ASATO: Widest age range, yes. INTERVIEWER: Now what made your relationship so special? ASATO: Well, he used to take care of me. I was the youngest brother and he actually tried to take care of me so it is a natural thing I guess. INTERVIEWER: Now in your household, if I were to walk into your household at that time, (00:12:00) what would I see that would in a way of decorations that might give me a clue as to where this family is from? ASATO: What would you see in the house? INTERVIEWER: Yeah, the kind of decorations were in the house? ASATO: Well, we had some – see I really do not remember too much, pictures and calendars and probably had a (Inaudible)​ (12:30) which is the emperor of Japan, a picture of him. I do not remember too much about that. I guess there were some paintings, a few paintings. INTERVIEWER: What kind of foods would your mother prepare for you? ASATO: You know what an “okazu” is? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 7 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Actually could you explain it? ASATO: Well, meat, and vegetables and, you know, cooked together. Well naturally rice, “tsukemono” which is pickles, Japanese pickles. On special occasions she used to make ​(Inaudible)​ (00:13:24) like New Year’s and all that, you know. INTERVIEWER: What was made that was special that was special for New Year’s, those types of holidays? ASATO: Well, then she make her own sushi, you know, raw sushi and “mochi”. INTERVIEWER: Could you explain what “mochi” is? ASATO: Mochi is a – I don’t know what it is made of, you know, it is made out of flour and whatever and all that. I never made it so I can’t answer that question (laughing). All I did was (00:14:00) pound… INTERVIEWER: And eat? ASATO: And eat it. And then she used to make the “un” inside the sweet, inside the mochi. So we eat it with the – but I used to like that. And then once a year, you know, you have the other mochi that’s for the – it was only which, you know, you have to have that on New Year’s Day. INTERVIEWER: So that was a special New Year’s Day version? ASATO: On a special New Year’s, yeah that’s… INTERVIEWER: What other things were typical of New Year’s Day type of foods and what were they symbolic of? If you can recall. ASATO: Well, it is the same as today, you know, you have “kazunoko” which is, I do not know what you call in English, “kazunoko” and you have “kombu” and you have –gee, I do not know, that is seaweed. I am not prepared for this, I do not know what (laughing) it was a lot of, just a lot food, you know, it was just people travel, the farm and my dad, you know, sometimes I would go with him. We go to different houses every New Years’, we go to different houses, different farms and my dad will drink with them naturally and of course I could not drink on those days but they still eat and drink and travel all over the different farms and it would take days because this is a special event that, you know, it is a Japanese tradition. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 8 of 87 �So the area that you are living in then El Monte? ASATO: El Monte farm. INTERVIEWER: What was the racial mix there? ASATO: El Monte consisted of… we had quite a few farmers, Japanese farmers, Oh! I cannot say. A lot of farmland in El Monte and there is Hispanic (00:16:00) and Caucasian. INTERVIEWER: How did they get along? ASATO: Well, no problem. We had no racial problems at that time. INTERVIEWER: And as far as your personal friends, what was the racial make up of your personal friends? ASATO: Nisei , you know, Japanese-Americans, Caucasians, and I had some Hispanic friends in school, other than that, no. INTERVIEWER: Now, you are talking about your, at New Year’s at your family? ASATO: That is not New Years. New Year’s, you just mingle amongst the Japanese. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, I am just backtracking to the New Years’ ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: When you travel around to all these different houses so, was the Japanese community, they are very, very tight? ASATO: Yes, very tight. Everybody, all the farmers knew each other. There was a lot of farmland in El Monte. Most of it consisted of farmland. Today, it is all industrial but it was all farmland. INTERVIEWER: You know in Little Tokyo, we see all these festivals that are celebrated. Where those celebrated, a lot of these festivals celebrated at that time amongst the farmers? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 9 of 87 �ASATO: Not the same way. It was celebrated, you know, it is part of New Year’s in the country but then when you came in the town, it is a different thing because it is a city and celebrated the city too, you know, probably in the same manner but just that it was in the city. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever get together as far as through the Buddhist church functions to the local (00:18:00) church, any festival celebrations or anything like that? ASATO: I do not remember anything in Buddhist religion. Mostly, it is all Christianity as far as my family is concerned. INTERVIEWER: As far as playing, who do you used to play with when you were a child at that time? ASATO: Oh I had Japanese-American friends, and Caucasian friends. There is Hispanic from ​(00​:​18:26) (inaudible)​. INTERVIEWER: What are the names of your best friends? ASATO: One was a fellow named Gene Brianno, he used to own the Brianno Winery, where my dad used to buy some wine and they lived only in about a quarter mile away. They had a winery there and there is a guy named Dwight Andruss. Brianno was naturally Italiano, Andruss was German and we started school together from the grammar school and all the way through high school. INTERVIEWER: Now, were these your main two friends that you. ASATO: All Caucasian friends, Yes. INTERVIEWER: And how about your Nisei friends? ASATO: Oh, Nisei, all I had was a guy named Dave Abe, Uzumi, Shimizo, a lot of them there, Shimiguzis, Okumas, Baterido Yano, Fulutoni. Do you want more? (Laughing) INTERVIEWER: What was the fondest memory you have of going out and just running around and having a good time with your friends? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 10 of 87 �Well, you know, in those days, we were not going out. I was too young yet at that time you know. In El Monte I never went to a dance. (00:20:00)I think our occasions were picnics and such. That is about it and coming to LA, visiting LA, visiting friends as far as entertaining any. INTERVIEWER: Just things that you and your friend just do to play around and, you know, whether it was hiking or fishing or just anything that you really enjoyed that you did together? ASATO: I did not go fishing at that time (coughing). Well with my buddies, I used to play ball, you know, I used to whenever we could get together and play ball. INTERVIEWER: What type of ball? ASATO: Softball, football, whatever, basketball, not in competitions, just amongst ourselves you know, just pick teams and play. INTERVIEWER: Do you have favorite sport among this? ASATO: Well I liked football but as I say I was disallowed from participating by my dad. INTERVIEWER: And why was that? ASATO: Because he did not want me to get hurt. Simply because of that. My brothers tried to talk him into letting me play because, I say the coach saw me play in intramural and he gave me a uniform and everything and I put it on my locker and went home and he would not say yes, (laughing). So, that was the end of it. I played basketball in high school. INTERVIEWER: What position were you playing in football? ASATO: I was a running back. INTERVIEWER: Then you said you played high school basketball? ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: What position did you play there? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 11 of 87 �ASATO: I played forward, guard, both. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And now you are playing organize sports? ASATO: That was organized in high school. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And what team were you on with… ASATO: El Monte High School Team. INTERVIEWER: What level team was it? (00:22:00) ASATO: It was… I started with D because, you know, when I went to high school. I was only 4-foot 11. And the first time when I went El Monte High School was in 1939. I still remember his name. His name is Lou Dunhill​ ​and he came up to me and says you got me beat because he was just a little bit taller than me. So, I played D basketball and then I went to C. Then I was going to B but we are evacuated. INTERVIEWER: How did your team do while you were there? ASATO: We were school“champs” twice when I was in D and C. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember what your average score was? ASATO: I did not score many points, 6, 8 points, that is about on those things. Okay. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember your coach’s name? ASATO: Oh God, my coach’s name? Lefty Goodhue.​ ​In fact, he was Lefty Goodhue, he became a coach in El Monte after he was, he used to kick for the professional team in LA or something one of the early, early LA professional team, he used to be a kicker, and he was Lefty Goodhue and that is about all I remember in of their names. We had other coaches but this one was for football and different things. INTERVIEWER: Do you know how he got his--, Lefty was that a nickname or? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 12 of 87 �ASATO: That was his real name it was his nickname Lefty Goodhue. INTERVIEWER: And do you know how he got that? ASATO: No, no I do not. INTERVIEWER: You are saying earlier, and that this was 1939 that you, is that when you started playing basketball there? ASATO: 1940. About 1940 exactly in 1939.I went into High School. (00:24:00) INTERVIEWER: I want to go back to your mother; you said in 1939 that she died of tuberculosis. How did that affect the family? ASATO: It was tough because, you know, she did all the cooking and she took care of the finances and my dad had to take over the time and, unfortunately my brothers are – there were in the same grade, two brothers, I do not know how that happen but they are in the same grade, and they graduated in 1930 and last year I went in to High School and it was fortunate that they were out because they could help in the farm and my dad, you know, naturally he was a farmer and he worked everyday hard, real hard and those are tough days. It was tough because he had, you know, everybody have to cook; I did not have to cook but, like my sister helped cooks. She cooked and then my dad cooked and that is about it, after my mother died. INTERVIEWER: What is the fondest memory of your mother? ASATO: I thought she was real smart and intelligent. She treated me real good, and took care of me. INTERVIEWER: Is there particular day or a moment that you and your mother shared that, when you think about her you definitely…? ASATO: Not really, I just enjoyed her most of the time. INTERVIEWER: Who did the disciplining in your family? ASATO: Both of them, my mother and dad. My dad was tough. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 13 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: When you got in trouble with your family and your dad disciplined you. How would he discipline you? ASATO: He would just say something; he would get mad and say something and that is it. He would not, never took a hand to me. When he get mad and that is it and I had to obey. (Laughing) INTERVIEWER: Did you, or (00:26:00) what kind of things would you conjure up on your own why that made you realize that just him saying something was enough and..? ASATO: We would pay attention and you know, you knew when he was mad and he would say something and that was it, you have to obey. INTERVIEWER: How about your mother, when she would punish you, what form would did that take? ASATO: She would not, she never really punished me hard, she would say things to me but that was about almost it. She was somewhat gentle, you know, very gentle and I just lost her too early, that is all. I was only 14 years old. INTERVIEWER: What incident can you tell us about, that you can look back on now and kind of laugh but, that you got in trouble for? ASATO: Oh, I would not really; I never really got in a lot of trouble. I do not really remember getting into real, real trouble, not really. INTERVIEWER: What type of student were you in school? ASATO: I was a pretty good student (laugh) I studied and I was a pretty good student. BEGINNING OF TAPE TWO INTERVIEWER: Okay, I want to ask you, you are talking about your relationship with your parents. It was difficult for you to communicate with you Dad because of language? ASATO: Definitely yes, so we had a hard time communicating and we have somehow we get some understanding of what we wanted but then not knowing Japanese very well, it was very difficult because we spoke English. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 14 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: And your two older brothers do they speak Japanese? ASATO: A little bit, yes they spoke a little bit, but not much better than I did, I tell you that and my sister did not either, so you know, we had difficult time communicating with our parents, but we did get word across somehow to understand each other, and they spoke on broken Enlgish to some degree after so long, it was hard to understand but they did speak some English. INTERVIEWER: How about Japanese school, did you go to Japanese school? ASATO: Yes I did. I used to go every Saturday and then on summer vacation from school, regular school, I would go another day during the week to Japanese school, so I go twice a week during the summer. I went for ten years to Japanese school and actually had a lot of fun playing sports over there too, basketball and football and studied. I went to what they call, I went to bok kien​, ​which is not hard but it was not too bad and I studied pretty hard. I used to memorize (00:02:00) everything, you know, I could read by memory by looking at the characters and such but did not understand a lot, only by memory, so when the test the came, what I did, everything by memory. INTERVIEWER: So, is it somewhat like photographic memory in that sense? ASATO: Oh well you might say that but I tried to remember, you know, I memorized everything, but I did not know the meaning of them. INTERVIEWER: What type of things do they teach you in Japanese school culturally? ASATO: Culturally? Well actually, you know Japanese cultures, actually they have pride and you behave and you do not bring shame to your family and you study and education was stressed very heavily amongst the Japanese people. So, it was school-school-school for me, you know most of the time. INTERVIEWER: What type of stories do you recall any of the particular stories that were meant to teach a moral or any particular stories of historical significance? ASATO: I cannot recall but I can remember some history of Japan. INTERVIEWER: Something about history? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 15 of 87 �Yeah, I guess so we did have some things with history of Japan, like I said I did not memorize everything but there were Samurai stories and the little kids Momotaro, you know that’s another story that did all the kids know and (00:04:00) what else, nothing military though, there was nothing military. But I will tell you one thing the teacher say, we used to have a teacher, his name was Ida-sensei and he was Sandan Judo, he was a Judo teacher and if he said in English, he was saying Japanese but in English he meant, if you do not behave Japan will drop bombs on you in the future and he meant that. I do not know whether he was aware there is going to be a war coming on, well I do not know, he said come on and drop bombs, “bakodama toshiro”, that’s what said in Japanese, Bakodama toshimas, drop bombs on you. That is what he used to say. INTERVIEWER: Now, did you study martial arts when your there? ASATO: No, I just started Judo and then the war came. INTERVIEWER: How long were you? ASATO: Not very long, I am just getting started. INTERVIEWER: And I am sorry, when you describe the sensei, did you gave a degree or ranking? ASATO: Yeah, he was Sandan, third degree judo which is pretty high on those days. INTERVIEWER: Okay, what was the thing that you enjoyed most about Japanese school? ASATO: Sports. I studied but, you know, it was not studying so much. It was going out and looking forward to playing football and basketball and baseball. INTERVIEWER: When you played those sports at the Japanese school, did you get to meet kids other than you would if you are in school, in your normal school? ASATO: No. They were in our community, you know, school was in our community so it is just those people that I went to grammar school and high school with. INTERVIEWER: The school there, the Japanese school (00:06:00), the teams… ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 16 of 87 �No, there were not teams. We just make up sides, you know, we play baseball. That is all that was, you know, during rest period, in between classes. INTERVIEWER: Okay, as far your brothers and sisters, you said you have a really good relationship with your oldest brother, how the other siblings get along? ASATO: With me? INTERVIEWER: To each other. ASATO: I think they got along well. We all got along pretty well. I do not remember any fights, only once when my two older brothers, once in awhile but that is a rarity. Otherwise, we got along well. INTERVIEWER: How did the whole life change after your mother’s passing? What responsibilities that changed? ASATO: Well we had continued the way we were. We have the farm and took care of the farm and my older brothers had to work the farm and my sister cooked and I went to school and then I came home and worked. It was tough days, like I said it was just before the war. We were just coming out of depression and things were getting better then the war broke out. INTERVIEWER: Did your brothers ever express any hopes or dreams about going on to higher education? ASATO: Not really. My oldest brother always use art, he was an artist. He was always drawing things. My dad use to say (​Inaudible​) (00:07:32), you know, in Japanese, should say, you will not make any money, you know, being an artist, but he used to do that when he was a kid. INTERVIEWER: What type of things would he draw? ASATO: He would draw anything, I cannot say, but he would carve things like – I remember he carved an airplane out from solid wood and it looked like the future airplanes that we have. Real (00:08:00) modernist biplanes, he always do biplanes remember, it would have a single wing and all that. He used to that, used to carve them out. INTERVIEWER: How about entertainment? Did you guys ever have time to go to a movie or anything like that? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 17 of 87 �Yes, that is one thing use to do is to take us to movies. And then once, I do not know, how often but at Japanese school, they bring these Japanese movies from Japan and they have this called “Chambara”, it would be the Samurai fighting each other and all that. We used to go see those things but then other than that, he used to take us to local movie theaters so we enjoyed that. It was probably one of the better parts of our entertainment. INTERVIEWER: What was your favorite film that you recall from that time? ASATO: No. I do not remember. We used to see quite a few. Gee, I cannot remember now. INTERVIEWER: How about a favorite star? Was there a star that stood out more? ASATO: Ginger Rogers, I guess, I remember her, Clark Gabriel and there was Allan Ladd. That was way back – who else, I cannot think right now but. INTERVIEWER: Who is your? Oh, I am sorry. ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: What was your favorite genre of film? Like Westerns or? ASATO: I like Westerns. INTERVIEWER: What were those of particular interest? ASATO: Action. (laughing) INTERVIEWER: (​Inaudible​) (00:10:00) actually do them, you had them actually in school. Where there anybody other outside of your family that really stood out and made the impression on you that kind of helped you in a way of guidance or just as a good role model? ASATO: You mean outside of the family? INTERVIEWER: Outside of the family? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 18 of 87 �ASATO: (Sigh) Not that I can recall, no I do not, as a role model. Well, my mother had a very close friend. She was a professor at Whittier College and she used to come by the farm and she drop by and then, somehow they communicated well. And she was quite a role because she was very smart woman too, her name was Elma Anderson and she was kind of a role model for me I guess, since she was very nice and she lived in Pasadena and she go from Whittier to Pasadena, but I do not have, as far as role models, I do not know why, as far as heroes or football players and all that, I do not know, I am not really, I enjoyed watching sports a lot, reading the newspaper, I read the newspaper’s sports section everyday. INTERVIEWER: Any of your teachers happened to have any particular influence on you? ASATO: Not really. INTERVIEWER: Prior to the break out of the war during your school years, did you ever experience any personal acts of prejudice? ASATO: Not really and no money, no prejudice as well. You want me to tell you about when the war broke out or what? INTERVIEWER: Ah, well get into that but real soon. ASATO: Prior to that, El Monte was a community that got along pretty well, we had a lot of fun, we had friends, Caucasians friends (00:12:00) I do not remember any animosity at all…going to school INTERVIEWER: You know, the friends that you, the inter-racial group that you had these friends in school; did you ever go to any of their houses after school? Or..? ASATO: I should go to Brianno’s house, Anderson’s house. There used to be some others Salisbury we used to go to their house and we used to visit them all. INTERVIEWER: Did your parents ever come with you at all? ASATO: No. They never did, because they have communication problem. They mostly stayed right on the farm. INTERVIEWER: Okay. When did you… you entered high school in 1939 correct? Okay, so in 1941 where you in 11th grade at that time? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 19 of 87 �ASATO: I was a senior. INTERVIEWER: Oh, you are a senior, okay. Tell me what you can recall about the outbreak of the war? ASATO: I do remember the war broke out and that was a Sunday and war is war, I mean I did not think a hell about it, so when I knew that war was coming, I had a feeling the war was coming anyway, but because there was war in Europe by then, that was a Sunday. I went Monday in school and the principal (00:14:00) and superintendent of the school called us in to the auditorium and said “Do not worry we will watch you over and we will take care of you and you do not have to worry about anything.” And that was the way it was. There was no animosity and but that day when I went home, I see like I see my brothers were already out of school, went home and my mother said dad is gone and that Monday the FBI came over and turned the house upside down and took him in, they took him Tujunga, in the San Fernando Valley and put him in the stockade. Purely because he has to do with Japanese, I was going to Japanese school that is why, well, we were all going to Japanese school, but I guess if we have not any connections to that, they just took him in, but he was totally innocent anyway. We went to visit him and that was not correct (​inaudible​) (00:14:59) are all over this big rolling form of barbwire, all the wires and barbwire and we could not even touch him. We just see him and talk to where he was and said whatever he could, later he was sent to Santa Fe, New Mexico and we did not see him for quite a spell because we were evacuated as you know. INTERVIEWER: Did the FBI ever give you a hard reason as to why they took him in? ASATO: Well, naturally there is a war scare and whoever they thought of that were suspicious they took them in and the, I would say because he has something to do with the Japanese group. INTERVIEWER: How about the, your classmates and other friends? Any other parents taken in? (00:16:00) ASATO: I would think so. I do not recall who they were but I know some others were taken. INTERVIEWER: How about the J School faculty? The Japanese school faculty, do you recall any of them being taken? ASATO: Oh, I am sure of. I do not recall what happen to them because you know we quit Japanese school and they went back to Japan. They were husband and wife by the way had both taught. That is only two teachers we have in the Japanese school. INTERVIEWER: So they had left prior to the war? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 20 of 87 �ASATO: I think they left after the war started. I think they just, I do not know what happen to them because we quit Japanese school naturally. INTERVIEWER: Do you recall exactly how long after your dad was first taken you said to Tujunga? ASATO: He was taken to Tujunga. INTERVIEWER: And how long was he there before they took him and moved him away? ASATO: I do not know. All I know is that they took him to New Mexico, to Santa Fe. INTERVIEWER: How did that affect your household and? ASATO: Well we could not do very much about it. We just had to do whatever we could by ourselves. Then my older brothers are capable so. It is okay. INTERVIEWER: What kind of support did you get if any from your neighbors during that time? ASATO: Oh, they really treat us well. We kept going to school and they treat as well. We did not have any trouble with them, so actually there was no support from them but we are under curfew. We could not go, I believe it was more than five miles away, so we have to stick close to home. (00:18:00) School was four miles away so it is not like, I guess. INTERVIEWER: And besides the distance restriction, what kind of time restrictions were you under? ASATO: Probably about 10:o’clock at those time. If it was 10 o’clock I am not sure, I can not remember. I think its 10 o’clock. INTERVIEWER: You said the superintendent of school called you in on that Monday to.. ASATO: That was Hicks. Superintendent Hicks INTERVIEWER: Now you said he called you into… This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 21 of 87 �ASATO: Called all the… all the Japanese-Americans. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: So it is just the Japanese-Americans. ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: Did they make any announcement that you are aware of to the general populace of the school? ASATO: I do not know what he said to the rest of the school. I do not recall anything if he did but I think they were quite aware that we were disturbed and they want to make sure that we are all going to be alright. INTERVIEWER: What do you recall of your Dad’s initial reaction to Pearl Harbor? ASATO: He did not get a chance. You know it happen on a Sunday and Monday he was gone. So I was not. INTERVIEWER: What was discussed in your household between your brothers and your sister? You know about that attack? ASATO: Nothing very much… It is just there is a war and that is all we have to accept it as war, not very much. INTERVIEWER: Do you have any sense of, you know these are our relatives or you know like were Japanese-Americans, it is our heritage that has attack our nation? ASATO: Well, I have to consider that, you know the United States is my country and that is the only country I know. I did not know what Japan was all about, Okinawa is all about, so as far as I am concerned there were foreigners (00:20:00) and we have to do the best we could. Once we knew, you know, we have the same face but then they were our enemies. INTERVIEWER: How about in your church, were you still attending church at that point that your dad left? ASATO: After that, no I do not recall going to church after that. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 22 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Do you recall anybody ever contact you from the church to see how you were? ASATO: I do not recall, no, my visitor – it was a reverend call, he might have called. I do not recall. INTERVIEWER: How long was it before the… or what is your recollection of Executive Order 9066? ASATO: Well, we are called on December of 17​th​, it was March or April that we were evacuated. I cannot recall exactly what date but in March-April, somewhere on that that we were evacuated. And one day, executive order came out. They said to follow orders but we lost everything. I still remember, fearless, almost all plants were ready for spring harvest, or whatever is coming up. And my dad, he just lost everything. We got paid a little bit by a – there was a school bus driver, in fact I knew his son, Ralph Meisler. His father was a school bus driver and he offered to pay us, but my dad was gone but he paid. I do not recall, a thousand, two thousand, not very much anyway plus a truck, a car, and all that, everything. All the… I would say the whole field. INTERVIEWER: So he paid for the land and the… ASATO: We did not own the land. We could not own the land. It was a lease land (00:22:00) so we lost all our crops and my dad ended up as a broken man. In fact, they even took the dog, a nice dog, nice terrier, fox terrier. INTERVIEWER: What was your dog’s name? ASATO: Nod. No that is one that died, we call him “Bear”, ​(Inaudible) (00:22:26). Nod was got killed by a car, it was called “Nod”. I do not know why we got the name, and the dog died in my arms when it got hit by the car. I tried to grab him and so it bit me a little bit. That was what hurt me. There was only one street out there, Durfee Blvd, Durfee Road, and it got hit by a car. INTERVIEWER: How far away was Durfee Road from your house… ASATO: Oh, not far maybe fifty yards, twenty, thirty, fifty yards. I do not know…it was close. INTERVIEWER: Do you have any other pets besides those two dogs? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 23 of 87 �Well, we only had that one dog. The other, “Bear” came later but that was way back. “Nod” was way way back and “Bear” was the dog that was evacuated. INTERVIEWER: And did “Bear” stay with another family? ASATO: Meisler’s, they kept the dog. I could not take him to camp. INTERVIEWER: What was your most prized possession that you had to leave behind, something that you felt badly about having to leave? ASATO: Nothing really… I mean I did not have that too much to– in my possession that I owned, you know, do not recall much you know. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember what kind of things that you picked up that you were able to take along that something that you took with you that really meant something (00:24:00) to you? ASATO: Not really, just mostly clothes. We just take what we could. That is all. Used clothes and I cannot remember what I took to camp. It was not very much. We were not allowed to take very much. INTERVIEWER: How much were you allowed to take with you? ASATO: I cannot recall but it was a limited amoumt. INTERVIEWER: Where were you first assembled at? ASATO: Pomona, December 7, Pomona Race Track. I said this over before on other interviews but then I do recall one, distinctly, one thing that when we were into camp, Pomona Race Track, they have this, mattress cover, they said “That is your bedding” and we have to fill it with straw. That was our bedding and that was not appreciated too much. INTERVIEWER: How did you get there? ASATO: Pick-up… The Meisler’s, they got a pick-up and we went on a pick-up truck. INTERVIEWER: Aside from… This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 24 of 87 �ASATO: We had a – years are getting better at that time when’41 came around we were coming out of Depression. And we were just coming out and we made money, you know, started making money in berries and such and we had ​a ‘39 Plymouth ​which was pretty good in those days. And that was a smaller one than to the Meisler’s. And all the farm equipment and everything went. That was good. And I have to tell you that in 1937, I stepped on a nail and I got lock jaw from it and then healed. It was on my big (00:26:00) toe and it healed, I still remember. And like my mother was still alive you know, I remember when we would eat, the spoon got little tighter and tighter. That is why they call it lock jaw. You know as you put your spoon in, it got little tighter but I never felt anything. I felt well, nothing wrong with me. And then one day, a visitor came to the farm and I started running to greet him and I fell into a hole, little hole. I tripped and fell and then I could not breathe, and my Dad knew right away, something was wrong. So he picked me up and we had a family doctor, named Dr. Walker, around ​in this area in Whittier near Rose Hills. And he came down, I remember him, checking my reflexes and I feel I did not have any reflexes as he says he was taking it right now, so we went, I went all the way from ​pretty far, those days from El Monte to Children’s Hospital on the corner of Vermont and Sunset and like the nurses said “One out of 11 or 12 that lived through lock jaw”. So I feel somewhat fortunate that man upstairs took care of me. But you know, later on, I had cancer also but that is way later. Do you want to hear about that? INTERVIEWER: Let us talk about that a little bit later. ASATO: (Laughing) INTERVIEWER: When did you recall of coming home from Hollywood? What was Hollywood like at that time that you recall? ASATO: Hollywood? I do not remember. What do you mean Hollywood? I did not know. I never really went to Hollywood,​ ​really got to Hollywood. INTERVIEWER: Well you are at the Children’s oh. ASATO: Yeah but I was in the hospital. INTERVIEWER: On your way out, you guys did not… ASATO: Never thought about it, no never thought about it. Hollywood was close by (00:28:00) but I never even thought about it. Lucky to be alive I guess (laughing) .I was in the, I think I was in the hospital about a month. I cannot remember. I was in a coma for quite a while, because of lock jaw. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 25 of 87 �Now… ASATO: That is why maybe I am not so smart, you know? (laughing) INTERVIEWER: Now, as far as lock jaw, what they attribute that to? How was it that? ASATO: It was a nail. You know, we are living on a farm, It picked up some kind of a germ, and I guess it caused the lock jaw. Rusty nail maybe. But it healed. I still remember it healed already, and then going along, and I started, you know, everyday and that spoon would get a little tighter and tighter. You know, I still did not realize on what was going on, until I fell in that hole. My dad picked me up and called the doctor. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember what, what driving back home from the hospital at El Monte? What that look like, by comparison to nowadays? ASATO: I do not remember. (laughing) INTERVIEWER: Let us see, back to, to actually, back to the end of this tape. (laughing) ASATO: Is that two tapes already? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: Wow, but that is not one, one big tape like that. ​(Audio Break) BEGINNING OF TAPE THREE INTERVIEWER: You’re mentioning, when you got to Pomona, the bedding they gave you? ASATO: It was the bag that they are going to stuff with straw. INTERVIEWER: What other memories do you have of your initial day there? ASATO: Not having a lot, as you know. Just one of those days, we were around together and we were assigned to a stall or what do you want to call it and we live there and that was it on the first day, I saw a lot of people, they’re from all over from LA and they were all from all over mixed from different areas. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 26 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: You said you’re assigned to stall, was this a room or a horse stall or? ASATO: It was a, it wasn’t a horse stall. Some people lived in horse stalls but unfortunately we didn’t have to be, pardon me we lived in a little huts or what do you want to call it. It wasn’t very comfortable anyway. INTERVIEWER: Now, were you, your brothers and your sister altogether? ASATO: My sister didn’t go. My sister was sick, she got sick and they left her in California. They stayed. She stayed. INTERVIEWER: So now, was she… ASATO: So my brother and myself were the only ones who went to Pomona. My dad was gone. INTERVIEWER: Okay, so I was… ASATO: She didn’t wanted to go to any place so she, she stayed in California. INTERVIEWER: Where did your sister stay? ASATO: She stayed in a sanitarium. She contracted TB apparently from what happened and she stayed in a sanitarian. INTERVIEWER: And… ASATO: She wasn’t bad. She was okay but they decided. I guess, they were afraid of whatever contact when you’re in the camp and (00:02:00) mingle with people that is why they didn’t want her to go. INTERVIEWER: Now, did she stay there during the course of the war? ASATO: She did. During the course of the war she stayed. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 27 of 87 �And when did you finally see her again? ASATO: I meet a fellow from the Camp Shelby, in the city and I don’t know, I’ve heard cases where, there were no, whether in uniform or not, there were no Nisei allowed in California but I got through. I got passed and came through and came to Southern California and I contacted the person named Fr. Lavery, I think he is a Christian or somewhat of the Christian faiths, I think, I’m cannot remember, even lent me a car and I would see a couple of my Caucasian friends and that was in uniform and they were the Navy but they’re also on leave so I got to see them and then I went to see my sister, and Fr. Lavery was very nice to me. I’ll never forget that. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the car, kind of car it was? ASATO: No, I really don’t. It was on older car. I was able to drive so I was fortunate. INTERVIEWER: Did anybody give you any second looks seeing this Japanese-American guy? ASATO: Not that I can recall but I was in uniform and I’m just, I didn’t have any incidents but I, probably the only Nisei in California, I don’t know, besides (​Inaudible​) (00:03:35) I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Okay, you went from Pomona, is there any? How was that the… ASATO: We stayed in Pomona for a few months, I don’t recall how long, a couple three months I guess so. I played sports there, you know, for activities and try to pass the time away. We had a good ball team, (00:04:00) you know, from my own community, we also played sports so we had a good ball team and we were on everything except we had, I think we had a play against another category or older guys and we just lost, we really lost that game, we won evegame besides that. INTERVIEWER: How were, how was food handled at that time? ASATO: By like a cafeteria, you know, we just had to get in line and like in cafeteria, the toilets and everything were all community toilets. We didn’t have any private, so we had to go, when you go to eat, you go to a mess hall and eat. INTERVIEWER: Now with those …, were they structures or were they tense or what? ASATO: They were structures. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 28 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: And how about guards? Where there… ASATO: Guarded all the way. Sensors all the way around us. It was like a prison. We weren’t allowed to leave. That was our initiation into camp life, prison you might say. But we’re able to do whatever we want within the camp. INTERVIEWER: What can you tell us about the conversation going on about among the community there as to what they thought the future was going to hold for them? ASATO: I don’t know. I was a young kid then and, you know, you don’t think that you have to take what’s given to you and do the best you can and that’s the way we accepted it and we made the most of it by passing our time away by maybe playing cards or playing ball and all that. That’s where we passed our time. INTERVIEWER: What kind of card games did you play? ASATO: (00:06:00) Just maybe a little bit of poker, you know, small poker. Bridge, we used to play bridge and you know card games. INTERVIEWER: How about music? Do you guys have entertainment in that sense there? ASATO: I don’t remember any entertainment in Pomona. No, I don’t remember. We had no dances, I don’t remember. INTERVIEWER: Okay. How about the camp that you went to from Pomona? ASATO: I don’t recall exactly, around July or August by a train. In fact, we were the first ones into Heart Mountain, Wyoming. My address was 11C, so you can imagine we were the first families in all the first families in there. I was only, let me see how old was I, 16 or 17? Better 17 by then, 16 or 17 anyway and we went to Heart Mountain and we sort of an advance anyway, advance group and I recall riding on trucks and throwing mattresses and all this, plus people came in, we supply mattresses and beddings and all that to the people coming in to the camp. It was a big camp. It must have been ten thousand us in there at the camp. INTERVIEWER: When you first got there, and saw? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 29 of 87 �ASATO: Dust, it was dusty and dry and nothing. It wasn’t a lot of fun I tell you. We had to do what we had to do. We didn’t cry about it you know. We had to do load trucks, and mattresses and all that stuff, you know. (00:08:00) INTERVIEWER: What do you remember of the train trip there? ASATO: Well, I do remember that they closed the blinds and I don’t recall how long it took us, but quite a spell and I know it took couple of three days maybe to get up to Heart Mountain. INTERVIEWER: And why did you have to close the blinds? ASATO: It was orders. I think I opened it sometimes only to look out but I think they made us close the blinds. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember anything of what you saw? ASATO: Desert I guess, nothing much. I didn’t see any towns. INTERVIEWER: What do you feel that they order you to close the blinds? ASATO: Well, I think security reasons maybe. I have no idea, that’s military order I guess. I don’t know. I don’t recall but I believed they were closed. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: Not distinctly. INTERVIEWER: What were the sleeping conditions like on the train? ASATO: We didn’t have any, what they call it –sleepers. We had to sit on the chairs, you know and that was it. So other than that there was our –that’s how we travelled. INTERVIEWER: Back to Manzanar, I hear you’re… ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 30 of 87 �Not Manzanar. INTERVIEWER: I’m sorry, Heart Mountain pardon me. In Heart Mountain you’re describing how dusty it was when you got there… ASATO: Very dusty. INTERVIEWER: In contrast to this farming community that you’re from ​(Inaudible) ​(9:46) ASATO: (Inaudible) ​(00:09:49) was a beautiful town. You know there’s a river running about a mile away (Inaudible) ​(00:09:55) River and it was so clean. Every morning (00:10:00) you get up in a beautiful screen and that’s not like it is today. We still enjoy the scenery at the – those days was nice, but the Heart Mountain wasn’t that enjoyable because it was dusty, hot and dusty, during the summer months, so we went, then it was cold in the winter, 30 below. INTERVIEWER: When you first got there to Heart Mountain, was there an entrance gate? ASATO: I would think so, yes, there was a, I don’t really recall, but there were century posts all away around us, then there must have a gate, I don’t recall going through it but. INTERVIEWER: What other security that they have there? ASATO: Barbwires around and the out posts, you know, century, guard towers all away around. INTERVIEWER: How were those men? ASATO: By military, military there are also GIs. INTERVIEWER: And what type of weapons would they carry? ASATO: Oh, I don’t recall them, but they’re carrying though, probably riffles and such, you know, I don’t know if they have the machine guns up there, and I don’t recall. INTERVIEWER: What direction where they facing, the guards? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 31 of 87 �ASATO: Well, I don’t think they are facing out. INTERVIEWER: How about getting settled in the camp barracks they are yet in the camp, what was that like? ASATO: Well, they wasn’t a lot of room, and I don’t think our room was any larger than this here with the pad hole (​Inaudible​) (0:11:59)pot-belly stove, and (00:12:00)like an army cot, not a camp expert, but still army clock and military blanket, and whatever else, we did it, they supply. INTERVIEWER: Did you get separate rooms? ASATO: No, no way. INTERVIEWER: So, what is the size of a building and how many people about were in there? ASATO: Let me think, one building was as usual, so 111C, 1A, 1B, 1C, they must had been 4 or 5 different families in each building and they (​Inaudible​) (0:12:49) from the (​Inaudible​) (0:12:56) I couldn’t mention what it was. Like I say, like this room here, is maybe 15x15 or 20, 15x20, our room was much bigger than this. INTERVIEWER: And when you see your room, the section that you will have? ASATO: For three of us. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: When my dad came back later so, maybe it was a little bit bigger than this meter 20 by 20 meter, but it wasn’t a large room. It’s just enough room for still army cots that’s about it, pot and pot-belly stove. INTERVIEWER: What did you do for privacy? ASATO: There wasn’t privacy, there is no privacy. INTERVIEWER: What was used for partitions to designate each family groups affair? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 32 of 87 �Oh, no they were separated, as far as families are concern, they were separated. There (00:14:00) was a walls in between, but you can hear everything going on but. INTERVIEWER: So for each family group, there was a structural wall? ASATO: There was a wall, you know, it was a regular wall, and like I said, there was a day lobby (​Inaudible​) (0:14:19) they were next toward to me and they had – let me think, him and sisters and their mother I believe, that was far, but there is about 4 or 5 living there and they’re room was a little bit bigger than ours, but I don’t know what they had for privacy, I don’t know. We rather went in to other people’s place, I rather hardly went into his place, there are always next door, I’m not going to went somewhere but I don’t recall too much about. INTERVIEWER: Now at that point, you were still a senior in high school? ASATO: I didn’t get all my credits, so, I went to, to be true, I went about two classes in the Heart Mountain for about 3 months and they given the credits and I didn’t involve in graduation so I was kind of discouraged. They had, next class, was being graduated so and they call my name but I didn’t want to go up to get my diploma, they sent it to me. INTERVIEWER: How you said, they sent it to you, was it… ASATO: From the team captain, captain sent it to me I didn’t go after. INTERVIEWER: Now, the graduation… ASATO: Took place in Heart Mountain, but the next class graduated at the same time they gave me a diploma. INTERVIEWER: Were you able to receive your ‘shiromate’? ASATO: No, never tried. But I know that they would have been, I do have a friend (00:16:00) that finally got a diploma from Harmony. They would do it, I just didn’t ask for it. I was kind of discouraged in situation. INTERVIEWER: What was happening socially inside the camp? What kind of structures were in placed to try to normalize as much as possible in that situation? ASATO: To live you mean? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 33 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: For entertainment and such? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. What kind of social structures were in placed to… ASATO: There were no, really. There was some halls, recreation halls. In fact, during the winter, the end of the blocks would built a little dam riser to create a rise in the water to… to accumulate, we have an ice rink in every block and I skate a lot to pass the time. Then in their football field, they had a high school there, the whole football field was an ice rink, so we used to had a lot of fun ice skating and there was sometimes 25 to 30 below, we would still be out there skating. INTERVIEWER: Did anybody learn how to play hockey? ASATO: No, never learn how to play hockey, just ice skate but that was a lot of fun and then we used to go out and then, by then, it was getting more freedom, a little bit more of freedom about a year or so, whether we snuck out at night, I don’t remember but we got, we got out and we went to the Shoshone river, it was cold, and that we just skate as far as we wanted. That was just, just a little ​away out of camp, walking distance, so we used to have fun doing that. INTERVIEWER: (00:18:00)What type of duties that you have to perform in camp? ASATO: Oh, no, I, we were allowed to a leave that’s why we got a little more liberal. Working forces went out, you know, to from different farms and, let me think, it was 19, we evacuated in 1942, I guess, yeah. So, maybe it was towards, I guess it was that winter because it was cold. We were allowed to go out and work on a sugarbeet farm. It was about 6 of us, you know, high school buddies and decided to go out and went to a town called Hardin, Montana and it was cold and the farmer’s name was Freeze (laughing) and we had to, what we had to do was, you know, the sugar beets were that big, it was cold, I don’t know why we didn’t go over sugarbeets but we used to have to and this rose for a mile long, I mean, they’re only as far as you can see and we have to go down this row and knock to clods off of the sugarbeet and then come back and top them. That was the probably the hardest work I ever did in my life and we didn’t make any money, it was just too much work for the, you know, we were paid by the load and when you had to make the clods, you know, from the sugarbeet, it just took too much time, it was all piece work and we didn’t (​Inaudible​) (00:19:36) either, we didn’t make any money. Oh, we had fun, you know, being around with most buddies we had some fun but. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe what a sugarbeet looks like? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 34 of 87 �ASATO: Suga beet is like, you know what a ‘diakong’ looks like? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: But it is wider. Like this as is. Much wider close point, it is all roots, (00:20:00) but these wasn’t went that good, their mostly thin beets. I don’t know, it was some good ones but it never a good crop. What really had to is, you know, then some of fellows use to, I’m not done a little bit to but you know, gather all the sugarbeets together and then we take this big fork and load on a truck. And they take it to the sugarbeet factory and did weighed it. We were never told how much they weight on or where we got ripped or whatever but we didn’t make any money​. ​And we had to live in an old shack, no lights, lights by candle, and to take a bath we have had a big old barrel widely open big old barrel warm that up and take a bath. How did we enjoy having my company or buddies with? Money wise it wasn’t successful. But after that I came back in I guess in 1943 and I worked in a Fire Department. I still remember playing ball, baseball like cracked my ankle sliding in the third base, at first the doctor it was sprain, so I was walking with a couple of weeks then I got a call from the hospital saying it was cracked ankle. So I was about 6 weeks on a cast. Anyway, at that time, the Fire Department, they let me worked on a desk, at the desk for awhile until I got well. And working for the Fire Department was pretty good (00:22:00) because we got the best food. We were the highest, it was 19 dollars a month, it was highest paid salary in Camp. And we go to special mess hall for the fire truck and before this mess and you know all the good food we want, so that was fortunate. And we fought a couple of fires. Other than that and in fact, at the fire department it was about 6 firemen when the 442nd was being formed volunteered, but I was too young, you know I think I was 17 at that time. So it got to be 1945 I think, I wasn’t 18 for sure. INTERVIEWER: When was it? ASATO: I was born in 1925, so 1943… INTERVIEWER: So 1942 you’re 17, 43 you’re 18. ASATO: Later in 43 I was 18, I was born August so (mumbling) I was still 16 and I remember friends of mine that volunteered for the 442 and we had heard about the hundreds. INTERVIEWER: And the 442 was being formed, what did you hear about the hundredth Okay. ASATO: Well not a lot that time, we didn’t get too much communication but we did hear about the hundreds being formed and going overseas. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 35 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: What was the reaction to the news of them being over a year, what do you recall hearing about what they did in Europe? ASATO: Later or at that time? INTERVIEWER: When they (00:24:00) got there and started actually. ASATO: Well, I just thought they were doing their duty as soldiers, I didn’t give it a lot of thought, I mean, doing what they had to do, you know, just like I would do if I had to do because I would have probably withdrawn anyway if I was old enough at that time, and I remember the 6 guys were Fire Department, they were all friends of mine, I think not doing (​Inaudible​) (00:24:32) today. There is one (​Inaudible​) (00:24:37)… ASATO: What’s his name? INTERVIEWER: Kenaga, Tom Kenada, Thomas Kenada. ASATO: He is very intelligent fellow, he was a newly grad from Standford grad I think but right now he’s got hives and he can’t even get around. While at the house he has had it for years with Kenney would not leave his house. Nice person. INTERVIEWER: You’re talking about how these great foods you’re getting as a result for working with the fire department that… ASATO: Oh yeah! We got meat, you know. When I see rice and we got you know in the regular Mess Hall you got a lot of other stuff you know what do you call it, not as good anyway with Korean things like that you know but at the Mess Hall we have a special mess, it was at the block 24 and there is meat and rice and that’s all we wanted, it was good food. INTERVIEWER: So, in that Mess Hall how many you guys would be eating (00:26:00) at one time? ASATO: Well you know, we always go by crew you know because somebody out might be on duty so we go on our fire truck and go there and maybe about 6, 8, 10 of us will go at a time. INTERVIEWER: Before you got in the Fire department, when you went to eat how many people would be in? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 36 of 87 �ASATO: In Mess Hall? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: Hundreds I guess, all block could be in there and you know it just like some Mess Hall it was like that and. INTERVIEWER: How long might you be waiting in line to eat? ASATO: I don’t think it was that bad as far as waiting in line, it was pretty fast. INTERVIEWER: During on a regular Mess? ASATO: Yeah, I don’t think it was that bad but we go all got lamb and mutton, but that didn’t taste very good. Lamb is okay, but mutton, no. INTERVIEWER: What’s the difference? ASATO: I don’t know, I mean it just doesn’t taste as good. I can’t say why but the lamb tastes good. INTERVIEWER: What were your brothers doing when they were in camp? ASATO: My brothers also work in the fire department. The other one, he is working some place but I can’t recall what he was doing. He’s doing something maybe, he was working maybe at the warehouse or something, he is working to warehouse. I’m always be on my… No! he work in the fire department too, all three of us. He came later to the fire department. INTERVIEWER: Were all of you working different crews? ASATO: No. INTERVIEWER: And in the fire department, did you just deal with fires in the camp or… ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 37 of 87 �In the camp. INTERVIEWER: Ever go outside? ASATO: No. We weren’t allowed to. (00:28:00) INTERVIEWER: What’s the biggest fire that you deal with? ASATO: In the Mess Hall fire. It was burned pretty good. By that time, I was well, you know, my ankle have healed, and I was on what they call a light hose, spray hose and I’m carrying a light hose fighting the fire that’s all we use. We have to fight the fire. INTERVIEWER: Were you corresponding with your sister? ASATO: Oh yes! We use to write to her. INTERVIEWER: And how about your dad? Were you corresponding….? ASATO: He came back in 1943, the government as you know, allowed Nisei to join the forces and there were questions that came out to eligible so we’re able to go service about thirty questions, most of them was two questions, I think 27 and 28. One was “will you be loyal to the United States”? And the other one was “will you be willing to serve the country” something in this order you know I meant to say thing. Which of you will going to serve in the armed forces of the United States something was yes or no and my dad was back and also send him back I forgot what month in year of 1943 maybe March, April, or May and he said “you fellows are old enough, you make up your own mind” and so we all said yes, yes. There are other as you know that said no, no. INTERVIEWER: We going to get into that on the next tape, because were are right to end here. BEGINNING OF TAPE FOUR INTERVIEWER: Okay, we’re just talking about the hundredth and the news coming back and what I want to ask you about is, did you ever received any word to a newspaper saying anything about the successes of the hundredth in Europe? ASATO: Not really. There was a fellow that came in about that time Ben Kuroki. He was a bombardier in England. He went on a record “​a man of a minute.” He went past what he was required to do. And I guess he was This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 38 of 87 �committed for that. And he came back and he came to camp and he asked for volunteers. And he is known for I don’t know if you’ve heard of it? Ost bombing that was the first world bombing in Germany. He was involved in that. And I guess he was somewhat of a hero because he went on a lot of missions. INTERVIEWER: Was he a Nisei? ASATO: He’s a Nisei from Nebraska, born and raised in Nebraska. So, we didn’t know about him until he came to camp. But other than that, you know, we didn’t get any correspondence or any news. We didn’t get any newspapers in camp. INTERVIEWER: Now, what kind of discussion had been going on in camp as far as among the, whether it was the Nisei and the Isei talking about the involvement in the war? And what they thought they should do? ASATO: Oh, as young as I was, you know, you didn’t think too much about the war (00:02:00). And what was unconstitutional what they speak off. We were too young to think of those things. So, we just… it just passed by my ears I guess, whatever we’ve heard it didn’t bother me at all. But I knew that somewhere along the line I would go also, drafted at the age of 18. So, I knew I was going to volunteer to go. Then I was drafted, they didn’t give me much of chance anyway. It was a few months after I turned 18, I was drafted. INTERVIEWER: Now, we had just talked about the, a questionnaire that came out. And there were two questions about loyalty. ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: And could you restate those questions? ASATO: It pertained to whether you would be, one of them was to whether you would be loyal to the United States and the other was would you serve in the armed forces of the United States. Of course we didn’t get a choice, when they said Armed Forces. It didn’t mean anything because we only had the Army to go to. No choice. We just went to the Army. There were those that said “No, no”. But no, we don’t want to talk about that or not. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: And they were some very good friends of mine but they’re either “No, no’s” at one time. Some went to, either expatriates or repats being Isei or Nisei, you know. They went to Tule Lake and we saw them off, they were some friends of mine, good friends. But they were 16-17 years old too. So, they were controlled This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 39 of 87 �by their parents (00:04:00). And others I guess, older one’s that said “No, no” went to Tule Lake and they wanted to back to Japan. And then, there were others that refused to go to service. And they were “No, no’s.” And then, they’re still friends of mine today. They’re good people it’s just that they have to serve time at Steilacoom, Washington, Fort McNeil islands. That’s a prison in Washington, state of Washington. And sometimes I get the feeling that they wished they went to service because of what they had to go through. And I do recall when I was drafted, going through Cheyenne, Wyoming and I was on the train to and trained in to Fort Logan, Colorado and these guys or whole bunch of a militants, said, “No, no, were up on the top of the roof” you know, on the building, and I was waving at them, this guys is a “No no’s”, and they all went to prison. Yeah, of course, I didn’t see him after that time because I have to go. Then soon, after I was drafted I went back to camp and went to service. INTERVIEWER: What reason did they give for answering “No” to both these questions? ASATO: I mostly, (gasping) I would think that since their rights were taken away, that they had no reasons to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States. They had their right to their opinion, and I would think some were influenced by their parents. (0:06:00) There were some kibei’s, you know, there are probably were in the “no no’s” too, I don’t recall but, they were heavily influenced by Japan I think, because they were educated in Japan. INTERVIEWER: Could you explain the term “Kibei”? ASATO: Kibei is a born here but educated in Japan and then they came back and so, they spoke a lot of broken English, they didn’t speak good English; they have an accent. You can tell kibei’s. Of course, there’s a lot of kibei’s who went to service too. In fact, my platoon sergeant was kibei, and he was very nice, and took care of me. He was a nice guy. He died a couple a years ago. INTERVIEWER: What was his name? ASATO: Ace Takayama, I call him Ace aside from what was his real name, I call him Ace, but he was a real nice fella, and he spoke a real broken English, but he was a good squad leader. INTERVIEWER: Now the – (Coughing) Excuse me. What was that, the name given to these guys that said “No, no” and subsequently went to prison? ASATO: “No, no’s.” What would you call them? What else would you call? I guess for they are known as the“No, no” boys. INTERVIEWER: And a… This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 40 of 87 �ASATO: That was probably in a large amount and the largest trial of this sort and I think they are still fighting for their rights today. INTERVIEWER: When you say, they’re fighting for their rights today, what it is it that they’re trying to get? ASATO: Well, they wanted an apology, I think they might have gotten apology from the government (0:08:00) under the circumstances, I think they did. They got on apology, but you know, when you have a prison record especially when they came out, so you are not allowed to do too many things, apparently, I never talked to him about it. INTERVIEWER: Did you stayed friends? ASATO: We were still friends today. INTERVIEWER: You may have just answer my next question, but I was gonna asked, do you know if any this guys had said, “No, no” on this two questions, had any sense of what repercussion there might be, when they did it? ASATO: I don’t know, what they had in mind where they were, they realize if they’re going to prison or not. Being the largest trial, I had an understanding, I maybe wrong but, I believe there are “No, no’s” from other camps and they were all smaller groups and their penalty is more than severe. I think there were just pettily penalties and they didn’t do anything to them. That’s what I understand, I don’t know, I don’t think they all went to the prison, depended on the trial. INTERVIEWER: What do you recall of any kind of in a sense an act of civil disobedience within the camp a demonstration of any sort? ASATO: I don’t recall, I was gone, I think they had some it in fair amount after I left, but I didn’t see any of that going in my camp. INTERVIEWER: Among the older generation that were there in camp, were there discussions of going back to Japan? What are people talking about? ASATO: Well, amongst my buddies, you know were all… INTERVIEWER: Among the older generation that were there in camp, were there discussions of going back to Japan where people talking about? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 41 of 87 �ASATO: Well, amongst buddies, you know, we are all (00:10:00) born and raised here. We all stopped the saying, most of us except the No-No’s, they are influenced by their parents or they made up their own minds but as far as the first generation, I may be wrong, but I know my dad and I think in the ballroom it was I thought Japan was going to win the war. That’s my feeling anyway, you know, we hear the mumbling and all that going on the ballroom or when talking and so I feel that they are pro-Japan, maybe not all of them but I’m sure one quite a few of them. INTERVIEWER: At the point that you got drafted, what kind from notification did you, or how did you receive you draft notice? ASATO: Regular, I think it was telegram that came in the camp, you know, just regular notice, it was service and draft notice. INTERVIEWER: And how long did you have to prepare to leave? ASATO: Not very long, they gave me date and at the day that I was suppose to go and I went. I got to went to 411 Colorado. INTERVIEWER: How did you arrive there? ASATO: Pardon? INTERVIEWER: How did you arrive there? ASATO: By train from Heart Mountain. INTERVIEWER: And the first time you’re on the train to go to Heart Mountain and you had to have the window shades this time. ASATO: Yeah, not this time, not this time. INTERVIEWER: Do they have any guards travelling with you? ASATO: No, no. We are draftees; I don’t think there was necessity of that. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 42 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Were there any military people in uniform that travel with you? ASATO: I can’t recall. I don’t think maybe there were, I don’t recall. INTERVIEWER: At Fort Logan, what happened there? ASATO: (00:12:00) Oh, I can tell you a few stories about Fort Logan. There were quite a few, as maybe two, three, four hundred of us that gathered because of they get ready to send us to Camp Shelby, apparently. And I remember some incidence, there is a fellow name Shimizu Shuramizuwa serving on food line as there is some, I think airmen from the Pacific, they’re coming through and they said I don’t want to be served by a Jap. And so they took him off the line and put him in the back. We all heard about it, hundreds of us. We laid down everything we had I would say that probably the only strength that was pulled him in the U.S Army. We laid everything down, went back to our building. And then finally, the Commander came and pled with us and says that it will never happen again and so we were given pretty good jobs after that so, I went to pick cherries (laugh), of course I didn’t have to put any K.P. or anything like that but we didn’t stay long at Fort Logan. And then another incident, the Nisie had formed a softball team and we played against the Caucasians, and this guy named Hyoshi calls us, he was little but 5-6 years older of us. He is from Hawaii and he was catcher, he was pretty catcher I was playing second base and this big Hally gets up and says take his bench up, “I’ll take all you Japs” and this catcher, he looked at me and flipped him on the ground. And then, the guys were drinking, you know some of the GI’s were drinking and watching the game, and this one GI Buddha head, got on top and he had straight razor, he just, you know, I guess…but I took it away from him, I ran up there and just took it away from him. That was the incident and after that, we were treated real good by everybody. There was a big sergeant there that treated us well after that too. He was a Caucasian. INTERVIEWER: How was that sergeant prior to that? ASATO: He was okay, I mean, nothing bad there, it was just this one guy and he was pretty big guy, he got up took his bench and “I’ll take all you Japs.” But that didn’t last very long, but soon after we were at the Camp Shelby. INTERVIEWER: How long were you in Logan? ASATO: I don’t’ recall, maybe three weeks or month, two weeks, I don’t recall, not a long time but all that happened within that period of time. INTERVIEWER: What was the purpose you actually going to Logan, what did you do? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 43 of 87 �ASATO: Well, just it’s the induction center, so when you go to you training, they sends you of a month 2 weeks. I don’t recall it is a long time. But all that happened within that period of time. INTERVIEWER: What was the purpose you actually going to Logan and what… ASATO: Well it just as it’s the induction center. So then you put your training they send you off. INTERVIEWER: Did they provide uniforms or anything free there? ASATO: Yes. We had uniforms that time. INTERVIEWER: Were they tailor-made to you or how were they? ASATO: More or less, I guess, you know, you get your size. I do not know (Laughing). We were small. Most of us are small. INTERVIEWER: How did yours fit? ASATO: Okay, I did not complaint about. I didn’t remember complaining. I was small but I didn’t complain. INTERVIEWER: Did you remember any of your friends that look particularly funny in their uniforms because they are oversized? ASATO: Oh I am sure, I am sure that they are oversized and all that you know but also pretty well fitted I think. I do not know. INTERVIEWER: From Camp Logan where did you go to? Or Fort Logan I am sorry. ASATO: (0:16:00) I went to Camp Shelby Mississippi. INTERVIEWER: And what was that trip like? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 44 of 87 �Oh. It was a pleasant trip went to. It took as quite a while because the trip’s terrain and there is a lot of us and I remember we going to be there in Fort Worth, Texas. Stop and got off that was I think that was only stop we made because I still got some pictures from it. We took some pictures at Fort Worth. So, I remember that. Then, we went to Camp Shelby. INTERVIEWER: How long do you get to stay in Fort Worth? ASATO: No, it was just a quick stop. It wasn’t long maybe couple hours. I don’t know. It was just really quick. INTERVIEWER: Were you able to leave the platform or just..? ASATO: Oh yes enough to take pictures and you can say we were able to move around a little bit We did not get to see the town though. INTERVIEWER: How about being in Texas, all this Asian faces. What’s the reaction to you guys? ASATO: Nothing that I know of. We didn’t… No one said anything. There is a lot of us. So I guess everything went on alright at that time. INTERVIEWER: What’s your arrival at Shelby like? ASATO: It is okay. We just, we are assigned nothing happened when got there. I went into a rifle platoon at that time, Charlie Company rifle platoon. Then after that I went to the mortar platoon. INTERVIEWER: Now, were drafted. You did not go up and volunteer and say I haven’t really wanted to get involve on this thing. What was your mindset going at that point that now you’re in uniform? You started to get you’re training. That sense of pride started building in you outfit you regiment or…? ASATO: Well I was proud to be in uniform from the beginning (0:18:00). I have no doubts about it and being in all Nisie, we all got along pretty well and we slept together and drank together. Did whatever we had to get to train together and the made the best of it. INTERVIEWER: Now, you are coming into the 442​nd​ as a replacement. Correct? ASATO: Yes. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 45 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: And so the group that made up the 442​nd at that time originally was, am I correct to say that was mainland, American-Japanese? ASATO: 442? INTERVIEWER: Originally? ASATO: No, they were from Hawaii and the mainland. You say they are mostly from the mainland? INTERVIEWER: Yeah, the major part.of.it? ASATO: No. INTERVIEWER: Was it mainland or not? ASATO: No, I would say they were on both. In fact, there were some that were in Shelby, quite a few are in Shelby at that time when we got there. INTERVIEWER: When you say quite a few they were Hawaiian? ASATO: (​Inaudible​) (0:19:11)and Hawaiian. INTERVIEWER: What was that, that like to meet the Hawaiians and hear that Pidjin English? ASATO: Oh I heard that in camp. There was some Hawaiians in camp that I use to hear Pidjin English and I didn’t have any problem. I got along with them. I drank beer with them. (​Laughing) INTERVIEWER: So you already kind of the accustomed to the dialect? ASATO: Oh not really but I used to hear them play their ukulele camp and talk to them and make some friends, casual friends. But then Camp Shelby there is a lot of them so they never bothered me. I got along well with them. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 46 of 87 �Where there any instance about a mainland Hawaii rivalry when you were there? (00:20:00) ASATO: Not so much, not very much really. Nothing there at that time. They always call us “kotogs” but it didn’t bother me. INTERVIEWER: And what did that mean? ASATO: When you hit their head you go “katongkatong.” INTERVIEWER: Okay. What did you notice as far as all the type of training actually took place there for you at Shelby? ASATO: I went through a rifle training mostly I ended up in the mortars but we went to marches and such night problems and I do recall night problems because we hit the dirt to get full of chiggers on your stomach and it was kind of –starting itching and we had to suffocate it with nail polish but that’s what happened when you go night, probably you hit the dirt. INTERVIEWER: What are chiggers? ASATO: Chiggers are little bugs that dig in to you skin and they stay there and they started itching, you know what I mean you have to get rid of them. INTERVIEWER: Could they be really bad to your health? ASATO: I don’t know. I never got to that point but I suppose it could eventually. I don’t know. Most of training was in to the mortars so. INTERVIEWER: What was the mood like there on camp during training was it very serious? Tight regimented mood or … ASATO: Well it was well regimented you know, we had to get up every morning go to training. I went through only about fourteen weeks of basics (00:22:00) It is kind of quick. It wasn’t that long, I cannot remember how many weeks but it was short training. INTERVIEWER: In Mississippi, it was pretty well… ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 47 of 87 �It’s a hell hole. Cold at night and hot during the day, believe me its summer time in camp but we had a friend in Hattiesburg maybe, Earl Finch, and then he had an assistant, I forgot her name, Mary ,not (mumbling) she used to come with him and she worked for him. She used to bring ice cream, watermelon and stuff to our camp. I never forgot our old friendship. INTERVIEWER: So he would bring stuff to camp? ASATO: He used to brings things to us at camp and (​Inaudible​) (00:22:55) because of what he did. He finally died in Hawaii. He was a resident of Henisburg was a small little town. They had “colored toilets” and you know the back of the bus and things like that you know and water spouts were black and white and you’d walk down the street and there were “colored” walking on the street there often. That’s where he was at that time. INTERVIEWER: And not being white or black, what was your designation there? ASATO: Known as “white” we were considered that you know. In fact, there were incidents, I never experienced it but there are some people from Hawaii they are very, very dark and they were treated like blacks and they’d have did not quite (00:24:00) allowed you know, getting on buses and such. They’d have problems because they’re from Hawaii. I know there are incidents like that, they were anyway. INTERVIEWER: How were the towns people liked to you? ASATO: No problem. I had no problem with that sort. What we get, we had incidents against other troops in Shelby and we stick together for the good (Mumbles)laughing…. INTERVIEWER: When you said the other troop, what other troops were there? Asato; Oh, there was this some engineer outfits the 69​th​, I can’t remember, quite a few different troops there but I think it was the engineers that said something and we all ran out there and chase them around a bit. INTERVIEWER: Now, something that we haven’t in this interviewed clarified, now the 442nd was comprised of who? ASATO: Mostly Nisie. INTERVIEWER: So this was a racially segregated unit. ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 48 of 87 �Yes. INTERVIEWER: And the other units that were training at Shelby was it all 442​nd​ or? ASATO: Other units? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: Oh, no other outfits like the 69​th division and the engineers they’re all Caucasians and they say something like derogatory and something will happened. INTERVIEWER: Was there anything else that really stood out in your mind as far as anything that occurred while training at Shelby? ASATO: Not a lot. We were busy and oh…I think one time in our platoon we got a little disturbed an… BEGINNING OF TAPE FIVE INTERVIEWER: Okay, were just talking about the officers over in Camp Shelby. Before we leave there, Were there be ever any incidence between the Nisei and Caucasian officers that seem like was racially motivated? ASATO: Not that I recall, I don’t recall anything like that, it could have been but I don’t recall any. INTERVIEWER: How did you receive, where that you’re going to be shipping out from Shelby? ASATO: As a group, by the first sergeant or someone said we were going to overseas, nothing special, just… INTERVIEWER: How much notice did you receive between getting that word and having to leave? ASATO: We knew, we’re going to go overseas, it’s about that time, I got a furlough and I knew I was going to go over late in the year. INTERVIEWER: And what did you do? I’m sorry. ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 49 of 87 �Pardon? INTERVIEWER: And what did you do with that furlough? ASATO: That’s when I came to see my sister. Instead of, I made a choice, either go to camp or to see my sister and that’s what I did. INTERVIEWER: And was her demeanor? How was she doing? ASATO: She was okay, I think she was okay. INTERVIEWER: What kind of contact did she have what your dad? ASATO: Not a lot, not much. I don’t know, I never asked her, what she did that time. INTERVIEWER: And how long was furlough? ASATO: I can’t recall it. Not long, maybe, a week or two, maybe, I don’t know, enough time to come to California leisurely and visit my sister and then go back. INTERVIEWER: So when you report back here, you reported Shelby again? ASATO: (00:02:00) Oh, yes. In fact, It was by way of St. Louis and I, I want to stay in St. Louis a little bit so I wired and I said I was delayed, so I was AWOL a day or so, but they didn’t care. I had heard that as long as you wire them, and let them, that you can get away with it, so I stayed there to St. Louis. INTERVIEWER: What did you do in St. Louis? ASATO: Just fooled around, I didn’t do too much. INTERVIEWER: Did you try any foods that you’d never try before while you’re there in there? ASATO: Not really. I don’t recall. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 50 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: How about in Mississippi, did you try anything new? ASATO: Not that I know. No. We eat canned food, mostly. INTERVIEWER: Once you left Shelby, where did you go to? ASATO: Troop train to Fort Meade, Maryland. INTERVIEWER: And what was the purpose of going to Fort Meade? ASATO: Oh, we’re getting ready to go overseas, and I lost all my money on a crap game. (Laughing). INTERVIEWER: That take place on the train or on the airport? ASATO: And by troop train, It wasn’t a troop train we have seized, it was one of those cars, you know, railroad cars, and we shot craps in there, so I lost, but then, a New York buddy of mine, (​Inaudible​) (0:03:25) lend me 20 bucks and I went to New York and a fairly good time. INTERVIEWER: What did you do in New York? ASATO: Oh! We just look around went to, oh (mumbles) tower. INTERVIEWER: Empire State Building? ASATO: Empire State Building. Went to see the ​(Inaudible) (3:39)music hall, the , that’s what I recall, otherwise, other than drinking and going through Harlem, no that that was after Camp Shacks we went to Harlem, but Fort Mead, Maryland, that was Fort Mead, Maryland to New York. INTERVIEWER: Did you go listen to any music anywhere? ASATO: Pardon. INTERVIEWER: Do you go to listen to any music or restaurant? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 51 of 87 �ASATO: No, no, just a musical, we load around, I guess. INTERVIEWER: What kind of things do you remember in a way of music that was popular that you really like at that time before Shelby? ASATO: Well, I like Glenn Miller. INTERVIEWER: Tommy Dorsey? ASATO: I like Glenn Miller the best. INTERVIEWER: Did you score dances in camp? ASATO: In camp? It’s hard to remember. Yes, I saw a lot of dancers. I enjoyed dancing. INTERVIEWER: Did you meet special while you were there at camp? ASATO: Yeah, I met some people. Went around with some girls. (Laughing) INTERVIEWER: Any names you want to recall? ASATO: Why? It’s best not to say. (Laughing) INTERVIEWER: Okay, now I want to ask you, you said you lost all your money at that Crap game, on the troop train? ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever gamble before that? ASATO: Oh, yeah. I know how to gamble. I just lost it. That’s all. (​Inaudible​) (00:05:16) you know, its gamble. I played Craps and blackjack and such. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 52 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: How well would you recall being in Maryland? ASATO: Not very long, it’s cold, really cold and we go on march and I slipped in that, you know, when the snow gets hard, you slipped. And I remember falling down and such, you know, not that you get hurt. But we didn’t stay too long in Maryland and then we went to Camp Shanks, New York. INTERVIEWER: What was the purpose at going to Camp Shanks? ASATO: (00:06:00)That’s our debarkation point. We went overseas from Camp Shanks. INTERVIEWER: Now you just mentioned that you dashed going to Harlem while you’re at Shanks. ASATO: No, that’s why we would visit New York again and maybe I could be wrong but then I think that’s when we went to New York and then we had to go to Harlem, you know. So, we were warned to be careful, should get off the subway, you know. INTERVIEWER: And? ASATO: I knew some guys got hit, some guys got hit, you know, I mean Josh, Rob. So we’re careful. INTERVIEWER: And what did you do in New York that night? ASATO: I think we went to eat a chop suey or something, yeah. INTERVIEWER: How long were you in Camp Shanks? ASATO: Not very long, it was too short, it was a short stay, went over real quick. INTERVIEWER: When you left, what was that trip like? And how did you go? ASATO: Across? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 53 of 87 �ASATO: We went across at dead of winter. And it was rough, rough season. We went across of the Aquitania. I understand then it was the 4th largest ship in the world at that time. And we were loaded, I mean these troops. I don’t know how many thousands of troops. And we were in the hall way down below. And when you eat (​Inaudible​) (00:07:32) and get these trays. And if you didn’t hold on to your tray and just let a sit, it just slides right across because of the boat swaying so much. And then I didn’t get seasick. So, I would, these guys got seasick down below. So, I try to take them sandwiches and didn’t like to see that, (Laugh) they threw up all the time. Well, I thought they had to fed and I used take some sandwiches and stuff. They told me not, they don’t want to eat. But it was rough trip going over. INTERVIEWER: Do you recall how long that was? ASATO: (Sigh) I don’t know. I can’t recall it… 10 days, maybe. INTERVIEWER: Did you have any assignment? Any duties that you have perform while you’re on the ship? ASATO: Not really. Not much…to do. INTERVIEWER: What did you do to pass the time? ASATO: Nothing, just… really, we played cards. I guess that’s about it, I don’t know what we did just to pastime. INTERVIEWER: What kind of a sense of anticipation did you feel about getting to your destination? ASATO: At that time nothing much, we went to Glasgow, Scotland. We went down to Southampton. But I remember how our troop trained going down there that we got off and I thought we could buy some biscuits or some, something sweets, you know, there’s no sugar. (Laugh) I remember that tasting in stuff, the English salt, didn’t taste very good. Just bland, there was nothing. And then we went down to Southampton and went over to cross the channel to Le Havre. INTERVIEWER: Now, before you went to Le Havre. What did you notice about conditions in England besides no sugar? ASATO: (Laugh) Nothing really much, we didn’t see much of it, you know, it was mostly at night time. So, we went straight through. I don’t remember too much about seeing anything at that time. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any responses of… did you see any people when you’re in Glasgow? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 54 of 87 �ASATO: Not much, not very much. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: Didn’t talk to anybody. INTERVIEWER: Okay. INTERVIEWER: So you went to cross by Troopship again to Lahar? ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And was that a night crossing? ASATO: I think it was a night time, yeah. INTERVIEWER: What was for sure experience like right --? ASATO: I do remember landing and it was muddy, and that we kneaded in mud. But as for that I got sick, (cough) because I do recall from that, from the mud and all that, slippery and ​(Inaudible) (10:38) real high mud in there and we got on a troop train and then I don’t remember too much after that I end up in the hospital in Marseille and I had a high fever. Apparently it was a bad case of strep throat or something. I don’t know. I stayed in the hospital quite a while in Marseille. (cough) But after Marseille, I joined the troops in Sospel, France. INTERVIEWER: Now what point did you actually joined your outfit and what company where you with? ASATO: G Company, George Company 2nd Battalion 442​nd. INTERVIEWER: And did that company have a certain assignment in a way of arms, and things that they would carry or where there all kinds of different armaments that the G Company had? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 55 of 87 �Well we had a riffle platoon and we had mortars (12:00) and the since I was on the mortar section so (cough) I went straight to the mortar section when I joined G Company and that was in Sospel and I had to climb the mountain and it was a climb and we’d live in dugouts right on the border of France and Italy. Stay in dugouts and patrol (yawning).Excuse me. INTERVIEWER: Are you okay? ASATO: I’ll be alright. We’d go on guard and, you know, we have our dugouts. We overlook the area on the French because we got to fight the – I mean the Italians who occupied France so we’re on the France side and we go down and pull guard on the dugouts. And they were harassing troops German patrols who’d come up and they were shelling us now. And there used to be, I didn’t mention this before where I think regarding the guys fleet, well, most of them know about it, was a plane used to come up about 10:00 o’clock at night, we have to shut off all the lights and you know, candles in such – we used to call it “Bedcheck Mary”. (laugh) But I think it was about 10:00 o’clock that plane would fly over, probably of German observation plane? And Berlin Sally, you’ve heard of Berlin Sally? INTERVIEWER: Never heard of that. ASATO: She was like Tokyo Rose, you know, play good music and tell you how nice it is at home and all that and that Germany was going to win the war and things like that, (14:00) I used to hear that Berlin Sally. INTERVIEWER: Now would this broadcast also accompany music or? ASATO: Oh yeah! Oh yeah, she played purposely played beautiful music. Make you think you, like you want to go home you know. INTERVIEWER: What type of music would they play? Asato Oh, anything real good stuff. Modern music at that time. INTERVIEWER: What was your first experience under fire like. What do you recall? ASATO: Shells, shells coming I don’t know, you know, shells and you just live with it I guess, shells are coming in from ​(Inaudible)​ (14:45). INTERVIEWER: What types of shells were coming in? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 56 of 87 �ASATO: Artillery shells. INTERVIEWER: They know what type of….? ASATO: Sure. Probably, I don’t know, it was 88’ or what but we had a lot of that in Italy but probably in 88’. I don’t know, they come along trying to get in this spots and, you know, in Sospel. In fact, this fellow, George Koratso brother got killed in Sospel by a shell. I think he is on a different company. George Koratso was our mail clerk, G Company INTERVIEWER: Who were your close friends in G Company? ASATO: Well quite few. You mean G Company? Eventually I was close buddies – well my closest was Tom Kokka. We trained together in Camp Shelby. And there was Mike Shuraisi, Speed Tanna, this is during the war you are talking about, yeah… We lost a comrade named (00:16:00) Jambo Kikiama, let’s call him Jambo. Who else? There’s another guy To Saoki. We were all in the same platoon. That’s why we became very close. I can’t name, I shouldn’t name some more but I – Oh Ace Katayama, Koya Korihara, Roy Machida, was in a different platoon, but we were friends, good friends. Ken Okutake from San Jose, were a very good friends, close but we stayed friends all and still friends, still alive and we’re still very close. INTERVIEWER: When you’re under fire like that, do you have time to really think or you’re just reacting? ASATO: You know, Most of the time we don’t have time to think. We just do what we have to do. I don’t know how to fire a Carbine because I was an L-bearer. And I didn’t come under fire too much except when I was a little-bearer. Ahh…I have shoot, you know, as far as firing shells, you know, shells are coming all the time but this fire is a small arms fire, you know. I wasn’t subjected to rifle fire too much. INTERVIEWER: What is the difference in sound of being shelled by artillery as supposed to bullets flying? ASATO: Big difference! You can hear these shells when they’re fired “Boom” and pretty soon you hear it coming over. If you didn’t hear, it’s close. But when you hear it or go over it, something hits you – but we’re under heavy fire at that time, I mean heavy fire. They are throwing everything at us. But rifle fire is just, (00:18:00) like “Zing… zing…” you can hear them go. And I tell you something about our 30 millimeters machine guns will go “Tot! tot tot! tot! tot!”. Germans would go “Prrrrrrrrrrt!”that’s how much difference that was. Their firearms were strong, much better than ours. INTERVIEWER: Was there a particular name you gave those guns because of that sound? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 57 of 87 �ASATO: Butt gun I think. It was Butt gun. But we had a 30 millimeter – but I think even their machine guns are faster than ours. A lot faster and they could use our mortar shells but we couldn’t use ours that is how ingenious they were. INTERVIEWER: When you were – I’m sorry. When you were at Sospel, The Champagne Campaign was that -ASATO: Champagne Campaign. INTERVIEWER: Prior to that? ASATO: No, that’s champagne campaign. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: Prior to that was I was on Lost Battalion and --. INTERVIEWER: What was the significance of the Lost Battalion that you recall? ASATO: Pardon INTERVIEWER: What was the significance that Lost Battalion that you recall? ASATO: Well I know that the G Company took to a beating, you know, I guess all of us took to the beating. But I think most of us heard about the saving of the Lost Battalion. The save was 200, or more troops. We had 800 casualties and that’s the significance of it, we lost the hell a lot more than we saved. INTERVIEWER: Who made up the Lost Battalion? ASATO: It was the 36​th​ division. INTERVIEWER: Where were they from? (00:20:00) ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 58 of 87 �Texas. Oh, that’s what you wanted? Ok. (Laugh). Texas. See, I miss all this stuff. You know, you got to let me now these things. Alright. (Laugh). INTERVIEWER: (Laugh). I am asking you let me know these things. (Laugh). So who is at that ordered? Ordered in the 442nd to go in and investigate these men. ASATO: Uhmm…What the hell was his name? General Dockwest. From what I understand, he was a not a very good man, I had to call some names but from what I understand he was not the right man. He was only for himself, the glory and he’d say, “There is nobody out there.” and they knew they were out there. And it was dark, and so I understand I wasn’t there so I can --. INTERVIEWER: Actually at the time that the 442nd was ordered to go, weren’t they actually just taken off the line to go rest? ASATO: Yeah. Then they were told to go again. It’s pretty tough on them. INTERVIEWER: What did you hear as far as reasons given for the 442nd to be called up rather than their own men? ASATO: Apparently they couldn’t do it. They couldn’t see their own troops so they call on the 442nd and the 100th to do it. INTERVIEWER: Do you know what occurred that these men from the Lost Battalion actually got trapped behind enemy lines? ASATO: How they got trapped? Well they were cut off. I think they were cut off, they’re trapped and so most of --. INTERVIEWER: When you said that there were 800 casualties, can you define casualties? (00:22:00) ASATO: Wounded or killed? 800. Not many are killed but there were heavy casualties. When Dockwest got them together, he says “Where’s all the troops? That’s all that’s left?” and there were many left. Col. Campbell told him that he did. He talked to him directly. He didn’t want to go – He didn’t want to follow his orders. But it was no fun. INTERVIEWER: So after those lost battalion that you actually got back out of the hospital and join G Company. ASATO: That would be G Company up and (​Inaudible​)(00:22:46) after. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 59 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: And the – ASATO: Champagne campaign. INTERVIEWER: Now, people referred to the Champagne Campaign as somewhat light duty. What was – ASATO: It was light duty compared to the Lost Battalion but compared to be worse. It was a cakewalk. And it was still a war, you know, patrols in such, but nothing, you know, movement of a lot of troops. We were right on the top of the mountain, living in the dugouts. INTERVIEWER: Now you showed a picture earlier that shows you and three friends had a marker stone. Where was that taken? ASATO: That was in (​Inaudible​)(00:23:35). It was in the tunnel (​Inaudible​)(00:23:37) but it is above in the mountains, there’s a name of that, I forgot what it was but right on top of the mountain above (00:23.46) (coughs) and it was the borderline of, you know, let me say what it’s like.(Laugh). INTERVIEWER: This is your interview, you can say what you want. ASATO: Well, you know you can stand and then pee in France or vice versa. (Laughs)(00:40:00) INTERVIEWER: After the Champagne Campaign, where did you go after that? ASATO: Mark Clark called us back to Italy. But first we went to pull off the lines in the mountain there we went to, a place called Antibes on the way to Marseille. But then, after that, we were recalled and we had our emblem on our helmets, you know, the 442 class helmet, and I used to take it off, put it back on and take it off, put it back on. I don’t know how many times, maybe a couple of times. And finally we had to take it off and apparently it was supposed to be a secret move for the 442 to go to Italy and so from Antibes we went to Marseille and bordered the LSTs. INTERVIEWER: What are LST’s? ASATO: Troop transport. LST’s are the type that you can load tanks and drop this big thing in front like this tanks which are -- that they are sort of amphibious, not amphibious really but where you can unload with taking not from the front end, and we went back to Italy with that. And I don’t know how long it took us and we This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 60 of 87 �landed in Leghorn or some place in Leghorn I think, and we went up towards Pisa, you know, we’d go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We went around that area and bivouac there and stayed there for awhile and we – I forgot when is it? May or April 4 April 5, I can’t remember the date. And the hold off pushed and pushed and the 100th was going north, others on the left, 2nd battalion was on the center, 3rd battalion was on the right as I recall, and the 3rd battalion went up the back side, in the middle of the night. And it was a move that they didn’t expect because they were sitting -- we were sitting ducks because that mountain was looking down on us, Mt. ​(Inaudible) (26:38)​. ​But at night they went up them and caught them by surprise and I think it took several hours. They took little time to climb but within a short period of time the Jerry’s were beat – and then they caught them by surprise and then the 2nd battalion went up straight up the front and the 100th went up to the left and I went up the front with ammo. And it was a pretty tough climb, because it wasn’t dry it was kind of dewey, I think its kind of wet and yet we climb like this, you know, we’re all, was carrying ammo. And a little after we got up on top and then I just couldn’t stand anymore. I had to go back down there, wrecked my back and went back down to the Aid Station all the way down the hill. Stayed for a few days then I went back up to the line again. Then I was, before going back to my company I was attached as a litter-bearer (murmurs) I do not know. (00:28:00)I can’t remember who they were, some friends of mine. We were waiting to you know, assignment and we were in this little town of Casta Pogio and at that time the Germans are throwing everything outside. I believe, they must have hit every building in that town and I have never said this before, I might have said this to few other people. We were playing, you know there’s nothing to do, you know, playing cards in this room in one of the buildings, and for some reason there was, I felt uncomfortable or what I said, let’s move and we went into a little anteroom which was, you know, this little wall and then we started playing and then a shell hit right in front. It caught about six guys and I was lucky and I got a little hit in my finger and a concussion knocked me on my butt. That was about it. That’s the extent – and that’s about it and most I got hit in the war. Then we were told to move out of that place and went across the street and went to another building. We were still getting hit, I think they’ve throwing everything at us. Then I was called as a litter-bearer, you know, went on assignment and then some of them went up to the Fort above and went to pick this guy up. I happen to know who he was, a guy named Mort Morita in G company and a he didn’t look good. I thought he was going to go. But we brought him down and for some reason, were suppose to, to but they were firing, the Germans were firing at us and I don’t think I was aware, I don’t know – I cant remember what the heck, how we crossed over or not. I can’t remember that. But I would have been fired at and they were whistling my ass. I know what it feels whistled, shot at… It missed us. Nobody got hit. Then we carried them all the way down. And then, it was getting late and we joined back and we got lost… BEGINNING OF TAPE SIX INTERVIEWER: You look great. ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Okay, (​Inaudible​) (00:00:02) we were just talking about you’re being a litter bearer and taking a guy, wounded guy down the hill. ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 61 of 87 �Yeah, his name was Walt Morita. And that end’s up to be, you know, my wife’s maiden name is Morida, I married a Morida. Anyways, his name was Walt Morida. (​Inaudible​) (00:00:26) I could think of every color, think of what is look like, look at, but he lived. And he lived and he didn’t came back to California. But the next day, we were up on top of this mountain, you know, going back and the daylight came, and actually, you could see the tanks moving down below on the left. There was some tank brigade or some on the left. You could see the war going on, it was great. Something that nobody gets to see and we watched the war go on, tanks moving up on the left hand side. And then,9 dudes showed up, 92nd Division, which happened to be all-colored black, and they had some rations but this is the first time I saw a 92nd Division soldier in the front line. They came and gave us some rations. That’s about it, all I saw the 92nd Division but they were left there before, you know, when the call for assignment was called at France, there left there to hold the line and to advance or advance but they didn’t advance. They went into reverse apparently a little bit. They were pushed back, and saw the full force that had to go up and taken back. INTERVIEWER: How long was it between the time that 442 left Italy and then came back? ASATO: I would (00:02:00) say about 4-5 months, yeah… something like that. INTERVIEWER: Now, you mentioned that Mark Clark requested the 442 to come back to Italy. ASATO: Well, we were having a hard time pushing through Italy. And a hundred 442 were always in the mountains. Always in the mountains, and Mark Clark called the troops back. And we were successful. It was like Gothic lines, you know what is a Gothic line? INTERVIEWER: No. What was Mark Clark rank? And what was… ASATO: He’s a General. He was a General. He was the commander of the theater, I mean, a particular area of the theater battalion. As far as I know, I guess. We were his boys. There’s a lot of incidence that he would go to a Nisie soldier before he would do anything, anybody else. I know after the war and I think there are a couple of jeep drivers, you know he came to us first. INTERVIEWER: How would you describe the relationship between Mark Clark and the 442? ASATO: Well, we highly respected him and he commended us for doing what we did for him in Italy. We were his fair-haired boys that’s sort of what it amounted to (00:04:00) and finally we needed something done. He got it done for the 442. INTERVIEWER: Now, when the 442 was called to join Mark Clark in Italy, there was a segment of the 442 that didn’t joined, that was…. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 62 of 87 �ASATO: That was a 522nd Artillery. They were all left back in France. They were crack outfit and they took them in France. And they went on to Germany. We see the 442 never hit Germany, and they went on to Germany and they were the first one’s to deck off, and I know some of the guys that were in 522. They were told not to say anything about that for many, many years, and then finally, with then, I guess that would last 6, 7, 8 years the word came out. In fact Stevens Stilbourg there was a luncheon at his hospital; it’s a Jewish hospital in Beverly Hills. INTERVIEWER: Is that Cedar Sinai? ASATO: Cedar Sinai and I went to that luncheon; he sponsored that luncheon for us in recognition for always standing there. There were a couple I think, couple of that were from camp survivors for I know where at present time and those at least one woman that came and got up and talk, and they started appreciating the Jewish people I think were totally unaware of what happened over a year until this happened, and since that time, give us more interest (00:06:00) and health like there are that was a museum they have over there. INTERVIEWER: Museum at (​Inaudible​) (00:06:09). ASATO: Yeah. They started working with the 442 under 100 MIS colors, but Mark Clark, I saw him after the war over here in Hollywood only we had our reunion but I saw him once when we where getting ready to push in Italy. He came via command trial that’s all I got to see him and you know, because when we were getting our awards whatever awards were getting, made honor or whoever, ​(Inaudible) ​(00:06:47) they didn’t tell us. INTERVIEWER: What kind of recognition in a way awards the 442 received during the war? ASATO: You want to know, how many? INTERVIEWER: Ah what types? Yeah and what did you recall? ASATO: You mean at that time? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 63 of 87 �Well, there were, you know, we didn’t pay attention to medals to much and that, you know, purple hearts most I remember, you know most of purple heart. We heard the bronze star and medal of honor and all that stuff, but I don’t any specific person received it, I don’t….. INTERVIEWER: How about as a unit? ASATO: As a unit? Yes we were given, I have a present new citation Oak leaf clusters for campaigns but I don’t think I deserve that and I should deserve for only one. INTERVIEWER: What was Oak leaf cluster signifies? ASATO: That’s what the different situations as one battle and then another battle he have to, one for each one so I have two of these. (00:08:00)I was in the area so they gave it to me. INTERVIEWER: I want to go back to a first time experience in a war experience for you and helped you seeing someone who is dead? ASATO: I didn’t like to see deceased, but it didn’t bother me when I see dead soldier at that time. You know you just get sort of immune, I didn’t bother any much, I saw some, some smell but it didn’t bothered me. INTERVIEWER: The first casualty you saw, was it a good hit head or what was that? ASATO: Oh, I have seen a good head hit, but you know, you don’t have the time to think, you know. You might get hit but you don’t have time to think and it’s not good to see, but the Germans, you know (​Inaudible​) (00:09:10) lead them so I know when you see a dead soldier you did not think too much about. I remember when we were in Casa Purgio, we were in his town, but then I don’t know what company was in front of us, and we found 3 bodies dead right in the (​Inaudible​) (00:09:33) area and apparently there was a ravine, that is where we went (​Inaudible​) (00:09:38) apparently they came through during night and cut three of them, like when they were sleeping. That wasn’t a very good sight though. It was there was a little foot; you know (00:10:00). Well, as I say war is not good, it’s not fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah you are not happy, whether you’re not you’re scared all the time. You know, you get immune to it. You know. When you think about it, you are crazy if you are not scared, but you become immune. INTERVIEWER: The first… ASATO: There is nothing to do about it? INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 64 of 87 �The first casualty you saw was a G.A or a German? ASATO: Yeah I saw it dead G.A., he was hit by a shell so far. He was at the bottom of (​Inaudible​) (00:11:03). INTERVIEWER: Now, the Germans once the 442nd got there, it didn’t take that long as far as the attack actually surprise the Germans? Why were they were not expecting somewhat to breakthrough from that particular war? ASATO: Well they didn’t expect it from the rear. INTERVIEWER: Who was? What was…In geographic terms. What was happening that made it? ASATO: Well, I’m sure they knew we were there but they didn’t expect the 3rd battalion to go from the back before going up, and catch them in the rear. INTERVIEWER: Was there a very steep terrain that they thought it wasn’t scalable? Or… ASATO: Well, it was tough. I would think so, I would think that’s part of the reason, I don’t know, but we were there with the SS troops. They were the tough ones (00:12:00) and that was going to be there last. They were throwing everything else. INTERVIEWER: What made that defense in the gothic line so important? What did that opened up to? ASATO: Opened up to everything to, well it opened to all area like you know, we went through Generalia, Alexandria, Canally , we went to Laspetsia. Canally, then, Helmond before in Canally. And I think we were the first troops in Canally, that’s for sure. And I found this box, and I want it to keep it the kind of whole for that charge, and wanting that want share at home so I, and by that time you know that there was no resistance. So, I got it made the box and I sent it at home, I still got it today. And then you know at the same time, it was so embarrassed something I found this scabbard, a nice scabbard. It was a long, long scabbard and I carried that damn thing around so long that if I got tired, it was too long I threw it away. I don’t know, I don’t, I just got rid of it. It was too hard to carry. And I couldn’t put it in the box and send it at home. So, I just got rid of it, that hell how I send home? INTERVIEWER: What other type of things that you did collect while you where there? ASATO: Oh little things I got. When we went through the General Alexander, I went through, went only through Northern Italy and we push all the away through Northern Italy. We passed Milano, Milan One of the place called Lecco. We did went to Lecco that is where we stopped and we passed Museullenium there This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 65 of 87 �was somewhere around Milan it was hiding somewhere around the Milan. And the people caught and found it, (​Inaudible​) (00:14:16), you know they tell me where we want to call me “paisanos” they found me hug him and his girlfriend. But to answer your question, oh after Lecco we went down to Gitty airport near Brescia, Italy. And we are taking thousands of prisoners that time. And I, took away from somebody I got an Italian Berreta and I had a P-38 that looks like a luger. So you know, people want a luger but that P-38 just a replica, but there is a lot of mouth. I got a P-38 I had that and the Berreta. While we were in Brescia, some guy was cleaning his gun shot himself to the knee, so they were orders out to turn all your weapons in, you know. What else we had so we had to turn in the supply. (​Inaudible​) (00:15:26) come home or go home I went for my two side arms in the window, and the P-38 was gone somebody taken it. I don’t know, I hope somebody is enjoying it. I was old that was 15 to 16 years ago. I wanted that P-38 that was a nice little side arm. And it’s lighter than a luger, it’s real nice. INTERVIEWER: Was it known to be an accurate weapon? (00:16:00) ASATO: I don’t know, I never tried it so I – but it was well known as far as German arm pistol is concern, luger and the P-38. INTERVIEWER: I want to ask you, you know you said that you sustained a back injury that pretty much stayed with you? ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: When you’re carrying ammo, what type of a weight could you bearing typically on a run? ASATO: I don’t know how much weight – but there is this trim, I think there are two or three mortars in front, two or three mortars s in back. Besides carrying a carbine besides carrying a couple of grenades and you know. That was pretty heavy but I was a young kid, I was only 19 years old at that time. INTERVIEWER: You mean 19 to go overseas. ASATO: So you know you… it didn’t bother me so much when I was growing-up. But when I got up on top it hit me. You’re staying to get up that your up you pay attention but when I got up on top, it was killing me. INTERVIEWER: And has this back injury stayed with you all along? ASATO: Off and on, yes, all the time. INTERVIEWER: I have to ask you also to what point here did the war end for you? Where were you at? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 66 of 87 �ASATO: When the war ended? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: At Lecco, Italy. I think it was Lecco, because that’s when the chopper came and asked us who would want to volunteer for the pacific, and I said no, but some guys took it. They came back for training at the MIS. (00:18:00) I said I don’t want to see any more. INTERVIEWER: That the point that you were in Lecco, was there still action at that point? ASATO: Oh I think it was apparently maybe the part as ‘paisanos” were clean enough, there was no much going on at that time. By time we got to Alexander, when we are going to (​Inaudible​) (00:18:18) which is farther up north. We had a task force out; it was a good task force. They were out, they were up, they’re still then, but we went to the right at one point towards Alexander and they went to Cannaly. I can’t remember, but we didn’t see much at that time. We didn’t see, we didn’t do anything. There was so much going on. But as we went to some towns we saw collaborators you know this collaborators we went that and they feasting women you see. They cut their hair; make them run down the street naked. You see that’s all the things going on. INTERVIEWER: What would happen to these women that you never heard of? ASATO: I don’t know. You know, I guess thrown out of the town, I don’t know. We don’t know what happened to them. INTERVIEWER: Now, what was your duty at the point that was announced that the war was over? Were you still stationed right there? ASATO: In Lecco? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: All went on pass and do nothing, really, no doing, no duty. INTERVIEWER: No prisoner guard duties? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 67 of 87 �ASATO: Nothing there in Lecco. The war ended, you know. Like the one in the past, I don’t want to know it. INTERVIEWER: What you got? ASATO: I went to Lake (​Inaudible​) (00:20:00) came back. I had a few drinks with me, and we were (​Inaudible) (00:20:03) two guys can’t sleep, I don’t know (​Inaudible​) (00:20:13) I guess it’s about the size. I came back and I couldn’t see, so I lit a candle. I put a big old whole and it was he caught up, Oh… man it was funny, but he didn’t think it was funny​.​ For half of that got up. INTERVIEWER: His half for your half? ASATO: My half. (​Inaudible​) (00:20:48) but he welcome me by surprise, but he has been my buddy all the way. He is retired in Selma, California. He was gone through a lot of pain recently and he had an aneurism He is almost went manners because he has a heart problem. He is a tough guy. I mean tough and he would not take anything from anybody, this guy is tough, but we were a sort of inseparable, where he went I went, or I went he went. You know we always stick together. We are still very very close friends. I was in very close contact. I call him now and then. I still call him buddy in Hawaii, calling on Orange County we talk to each other​ ​quite a bit. INTERVIEWER: Looking back to this war experienced what would you say the worst moment (00:22:00) or worst recollection is for you? ASATO: Nothing in particular, I was, I didn’t do anything especially, you know I saw him ,probably, probably we will get blasted in (​inaudible)​(00:22:17) we were getting hit real hard. They were blasting us pretty bad, and there were the self-propelled, you know, they were firing straight at us like along with artillery kind of stuff, but I remember that pretty well. INTERVIEWER: Now I know that this might sound like a weird question, but usually in the missiles war, most people trying to get through it target to some kind of sense humor, here you call a thing humorous that happens to you aside from your burning your tent? ASATO: (Laughing) INTERVIEWER: For instance that you know of with your friends, during that time? ASATO: During the war? When the war was going on? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 68 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. ASATO: Nothing real funny. I can’t recall perhaps, probably there is, but I can’t remember anything that was funny. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: Probably the thing that happened in Lecco was probably that, was comical thing. INTERVIEWER: Now, I know, that you had some contact with some Germans. You have some things that were made for you, was that in Europe? Asato; No. this was after we were finished. INTERVIEWER: Okay. ASATO: We’ve finished and we’ve taken all these prisoners to, you know, and those little things and other souvenirs I don’t know, I forgot where I got those and often Germans whatever, you know. But those things made me that happened in Lecco, Italy when we were guarding prisoners and (Inaudible) (00:24:00). These Germans would do cooking for us and do a lot of service, you know like a servant and they are very ingenious people, they make these things for me the bracelet and lighter, there something that you know, in situation like that you wanted to know how they can do it, but they did it, very industrial, I guess. INTERVIEWER: Now, how did you view these Germans that were your prisoners and you were just fighting recently and now they’ve surrendered, what were the feelings towards them? ASATO: I had a lot of respect for them all. I remember like one, they come out of their stockade and they have this steel bottom shoes. It’s like cleetts, steel cleets. While ridding in those shoe ​(​inaudible) ​(00.25.12) leaving all those noise. They are good soldiers. Ah. They are good people, I have nothing against them and the war is over. INTERVIEWER: Now, among the prisoners, who would you say has the average age? Were there lot of young people on and older people caught on the war or these still more like 18-20, late 20’s? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 69 of 87 �I tell you, when I was a grown up for real, I look to the top. And then there was a heavy fire going on the top and there’s a little hole that you had to go through (00:26:00). You just get up on the other side. So, I went through that little hole and these guys are interrogating a little kid, a German prisoner, and he must have been 16-17 years old I don’t know. A young kid but maybe I don’t know about his age but you see pretty young. He was the youngest I saw very young kid. INTERVIEWER: I guess they are replacing with everything they had? ASATO: But I remember that, and some guys were pinned down in front at that time, I was on the other side when they got them out. After that I don’t know any. INTERVIEWER: After your combat was done, did you travel through Europe at all? ASATO: Oh yeah. I got to pass through Switzerland, which is very nice. I went to different rest areas and I had a good time, you know, just resting and drinking beer and such drinking Cognac but Switzerland was nice. I went with some friends and some people are happy to know other company. We went to town called or main town is called Engle berg. We went to Zurich berg and all that but the highest berg is Engle berg. It was a ski resort. We had a great time up there. Drinking and having fun at night, you know (00:28:00) and I thought maybe I have to learn how to ski but while we’re going there, we had gone to the little boats to get up Engle berg. There are a lot of little kids and skis there with a little boulder and all that you know. So, there’s a lot of us skis so, I went up to top. I went down one time. I quit because these little kids I mean they’re too good and they live that and sometimes ski. So, I went down I did what I could do. I went ice skating they still made an ass out of me. I thought I was fairly ice skater so; but sure you are going to ask me what would. you want me to do. So…At least I was able to skate down there. INTERVIEWER: What is the thing you like most about Switzerland? ASATO: Very, very, clean. Not a smell on the place, beautiful place. Every time you turn around, I see different sceneries. It’s a beautiful country; clean, no such a thing such the slumps. I was there again in later years and it is the same thing and I went in a little bit in the Spring times but still a lot of snow. BEGINNING OF TAPE SEVEN INTERVIEWER: Before we leave and take you back to United States, I just want to ask in the way of cooking, what’s the most creative thing you saw some of your friends do to a kind of bring a sense of home out on the line? ASATO: Well, one thing I remember was, very distinctly was, you know, we should get the, what they call (​Inaudible​) (00:00:24) that’s onions and pickles, you know. And the juice that be still in a bottle and after we ate that up, we would get some seals and (​Inaudible​) (00:00:34) just taken from fields and then stuff, clean them up and put them in a bottle and we have something of the same taste, whatever it was, This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 70 of 87 �vegetables or whatever to get the same taste so we should do that and then we went farther we can find, you know, cooked and eat but then the camp rations was wrapped in wax and so we should use that as heat and cook whatever we had, but then we had some good cooks, you know, in the back and they would bring us hot food once in a while which was unusual for cooks to do. They used to bring it up. INTERVIEWER: Did you end up learning any Italian or French while you’re over there and mingle with the locals. ASATO: I made an effort to learn Italian. I was fair at it. Of course, I forgotten a lot of it, but then I spoke Italian fairly well. Broken, we used broken Italian, you know. I was able to get away with it. French, that language is very hard to learn. There are certain words I remember that’s about French, not to say here (laughing). INTERVIEWER: Okay. Would there any acts of what you would determine to be heroic proportion that you saw on the part of any of, you know, the people that you fought with, fought alongside? ASATO: Did I see anything heroic? INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Is there something that you witnessed that you thought was really an exceptional act? ASATO: No, not really. No, I didn’t say anything outstanding. No. INTERVIEWER: How about anything that you heard of among the troops? Where there any standout people that you heard, stories of that they were in awe of a particular person? ASATO: Oh, we got a company named Rocky Motoyoshi (00:02:54). Probably, one of the most decorated and he just stood everything, you know. He was tough, short, husky. He can tell you the stories. He is very good at it. INTERVIEWER: What do you recall hearing about him that made him standout? ASATO: Oh, I can’t recall. He did a lot of things, you know. He got that Distinguished Service Cross, probably got the Silver Star, and he was up for review on the Medal of Honor. He probably deserved it. INTERVIEWER: How did you get a word that you were going home? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 71 of 87 �I don’t know but, I thought we already get so many points. We go by point system, and when your time is up, you go home. I’m not sure, June of ‘46, I got, I think, I was discharged, June or July of ‘46 and I went back on a troops, you know, ship, small one, and we had a little delay, I think, high seas, I don’t know, how you see this, I don’t know what it was for we had a little delay and that was just about the time we were going to DC, you know, to get the, Truman to let, well they did Truman commanded 442. We missed that and I got out of it. I landed in a Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. And a very close friend of mine Taro Itzizuno we were together. We went in the same day and came out the same day together and we’re still very close friends. He’s the one that supplies all of the food for our, lots of our foods for our functions. INTERVIEWER: And his name? ASATO: (​Inaudible)(​00:05:17) In fact we went to school together. During that time we were doing nothing in Italy after the war. Some of us were allowed to go to school. I went to actually ​in the University of Florence but there was university training command known that time and we went to school in Florence for a while a couple of months, that’s half about longer it was. By the way, we went to famous place known Piccadilly Club every night to drink up and have a pretty good time. INTERVIEWER: Now, where were you discharge from? ASATO: Fort Sheridan in Colorado, I mean Illinois. INTERVIEWER: Why there? Why in Illinois? ASATO: Pardon? INTERVIEWER: Why in Illinois? ASATO: What I want is to stay back East for a while in Chicago and so forth. I went to Detroit and I stayed there about a month and my brother and my dad wondering where I was. I think they are hunting all over for me because they knew I was back. I didn’t say nothing they thought there was something wrong with me. There wasn’t anything wrong with me. INTERVIEWER: What you, I’m sorry go ahead. ASATO: Go ahead. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 72 of 87 �I’d rather have you talk. ASATO: No, ask your question. INTERVIEWER: What did you end up doing when you returned and what were you looking for? ASATO: Nothing in particular. I got my “masrinate​” which wasn’t a hell of a lot but they had a program known as 52-20, 20 dollars a week for 52 weeks and that was money at that time. Twenty bucks is okay for a week and I think I cashed in 46 of it then I quit because I was doing medium work, you know, gardening and little things here and there and I was making and I felt kind of guilty after 46 weeks, I quit. Then, put in my mind that was in Germany you can’t turn back and says “Let’s go up to Idaho and pack potatoes, so went to pack potatoes in Idaho” and that was worthless, we came back even but that was hard work. INTERVIEWER: Sort of remind you of beets? ASATO: Hard. It’s tough packing potatoes and loaded them on trucks. It was tough work, and then I tried to settle down a little bit after that. INTERVIEWER: Where did you go when you decided to settle down? ASATO: When I went back to El Monte, you know, and then after that I went to live in L.A. and decided go to school while I was doing some gardening on the side, make up some money. I was getting G.I. subsistence and after 47 years in the business I quit. I retire. INTERVIEWER: Now, how long after returning to the States? What was the span of time between the time you actually went to visit your family? ASATO: Oh you mean from the time I landed in the U.S.? INTERVIEWER: Landed here. ASATO: About a month. I stayed back East about a month. INTERVIEWER: Where did you actually meet up with your Dad? ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 73 of 87 �El Monte. INTERVIEWER: Where was he and what was he doing at that time? ASATO: He was working on the farm. He didn’t want to start another farm so he is working on the farm. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go back to the farm that you left? ASATO: No. no… I didn’t. INTERVIEWER: How about you sister? ASATO: Oh…she is okay and she lives in San Gabriel. INTERVIEWER: And when, I’m sorry. ASATO: Her husband was also in World War II. He was in H-company. INTERVIEWER: What’s his name? ASATO: Harvey Kondo. And he has passed on but she got married to him and they owned a liquor store inside in East side of Soto Street. And then he passed on and then a year or so, they just sold the liquor store. He owned a court (00:10:00), nine unit court on San Gabriel, so she lives over there. INTERVIEWER: How at what point were she released from the hospital? ASATO: Oh, way before I got back. She was a living in a on her own you know, so she was living in Pasadena INTERVIEWER: What was she is doing when she went out on her own? Do you know? ASATO: I forgot what she was doing. She was probably in an office or something. I can’t remember what she was doing. I’ll have to ask her. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 74 of 87 �Now, you also have another brother who served? ASATO: Yeah, apparently he was exempt because he was at that time later in the war, I guess after touring the service except the third one. I think it’s something like that. INTERVIEWER: And your brother who served where did he served and who with? ASATO: MIS. And he went to the Philippines, Military Intelligent Service. He was with the CIC or CID counter-intelligence or something like that, I don’t know and later part of his service, he was in Osaka and he got married over there. INTERVIEWER: And did he stay there? ASATO: He stayed there as a civil service worker and he went pretty high with that, this counterintelligence or something, I don’t know (mumbles). He went pretty high and he in fact, I think he went some school over there and then came back here went to more school and then he went to Chicago. INTERVIEWER: Now, how about you, did you end up going back to school? ASATO: Yeah, I went to a trade school but then I never worked up. I went and finished it (00:12:00) but then I didn’t care for too much. My buddy went on with it but then I didn’t and then somebody mentioned insurance and I did some home study of an insurance and then I took an exam from state and started working on insurance and after a couple of months in an office, a friend of mine said “just go over on us here, be my partner” I said “okay, just like that” I mean I did even blink an eye so let’s go from downtown Little Tokyo we rented a place on Jefferson Boulevard, small place and started up and few years later, we did pretty well and we build a building on 11​th Avenue and Jefferson and that was in the 60s, ‘62, I forgot when it was in the 60s, then in 1977, we both got sick, same time and you know, we have been together so long and we, other than the flu and says nothing ever happened to us and we were partners from close to 30 years, from ‘49 to ‘77 and he contracted “valley fever”. About that time we were doing pretty well and I decided to buy a home up were I’m leaving now and then he was building a place in Orange Hills which is a nice area in Orange County and his daughter was an equestrienne, so he is doing stables and such and for somehow when they were doing the landscaping, the dust must have got in because he had to collect, you know, he was out there trying to tell the Mexicans what to do, I guess I don’t know. He got a valley fever, and a year later he died. And then I sold the building in Jefferson Boulevard. By that time, I had purchased some lands in Gardena. I don’t know, more than half a block or so of land, corner of 165​th in Western and I built a two-storey building there which I sold in about 3 to 4 years ago. We occupied that as an insurance agency. Insurance brokers were quite a spell. But then it rented out because I had the building leased out to different occupants, I couldn’t kick a line and it was getting a small for us so our operation moved to Artesia Boulevard and I kept the building I leased out and then I sold it. Three, four, five years somewhere in L.A. I can’t remember but I was kind of fortunate that way. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 75 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: What type of insurance were you involved in? ASATO: For life, we have everything including mutual funds and such – still in operation. There’s about 40-45 people working in all. INTERVIEWER: Yeah…that is quite sizeable. ASATO: It’s – first, when I left, there was about 30-35. INTERVIEWER: And who runs that now? ASATO: My son-in-law Dean (​Inaudible​) (00:15:40) and another fellow named George Hirano. They’re the main brains behind that now. And there’s a tech guy, (​Inaudible​) (00:15:52). This is known as the AHTKY now. When I was there, it was HT Asato-Hirano and ​Tofukuji because when George and I, Wada and I, were part of known as “Wada-Asato Agency” but when he died and Hirano had been with my agency so many years and he became part of the agency and then Dean, my son-in-law came in, he was there for quite a while. So they made it AHT and now it’s merged to AHTKY. And they’re still doing alright. INTERVIEWER: How do you feel that that business has changed from the time you retired to – or even from when you started to put it is now? ASATO: You know, when I started, it was pretty easy. I was very fortunate where I had friends from all kinds of circles, from service, from the valley where I grew up, from camp when I went to (​Inaudible​) (00:16:54) and drinking buddies. I have good round of friends and I really didn’t have a real difficult time finding customers, clients. I was kept busy all the time. I never had to knock on cold doors. So I was fortunate that way. And it still works that way I think. (​Inaudible​) (00:17:20) stress that, you know, that I don’t have to knock on cold doors to when you do well, you know, your service well, you’ll get your customers. INTERVIEWER: What career field lost you to insurance? What was your study course in the –. ASATO: Oh I had home study. It intrigued me I think. I studied in life insurance. INTERVIEWER: What about that trade school? What to be was – ASATO: It was refrigeration, believe it or not, I passed it. I went through it. (​Inaudible​) (00:17:50) This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 76 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: So now, the brother that got the exemption, what (00:18:00) did he do after the war? ASATO: He worked for DWPT Palm Oil and (​Inaudible​) (00:18:09) as a​ ​draftsman. All those years. INTERVIEWER: And is he still alive? ASATO: He is still alive. No, he died. He died about four or five years ago. So there was only my sister and myself, the one in Okinawa. INTERVIEWER: Your sister in Okinawa is alive, since ’88 or ‘89? Have you visited her? ASATO: Yes. INTERVIEWER: What was that like? ASATO: Oh, that was okay since I last saw her in 1973, I think, one time. And at that time, she was very active. Now, she’s hardly on her feet. I was there last year. INTERVIEWER: Now, I had heard that you, on one of your trips to Okinawa, you had met a high official there. Would you describe that meeting? ASATO: Oh, you mean, I had the honor of attending something uh –? He was the emperor’s brother, younger brother, Hitatsu Nomiya. We were honored to go to his gathering. That was quite a thing. INTERVIEWER: Now, did you actually get to meet him, one on one? ASATO: Not shake his hand, no. He came that close to me but he is not sharp as a person or nice. He doesn’t have all the smiles. But the wife is beautiful. INTERVIEWER: When did you first actually learn that you had a sister in Okinawa? ASATO: I always knew it. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 77 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Oh, you always knew? ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Okay. And are you close with that family now? (00:20:00) ASATO: Not because of the lack of contact now. Right now, you know, I still correspond. I have contact with them but for many many years but nothing happened. INTERVIEWER: How about your wife, how did you meet her? ASATO: She was born and raised in Greeley, Colorado or nearby small (​Inaudible​) (00:20:20) Greeley ,Colorado and their family moved out to California. INTERVIEWER: The whole family? ASATO: Because they were born and raised there and they were farming. Then I started to come in California and I met her when she came to California in 1946, 1947 somewhere on that. I started going out with her in 1948 and married her. We got married. INTERVIEWER: Now, how is it that you met her? ASATO: Oh just through friends when she came at her sister and she had three sisters, two brothers, and through a mutual friend and then I met her. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the occasion? ASATO: No, not really. INTERVIEWER: Are you happy she is not here right now and hearing this? ASATO: (Laugh) INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 78 of 87 �What did you find that intrigued you about her? ASATO: She was nice and pretty. Yeah, she was a nice girl, mainly. INTERVIEWER: What did you enjoy doing together? ASATO: Oh, we used to…she never touched her drink, you know, so we used to go dancing and such… INTERVIEWER: Any other things that you enjoyed doing together? ASATO: Well later, I know she used to play golf until she had an operation. She used to play a lot of golf and she was a fair golfer (00:22:00) but she can’t play now. INTERVIEWER: Now, what did she do when you met her? What is she doing? ASATO: Well, she just came up to California and she was going to go to school, you know, so in school I forgot what it was… she was a young kid too you know. INTERVIEWER: How old was she when you met her? ASATO: Well, she was probably about 19 to 20. INTERVIEWER: And did she follow through with school? Did she proceed? ASATO: No, no and she started a working in some place. I forgot where it was. I know we kept going around together. INTERVIEWER: And how about children? ASATO: I have two kids. I lost a boy but I have two girls and one is Laura and the other one is Becky. INTERVIEWER: And which one is the oldest and… ASATO: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 79 of 87 �Laura. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: What are their ages? ASATO: Laura was born in 1949 so she is 53 and Becky was born in 1953 so she would be 50, no she is 50. INTERVIEWER: So, you have grandchildren? Do you have grandchildren? ASATO: Three. INTERVIEWER: And can you name them and let us know which, who was the mother? ASATO: The oldest one is Scott. He is 22. He just graduated at ​SC​. The second one is Leah and she is going to Alp Meadow (00:24:00) and the third one is Robin and she is going to Torrance High. She is the, the first two were adopted. INTERVIEWER: And by who? Who adopted them? ASATO: They adopted the two, the first two with the oldest one and the second one and third one was natural born as their only child. INTERVIEWER: Okay, but the same daughter has all three kids? ASATO: Yeah, the same daughter. INTERVIEWER: And how about your children, what do they study? ASATO: Laura graduated as she is an Art major and she had a little in fact when she finished, she started a little business but then she sold it when she got married. INTERVIEWER: And since then? ASATO: Getting busy with volunteer work, as you know. She does a lot of volunteer works for the Torrance school constantly. She you know, do the layout works of annuals has been such and she does draw a lot. And This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 80 of 87 �Becky is a transcriber. She is…for many many years she worked for exclusively for a doctor MD and then now she is working for a group of doctors. She’s still at it and then her husband is a psychologist. As you know, Dean is running my office my son-in-law. INTERVIEWER: The son you lost, what…where was he in the line of your children? What number was he? ASATO: My son-in-law? INTERVIEWER: Yeah, you said no… the son you lost? ASATO: He is in number 2. INTERVIEWER: How old was he when he died? ASATO: At birth. Nothing was wrong but something happened. I don’t know, I still don’t know (00:26:00). I never contested it. They said that, that it was maybe too much mucus… BEGINNING OF TAPE EIGHT INTERVIEWER: Okay. One thing before we get into our parting notes here is – I heard of a Lion Farm in El Monte, what’s that about? ASATO: Oh, yeah. You know, that was many, many years ago. I think it was a Gay’s Lion Farm, huge lion’s farm in the city, right in the city of El Monte. Right adjacent to it, a huge lion farm is known for. And we used to hear, you know, as all countries so you could hear it from miles. And we used to hear those lions roar about 3-4 miles away. And it was a big lion farm. I don’t know whatever happened to it. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever have the opportunity to visit there? ASATO: I’ve seen it but, you know, didn’t – INTERVIEWER: Care to go in too much? ASATO: No, but it was a huge lion farm over there. It was known for it. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 81 of 87 �What do you know about them? Did they grow for zoos or something? ASATO: I don’t know. I don’t think they grew it there. It was just a lion farm. Known as a “Gay’s Lion Farm” maybe they’re growing it for somebody else. I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Well, getting to kind of a wrap up, I want to ask you, of your war experience? What did you come away with – what do you feel Nisei did for future generations that was accomplished by going to war? ASATO: Oh, we went there to, because we felt we had to do it. I think what noted for what the MIS has done, it has opened up a lot of doors were as before. (00:02:00)Even a college graduate couldn’t get a decent job and you work for a fruit stand or something like that. And since the feats of a 100/442/MIS, all the doors were opened and you find the 3rd, 4th, maybe 5th generation all spread out in every type of occupation you could think of. So, there’s not a lot in that sense. I don’t see all of it but then even, even the people from Japan, the commercials, the people from, you know the companies in Japan. They should be grateful in some degree for what’s been done to open the doors. We don’t take all the credit but you just, what happens so it happened. We killed a lot of the discrimination. It’s not over yet but from what we’re doing here at the foundation, we’ve got to continue to educate the people. There are a lot of people there I don’t even know about. I don’t think the businessmen from Japan are aware of what we did. Probably, they just assumed they come over here and do business and they can get away with it, but you know, be successful. But the doors would never been open for them. INTERVIEWER: What can you tell us about an important value that was passed on by your parents, that you try to pass on to your children and hope to have pass on to the future generations? ASATO: Well, a lot of it is education, pride – being proud of being Japanese ancestry. We’ve always been taught not to bring shame to the family. And (00:04:00) just be a good citizen, I guess. What else can I say? We try our best and I don’t think there are too many occasions where the Nikkei have gone backwards, most of them. It seems to me that when I look back through guys in my company, we’ve all done pretty well, most of them done pretty well. I don’t think if there’s any failure where, I think, that comes from pride and initiative and try to keep up what the parents have taught us to what more can I say? I don’t have – INTERVIEWER: What’s the one thing that you most wish for your family, your children, they’re happy? ASATO: Be happy and a have a good family and that’s all I want and by happy, I mean, what I’ve just said, you know, be able to have pride in what you’re doing, enjoy it, and that’s what I kept telling my kids, “Be happy, just don’t quit and whatever you do, don’t quit.” I’m not a quitter. I’m a positive thinker anyway. I have been through a lot. I have been around the block a lot of times. I have gone through hardships (00:06:00) I have gone through lock jaw, I have gone through cancer. I also had cancer in 1977 and the same time, my partner who got sick with fever. Then I had gone through the war; towed a lot of car, brand new Cadillac, and survived barely with a scratch. So, I must live nine lives, I don’t know. (Laughing) This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 82 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: Oh, you described us the most valuable personal characteristic that got you through all those hard times? ASATO: Well, I think lot of friends, you know, everything I do, I do amongst friends. Every time I invest, I did with friends, trust them and maybe trusting the friends and initiative. I don’t, and I- think positively. I think positive. And I’m very fortunate that I have had friends around me all these years. INTERVIEWER: Recently, we had occasion to see kind of a new thing in US history and that was the 9/11 attack when you heard that news, what came to mind? ASATO: Well, it didn’t give me a very good feeling. That seem like, it has to be answered to. I don’t know how, Bush wants to go to war maybe that’s the answer. But you can’t let things like that go. Somebody has to ask, “Why would you continue doing it?” (00:08:00) so, same thing what’ve happened if a Hitler won the war, he’d continue what he’s doing. Raise havoc and this is what we’re up against. But it’s a tough one. INTERVIEWER: Now, right away in the news you the heard a lot of people speculating that “Oh, we should round up Muslims” and you know they’ve, we got these people among us that could be infiltrating our country and harming us. What came to mind when you heard those kinds of things? ASATO: They’re not all disloyal. They’re not all looking to kill us. There are a lot of honest ones and probably a few bad ones but they should be taken in custody. Banned them if they can prove it but it’s a scary thing. You don’t know which one’s are? I think it’s up to the authorities to find out, the FBI and so forth. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever at any point, when you heard those types of stories, think back to 1942 in evacuation? ASATO: Evacuation? When they say round up all Arabs I don’t think that’s right there are a lot of honest ones. So, they have to make sure that they’re disloyal before they do anything. How they’re going to do that? I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: In closing, is there a statement that you’d like to make to, you know, future generations of children that are going to be watching this through the school curriculum? And this possible researchers, is (00:10:00) there a statement you’d like to make? ASATO: Well, what we went through hardships in the evacuation and finally going to a service, they should be taught to all the classrooms so that this sort of thing will never happen especially the evacuation was just totally unconstitutional. They should be taught and very a few people know about this. We might think that we’re spreading the word due to some degree but we’re just touching the surface. That’s all we’re doing and we got a lot of ways to go. It’s got to be taught to everybody so that this whole thing never happens again. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 83 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: What finally made you decide to come in and agree to do you an interview? ASATO: I was very reluctant for a long time but – and I feel that if it’s worth anything – what I’m saying, it should be told, you know, parts of it anyway, that we went through a lot of hardships and discrimination and so forth, and the evacuations especially which was not right. I just hope it never happens again. INTERVIEWER: I want to thank you for taking this time to give us this interview and sharing with us – ASATO: I thank you for taking all your time. I hope I did it right. I don’t know. And I’m just trying to do my best. INTERVIEWER: Okay. (00:12:00) let’s stop there. INTERVIEWER #2: Tets, could you described to us what you’re looking at? ASATO: Ah, one on top is a CIB which is a Combat Infantry Badge. The one in the center is Bronze Star. In the upper right hand is a Good Conduct Medal of Ken Akune. (Laughing). Below that is the Battle Stars for three battles. And to the left, the blue with the oak leaf cluster that’s for the Presidential Unit Citation with a two oak leaf clusters. And the one below that I think is a Victory Ribbon, I’m not sure. INTERVIEWER: Who’s that guy looking back at the station? ASATO: Oh, that’s yours truly. (Laughing) And the one on the bottom with the blue – red, white and blue is… what was it? Campaign Ribbon or something, I don’t know what it is; I forgot. INTERVIEWER: What does it say? ASATO: I can’t see it. INTERVIEWER: That says, “American Campaign?” INTERVIEWER #2: Yeah. It’s a European Campaign. ASATO: I know that… it is a Victory; I’m not sure what that, a Victory? What does it say? Can you see it? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 84 of 87 �INTERVIEWER #2: This is World War II. INTERVIEWER: No, mine have something else on the other side. ASATO: Yeah. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Let’s go to the metal down here, what’s this? ASATO: Oh, that’s my dog tag 37364983. INTERVIEWER: And? ASATO: And then a 442nd patch. INTERVIEWER: Okay. What does the boat signify? ASATO: That’s a ferry boat. That’s a ferry boat in Mississippi. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Alright, so… go on. ASATO: With a hole right through the head (00:14:00). Can you see the whole entry? Then coming out the other side, I picked this up in Canale, Italy. And made a little box and sent it home and I never had it ever since. That was in 1945. INTERVIEWER: Tets, could you tell us about this picture? ASATO: This photo is from, taken in France right on the borderline of France and Italy in Sospel. We were living in dugouts but this is right on the border and the people there are upper left going clockwise is Hero Tanaka and going clockwise the next one to the right is Tom Koka, the one kneeling in the center is Rey Sugai and the next one is myself. Isn’t those artillery? And some was swastika and then I just got these out when I was in Italy and various places I guess and I saved them (00:16:00). That one looks like artillery as I said but the other one is a belt. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 85 of 87 �Look like​ ​two belt buckles. ASATO: The other one was a belt buckle, two belt buckles, yeah. That’s about it that, it shows the swastika. INTERVIEWER: Are you still holding through all that? ASATO: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, the stuff that we, what’s we are looking at here? ASATO: Oh, that’s an Italian Beretta I got in Italy. It’s a 32 I think. It’s a war souvenir. (00:18:00) What? INTERVIEWER: Could you go ahead and tell us again what we are looking at? ASATO: Oh, the one on left I just happen to have is of this when we stayed in Brescia, that’s Colonel Miller the commander of our regiment and then on the right is myself and I can’t remember his name I just happened to find it and that’s me on the left. This is in Camp Shelby in Mississippi where we trained. INTERVIEWER: How did (​Inaudible​) (00:18:42) incidentally with you? ASATO: Me? INTERVIEWER: Yes. ASATO: That’s Robert Speed Tana on the left and Michael Shuraizi, he is a pretty sick man today. This is Tom Koka and Speed Tana. This is Jambu Takuyama and Iwao Kujiro and that’s myself in Brescia. This is myself and Tom Koka on the top of the leaning tower of Pisa. This is in Camp Shelby, Mississippi Taro Itzizuno and myself. They’re all on it. Okay? INTERVIEWER: Yes. ASATO: On the left there’s Taro Itzizuno and myself. We were walking down the streets in (00:20:00) Florence, Italy while attending school and probably walking right by Michelangelo or something, art work. This is on top of the leaning tower, there’s Tom Koka, myself, Charlie and Takeshi Aoki, we called him pickles on top of the Eiffel Tower. We saw that. We did this already. You don’t want to see this. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 86 of 87 �INTERVIEWER: (​Inaudible​) (00:20:39) ASATO: You don’t want to do the- This is along the Arno River and that’s Ace Takuyama, Takeshi Takuyama, the squad leader and myself. Okay, the one on the left, this is something I found it’s a real keepsake cartoons by Bill Mauldin and then something from my, these are all 60 years old. It’s a 442nd combat team campaign, probably in Italy. It will tell us all about it inside the book. Bill Mauldin was very popular when we were in Italy. This is time, I forgot that, I don’t know, it’s 60 years old and have to find it’s finito it’s finish of the war. We’re riding full valley campaign in Italy and the one on the right is a Christmas card I found that we sent out (00:22:00)in 1945 with all that we used to from friends from all the people in G company and if we opened it up you will see all the members of G company. It’s something that I was told in the war… This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 87 of 87 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview, November 29, 2002 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tetsuo Asato oral history interview transcript [full interview], November 29, 2002 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asato, Tetsuo: narrator Horsting, Robert: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Type The nature or genre of the resource Transcriptions Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Extent The size or duration of the resource. 87 pages, typescript Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-11-29 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Florence, California Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2002OH0150A_T_Asato