1 100 4 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, December 30, 1998 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. URL http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/034-Kami-Hideo-1.m4v Date of Birth [YYYY-MM-DD] 1919 Oct 04 Location of Birth Kaiwiki (Hilo), Hawaii War or Conflict World War, 1939-1945 Branch of Service Army Entrance into Service Drafted or Volunteered Drafted Location of Basic Training Schofield Barracks, (Oahu) Hawaii Camp McCoy, Wisconsin Camp Shelby, Mississippi Unit of Service 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team (Combined) Campaigns/Battles North Africa Deployment Naples-Foggia Campaign 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, part 1 of 3, December 30, 1998 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kami, Hideo: narrator Nishikawa, Lane: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher 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 1998OH0034_01_Kami 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, December 30, 1998 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. URL http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/034-Kami-Hideo-2.m4v Date of Birth [YYYY-MM-DD] 1919 Oct 04 Location of Birth Kaiwiki (Hilo), Hawaii War or Conflict World War, 1939-1945 Branch of Service Army Entrance into Service Drafted or Volunteered Drafted Location of Basic Training Schofield Barracks, (Oahu) Hawaii Camp McCoy, Wisconsin Camp Shelby, Mississippi Unit of Service 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team (Combined) Campaigns/Battles North Africa Deployment Naples-Foggia Campaign 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, part 2 of 3, December 30, 1998 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kami, Hideo: narrator Nishikawa, Lane: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher 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 1998OH0034_02_Kami 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, December 30, 1998 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. URL http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/034-Kami-Hideo-3.m4v Date of Birth [YYYY-MM-DD] 1919 Oct 04 Location of Birth Kaiwiki (Hilo), Hawaii War or Conflict World War, 1939-1945 Branch of Service Army Entrance into Service Drafted or Volunteered Drafted Location of Basic Training Schofield Barracks, (Oahu) Hawaii Camp McCoy, Wisconsin Camp Shelby, Mississippi Unit of Service 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team (Combined) Campaigns/Battles North Africa Deployment Naples-Foggia Campaign 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, part 3 of 3, December 30, 1998 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kami, Hideo: narrator Nishikawa, Lane: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher 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 1998OH0034_03_Kami https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/976a355f0f2250a5d174629958521590.pdf fafefd243e4933d188b606f43d2540ba PDF Text Text Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Oral History Interview with Hideo Kami, December 30, 1998 034-Kami-Hideo-1 INTERVIEWER: [00:00] Okay. This is December 30th, 1998. We are about to interview Mr. Hideo Kami. Camera again, by Ian Kawata. Sound, Russell Nakaishi. Cataloging, Dana Takamoto. My name is Lane Nishikawa. First of all, thank you for coming down and spending the time. Why don’t we start with where you’re from. Why don’t you tell us where you’re from. KAMI: Well, I’m from Kaiwiki. I was born in Kaiwiki and worked for the plantation, cutting cane, and all kind of, you know, planting canes, and poison. You know, I had to get poison for to kill the grass, and flume cane. After you cut it, the cane had to go down the middle, so flume cane. And all kind of jobs we did. INTERVIEWER: How old were you when you started working in the cane field? KAMI: I was about, we started early, because my father used to own cane fields, so no more choice. You had to help. INTERVIEWER: What, 13, 12, 10? How old do you think? KAMI: Yeah, I was around there. Then I started going to cut cane about age 18. Sometimes when it was dark we used to [02:00] go, you know, by moonlight light. We used to go early and cut cane, haul the cane. INTERVIEWER: You worked long hours, huh? KAMI: Well, most days were contracted, so we cut so much over there. We could go home, you know, make our day’s pay, enough already. So, you know, before the cane like that, Kaiwiki side, we had to make one dollar, and you had to haul it to the flume. So we cut about 200 bundles. That’s enough for the day’s work already. INTERVIEWER: I learned something talking to you earlier today. Your father was also born in Kaiwiki. KAMI: Yeah, he was born in Kaiwiki. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 1 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: So that means your great-grandfather came from Japan. KAMI: From Japan. INTERVIEWER: Again, where did he came from? KAMI: Hiroshima, Japan. INTERVIEWER: So that makes you fairly unique, because you’re one-quarter Sansei. KAMI: Sansei. INTERVIEWER: Me, too. What’s your date of birth? KAMI: October 4, 1919. INTERVIEWER: And I understand your mother is still alive. How old is she? KAMI: She is 104. INTERVIEWER: Is she the oldest person in the islands? KAMI: Well, that’s what some people thinks, but we don’t know yet. We haven’t gone that far to find out yet. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. So you’re going to live a long time. KAMI: What? INTERVIEWER: You’re going to live a long time. You’re lucky then. KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 2 of 41 �Well, if I’m healthy, all right, but otherwise. INTERVIEWER: I think so. [04:00] Let’s see. So do you have a lot of brothers and sisters? KAMI: I have two brothers, Albert and Ralph. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 3 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: I’m sorry, Albert and--KAMI: Ralph. INTERVIEWER: Did either of your brothers serve in the Army? KAMI: Ralph did. No, Albert did. He go as interpreter for Japan, that Tokyo trial. INTERVIEWER: Was he with MIS [Military Intelligence Service] then? KAMI: I think so. INTERVIEWER: Or CIC [Counter Intelligence Corps]? KAMI: I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Another unique aspect of your life is that you were drafted in November, before Pearl Harbor. KAMI: Right before Pearl Harbor attack, November 12, 1941. And December 7 was Pearl Harbor attack, so we didn’t even know how to hold our gun yet. [Laughs] INTERVIEWER: There were quite a few though, Japanese American, right? KAMI: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. And you were stationed where at the time? KAMI: Schofield Barracks, in the tent city we used to stay at. INTERVIEWER: So you just started training then? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 4 of 41 �Yeah, only start training. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 5 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. You told me you were where at December 7th, on Sunday morning? KAMI: December 7th I was on KP [kitchen patrol] duty, so [06:00] we hear a plane noise, so we look up, and we saw these Japan plane. So we told our lieutenant, then the lieutenant said, “They’re only maneuvering,” but it didn’t take too long. We see Pearl Harbor side, all black smoke coming out. So that’s when they all got shooked up already, and they say, “Oh, you folks better take cover someplace.” Because from our place, about 400 feet away, had a big water tank. They dropped a bomb over there, too, you know, but luckily that was a dud. So that’s it. And that night, December 7, they took everybody down to the jailhouse for our protection, you know, for more safety, because in a tent place dangerous, when it comes strafing down. Then it’s, like me, I was on the KP, so I stayed back, but the rest all went out to string barbed wire around Pearl Harbor side, and Schofield, Hickam Air Force Base, and the rest. I don’t know where they went, but they all went out and they come back early in the morning all dirty, scratched up. INTERVIEWER: Who was taken to the jail? KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: Who was taken to the jail? KAMI: We were taken all to the jailhouse for our safety. INTERVIEWER: Japanese Americans? KAMI: No, everybody. INTERVIEWER: Oh, everybody. KAMI: Then the next morning, [08:00] they say, “You folks can go back to your tent city.” But they said, “At night don’t leave your tent and go to the latrine,” because they got machine guns outside set up, anybody go out from the tent, they had the orders to shoot. INTERVIEWER: Tell us about what you did in Hilo after that. KAMI: After I came back from the Army? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 6 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: No, no. You know, you were telling me you took the U.S.S. Frank. KAMI: Oh, with the Frank. I forget the date when we were there, but we were supposed to come to Hilo on the Frank, but they dropped us off at Maui. And then on the next load that went, the Frank went back to Honolulu to pick up the next bunch and that’s the one that got torpedoed outside of Maui. INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us about that whole incident and period? I mean, it had a number of Japanese Americans on the Frank. You said some lived, some didn’t. You were telling me outside. KAMI: Oh, the one that got saved, that’s the one that was gambling upstairs on the deck, and that one that was in the hole, they all went down with the ship. [10:00] Like the Shiigi boy, the Shiigi drugstore boy, was sleeping next to me at Schofield Barracks, that went down [Inaudible]. That one, they have all the names that died on the Frank. It’s all at the cemetery up there, engraved by the flag poles, all. INTERVIEWER: So Schofield, you started the training, and then a lot of Hilo boys were there. KAMI: Oh, yeah, a lot of Hilo boys. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Can you tell us which company you were in, in the 100th? KAMI: I was in Company D. Heavy Mortar Company. I used to be one of them to carry the ammunition, the 81 mortar ammunition, six of them, three in the front, and three in the back. And then in the end when we went to the war front, it was too heavy over there. We throw away some already. [Laughs] And then even though---ammunition we had for the rifle, some we’d throw away, because it was too heavy, too long a hike already it was. INTERVIEWER: When you shipped out from Honolulu, did your parents get to see you? KAMI: No. INTERVIEWER: So when was the last time you saw your parents before you went? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 7 of 41 �It was November [12:00] 12th, 1941. INTERVIEWER: That was the last time you saw your parents? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 8 of 41 �KAMI: The last time I saw them. And when I was discharged I came home direct to Hilo, and I saw a lot of my friends, so I told them to take me up to Kaiwiki. My parents were all surprised to see me over there. They say why didn’t I call them, he would come get us, come get me, but since I saw somebody, I might as well hitchhike and go home. INTERVIEWER: So you had a big party. KAMI: No. INTERVIEWER: They were happy though? KAMI: They were happy, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Did you have a girlfriend then? KAMI: No, not at that time. That time we used to only drink. [Laughs] INTERVIEWER: Okay. So from Honolulu you went to Oakland. KAMI: I think Oakland it was. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember Oakland? KAMI: Yeah, California. INTERVIEWER: Did you get to roam around in Oakland? KAMI: No, we didn’t. The train was waiting for us already over there. INTERVIEWER: So immediately they put you on the train? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 9 of 41 �Oh, yeah, immediately. And from Oakland they ship us to Wisconsin, Camp McCoy. No, yeah, Camp McCoy. And on the way it was too long a ride, so they stopped the train so we can go out and stretch the leg. Only once we did that. And all uphill, so they had the motor coach, one in the front and one in the back, they had to push us and go up the hill. Then [14:00] we stayed at Camp McCoy. And when it started snowing, that’s when they told us, “You folks better go down to Camp Shelby, Mississippi.” INTERVIEWER: That was around December? KAMI: Oh, it was about December. It was starting to snow, that’s why. INTERVIEWER: Do you recall any memories about Camp McCoy, or Wisconsin, or the local town, or those times? KAMI: Well, at Camp McCoy when it started to snow they put us in the barrack, and in the barrack they have fireplace, it will keep us warm. Before you go to sleep everybody put the coal in the fireplace, but when it come midnight nobody going to put coal. In the morning, cold already. The fire was out already. INTERVIEWER: We’re going to stop here for one second. [interruption] KAMI: And down to the relocation center. But when I went, he was relocated to some other relocation center. He was Reverend Sasai from Hongwanji. So the Hawaii people saw me and any time he come to our, Hawaii people are pleased. So I stayed there three days. INTERVIEWER: Which camp? KAMI: Arizona someplace. INTERVIEWER: Oh, Poston? KAMI: I think so. INTERVIEWER: Or Gila River? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 10 of 41 �KAMI: I don’t know what camp. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Maybe Poston. KAMI: As soon as I---that night, you know what they did? They bring up a six gallon, every time they go to the PX [post exchange] and go buy beer and come. I say, I cannot carry six gallons. They say, “No worry. We come help you.” Oh, but how embarrassing, [16:00] then go to the PX with six gallons and ask for beer. But they did. I went about two times. They were all thirsty for beer. INTERVIEWER: Early kegger. KAMI: I had a good time though. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Back on. So let’s continue with that. You were at Camp McCoy and you got furloughed to go to Poston. KAMI: To where? INTERVIEWER: Well, you said, you know, the camp, Poston camp, Arizona. KAMI: No. That I went from, after I came back from the war front already. INTERVIEWER: Oh, I see. That’s when you were, yeah, you were injured, right? KAMI: Injured already. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, so you were recovering. You were taking furlough. KAMI: So that time I was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From Kansas I went to Arizona, relocation center. INTERVIEWER: Did you go because you had friends there? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 11 of 41 �KAMI: Yeah. I went to go see Reverend Sasai. Because I used to work in the commissary at Fort Leavenworth, so I used to buy 5 pound sugar, tobacco that I should always sent to him, because we get cheap over there, and they cannot buy any of those things. INTERVIEWER: Was that the first time you went into the camp? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 12 of 41 �KAMI: First time. Well, from the camp the girls used to come to entertain us and dance with us. We had a good time. INTERVIEWER: Where? At Shelby? KAMI: Camp Shelby. INTERVIEWER: They came from Rohwer. KAMI: I never found where they came. INTERVIEWER: Probably Rohwer or Jerome, Arkansas. KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Because Mississippi, Arkansas [18:00]. When you went to the camp in Arizona, that was the first time you saw the internment camp? KAMI: First time. INTERVIEWER: They had, what, 10,000 Japanese there, I think. KAMI: I think so. INTERVIEWER: What did you think about that? KAMI: Oh, pitiful, no. You see them. Hard to express in words now. INTERVIEWER: You had a uniform on, no? KAMI: Yeah, I had my uniform. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 13 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: And they had the--KAMI: So before I entered, the MP [military police] at the gate stopped me, and they say, “Let’s see your pass for go in,” so I showed my pass and they say, oh you’re okay. Then he asked me, “How many days you planning to stay?” So I say, “Oh, about three days.” So I paid for the three day meal, see. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Go ahead. Tell me some more about it. It’s Okay. Yeah. KAMI: And then the people were all happy to see me, and they make all kind of good gochiso, you know the kind of Japanese food, like that there. Even takuan like that, they bring out. They say, “That’s the first time you eat takuan?” They ask me. I say, yeah. A long time we didn’t eat takuan. Yeah. INTERVIEWER: What did you think, you know, when you see all the Japanese Americans inside the camp and they’ve got the guards looking at them? KAMI: Because, I don’t know how to explain that thing now. Pitiful, though. Because [20:00] I see some of the people standing by the barbed wire, I outside, looking out, some calling always all kinds of names, we Japanese. You know, Japanese were there. But they don’t understand that. How pitiful, that kind of place. But funny they took only the Japanese. They didn’t take the other nationalities, you know, like they were fighting with Germany, too, and they didn’t intern the Germans. INTERVIEWER: Did you get to talk to any of the guys in the camp, the Japanese guys? KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: Did you talk to any of the Japanese guys in the camp about that? KAMI: Yeah. Oh, they asked me how was the war front, and so I asked them if there were some young men from here volunteered and joined the Army. They say, plenty joined the Army. INTERVIEWER: Did you think it was a little different, the soldiers that joined from the camp compared to the soldiers who joined from Hawaii? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 14 of 41 �KAMI: Yeah. We used to call them kotonk. I don’t know why. But anyway, the Hawaii people and the Japanese mainland people, we didn’t get together, right? Like us, we got our pigeon English and whatnot. So they don’t understand what we’re talking about. INTERVIEWER: This is the first time you met up at Shelby, Camp Shelby? The first time you met the kotonk soldiers. KAMI: Yeah, because Club 100, they didn’t have too much, [22:00] many out there, kotonks. INTERVIEWER: I don’t think you had any, huh? Oh, a few, you had a few. KAMI: I had a few. But Camp McCoy, we go to the PX, we buy the beer and go out in the beer garden and drink. No can go dry. But Camp Shelby, oh the beer garden every time go dry, so we used to go to the haoles’ PX. The haoles never like us, because we drink them dry. Because like the haoles they only buy one bottle, one bottle, go out in the beer garden and drink. [sound is distorted] we’re out in the beer garden, and sit down, and drink. INTERVIEWER: The beer garden. What is the beer garden? [Interruption] INTERVIEWER: Sorry for the delay. KAMI: No. INTERVIEWER: Okay. So let’s go back to the beer garden. KAMI: Oh, the beer garden. INTERVIEWER: Explain that for me, so that we know what the beer garden is. KAMI: Well, it’s a PX. So we all chip in so much and then one person go buy one case beer. We go to the beer garden. The other people go buy the poo-poo [appetizers]. Then we had a good time at the beer garden. But the haole didn’t like to come to our beer garden, because they know that we’re going to rise up, and we do every time. So we go to the haole PX, but they don’t like us. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 15 of 41 �We close our eyes, we just go in, buy, go out in the beer garden [24:00] and drink. Well, some nights, you know, the haole, they come out and talk to us. So like our people, we offer them the beer, too, see, because you get one case, huh. To the nice ones we offer, but the kind of guy gets sourpuss, forget it. INTERVIEWER: This was Shelby? KAMI: Camp Shelby. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go into town? KAMI: Yeah, we used to go to Camp Shelton-- I forget the town name now though. INTERVIEWER: Hattiesburg? KAMI: Hattiesburg, something like that I think. We used to go there on weekend pass, like that. And we used to go to Milwaukee, too. Not---Milwaukee is in Wisconsin. I forget that. One more had some bigger town, but I forget the town name now. Some people used to go to Winona. They used to go fool around over there, because it had that kind, girls. So they used to go over there. Because we had one Japanese man, Mr. Kawasaki. He cannot speak English. He all in Japanese he talk, you know. So I don’t know how he communicated with those girls over there, but he said he had it. [Laughs] INTERVIEWER: So Camp Shelby, the 4-4-2 came in before you went out? KAMI: I think so. INTERVIEWER: I think June, July? KAMI: Because from there we went down to maneuvers down Louisiana [26:00], inside the pine trees where you get plenty of ticks. So we used to get plenty of bites. But they tell us, “Don’t pull, because if you pull, the head is going to stay back.” INTERVIEWER: So what was the worst, the ticks? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 16 of 41 �The ticks. INTERVIEWER: Or the centipedes in the cane field? KAMI: Oh, the ticks was. Centipedes we don’t see in the cane fields too much. Then on the furlough, or pass, we can pass, we used to go to New Orleans and we used to eat the oysters, and the raw oysters. We had a good time over there. INTERVIEWER: How far was New Orleans? KAMI: Oh, not too far. INTERVIEWER: So how you went there? KAMI: The Army truck used to take us. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah? KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: So you’d get what, 30 guys go at one time? KAMI: Yeah, about that. INTERVIEWER: You never got into any bust-ups in New Orleans? KAMI: No. We had a good time over there. INTERVIEWER: When you were in training all the time, you know, whether it was Wisconsin or Mississippi, you never had problems with haoles giving you a bad time? KAMI: Well, some had, but the ones had problem with, but they knew how to box and judo, like that, so they go, our guys, but they don’t fear them. They used to bust up the haoles, too. [Laughs] This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 17 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: Had a lot of boxing in the islands? KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Do you know any of the boxers? Any of your friends? KAMI: I [28:00] forgot. Too many, that’s why I forget. INTERVIEWER: So the first place you went, first you went to Camp Kilmer, and then before you went overseas? You ship out of New Jersey? KAMI: New Jersey, yeah. Then we went to Oran. We stay Oran for about, oh, maybe, I don’t know how long. About two weeks maybe, I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Tell us where Oran was. KAMI: Oran is in Africa, the northern part of Africa I think. INTERVIEWER: So you were there how long? KAMI: I don’t know. About two weeks or so I think. INTERVIEWER: And what did you do mainly there? KAMI: Well, just stand by and wait for others to go to the war front. INTERVIEWER: What was it like, the land? Different, huh? KAMI: The land was dry. We used to go see them, how they make wine. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 18 of 41 �KAMI: You know, how they go mash the grapes. They go out in the field, pick the grapes. They come back, they put them in this big kind of tub, and they go inside and smash with the feet. And when they come tired, they come out. They come rest, then they go back. They don’t wash their feet, they just go inside, mash the grapes, the legs all purple. INTERVIEWER: So you drink a lot of wine. KAMI: No. We see that guy, okay, we don’t feel like drinking their kind of beer, or wine rather. INTERVIEWER: So from there you ended up going to Italy. KAMI: Italy, to Naples. And from Naples the first day, we sure walked, we walked a whole day I think before we came [30:00] in contact with the enemy. INTERVIEWER: Talk about the first time you came into, the first battle, the first time. What was it---tell us about that. KAMI: The first casualty was Mr. Taketa I think. He was the first casualty. So that was in September, ending part of September, I think, so we hold our memorial service every September, the closest date to his death. I think it was about 28, September--END OF AUDIO FILE 1 BEGINNING OF TAPE TWO 034-Kami-Hideo-2 INTERVIEWER: [00:00] So, Mr. Kami, we were talking about first casualty, Mr. Taketa. How did he get killed? KAMI: Well, I don’t know, because we were in a different company. So, you know, we didn’t know until we started holding the memorial service. INTERVIEWER: At this time did you feel that it was different from, you know, earlier training and then you finally go and you meet the enemy the first time, what did that do to you? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 19 of 41 �Well, like us, we hardly see the enemy, because we’re way in the back. Now machine gunners are way in the front so they see the enemies, but like us, we’re in the back, so we hardly see. I know like my corporal and my lieutenant, they were up on the OP [operations post] and were looking, then the artillery hit one tree and it exploded, and he got killed right there. INTERVIEWER: OP? Explain that for us. KAMI: Operational project or something like that. You know, from there they give us the orders to fire or what. INTERVIEWER: So let’s start, as you’re moving through Italy, you had a lot of battles. What do you think the most difficult battle was? KAMI: The most what? INTERVIEWER: Difficult battle. KAMI: Well, to us it wasn’t that difficult, we were in the [02:00] rear, so it’s not like the machine gunners way in the front. Well, we fight it too, but we don’t know, because we cannot see the front and what with the shells falling, because we’re way in the back. We only take orders from the officers, so we actually didn’t see too much Germans out there. Like the riflemen, yeah, they had to contact with the enemy. INTERVIEWER: So did you sit and talk with some of the other guys, you know, after a battle about how they felt, what was going on? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 20 of 41 �KAMI: Oh, yeah. After the battle, yeah. We’d talk about, oh, I wonder how our artillery went, whether it hit the target or missed the target. But we don’t know, because they don’t tell us anything. But I guess it was okay. Like Motoyoshi Tanakafukuten , machine gunner, so they’re in the front there really. So they could see the enemy, I guess. INTERVIEWER: The 100th was one of the lead companies in the 34th Division? KAMI: Thirty-four, yeah. INTERVIEWER: The Red Bull. The 100th suffered I think 900 casualties, huh? KAMI: About that I think. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. KAMI: Because [04:00] the only one I know they didn’t get casualty was only one, but they say he scratch himself in one place, and he say, oh, there’s an artillery shell that he---and that he got a Purple Heart. [Laughs]. INTERVIEWER: Did you feel, since you were artillery, that you were kind of responsible? KAMI: Oh, yeah, we were responsible for the machine gunners and whatnot, because they were depending on us. Just like the artillery people depend on---because machine, like our mortar, it just go over and explode, just like the artillery shell. INTERVIEWER: So tell me about that, that responsibility. KAMI: Well, we had to take the orders from the lieutenant, went to fire, but we seldom fire though. INTERVIEWER: Let’s see. When were you injured, do you remember? KAMI: On my head. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 21 of 41 �Yeah. When? When were you injured? KAMI: It was in ’43, I think, [06:00] but I don’t know what month though. INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us about that, what you do remember about that time? KAMI: Well, I was in one slit trench. I dug my slit trench, and I was in there, but I thought, oh, I’m tired of staying in that slit trench, so I just went to the next one. Then I hear the artillery shell coming, but before I could do anything it exploded and then hit me on the head. INTERVIEWER: Did you have to get moved to a hospital? KAMI: Well, the first aid asked me if I could walk down to the headquarters where the first aid station is, so I say, I think I can, but on the way I passed out. And when I recovered I was in the hospital, everything all done already. They had it all sewed up and everything, so I don’t know what went on in between. INTERVIEWER: And what happened after that? KAMI: Then after that they shipped me to Casablanca on a junk kind of train, choo-choo train kind, and then I stayed there for a few days. And then they shipped me back to U.S., and then I stayed in the hospital for about a month or so. Then they told me, oh, they’re going to send me to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. So I went to Fort [08:00] Leavenworth, Kansas, work on the commissary. Then the point system came out, if you get so many points you can get discharged. So I went to see my first sergeant. Then the sergeant figure out, he say, “You got more than enough points, so where you want to get discharged, up mainland or Hawaii?” So I say, “I’d like to get discharged in Hawaii.” So they shipped me back to Hawaii and then I got discharged. So that’s about it [Laughs]. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Can we break here for one second? Great. [Interruption] CREW: I wanted to double-check. INTERVIEWER: Great. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 22 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: [Back to Mr. Kami.] Let’s talk a little bit about---I remember the first day that the 100th took off for Italy. I heard you guys marched 20 miles the first day. KAMI: Oh, yeah. A long ways we walked that day. INTERVIEWER: Now was that unusual or is that normal? KAMI: Unusual there. That’s why we started throwing away the ammunition, already too heavy. INTERVIEWER: Did you get in trouble for that? KAMI: They don’t know. [Laughs] INTERVIEWER: Okay. These shells you’re carrying, 81 millimeter? KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: How heavy is one? KAMI: I think one weighs about a good, about, I don’t know, about 10 pounds, you know. So if I carry six, that’s 60 pounds. INTERVIEWER: Did you also have to carry the mortar? KAMI: No, the mortar is somebody else carried the mortar. [10:00] Like us, we carry only that. Had about, oh, one, two, three, about four of us carried only the shell. INTERVIEWER: Can you do this for me? Describe the actual mortar and the distance, you know, that this piece, this weapon was capable of. And then we can get an idea of what your duties were. KAMI: Well, the mortar has a base plate and that has a barrel, and then has the legs. With the legs, on the leg, they had an adjustment for the range, you know, whether you lower it, it goes further, or if you want it to go higher then you raise the leg, you know. You crank the leg then she go This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 23 of 41 �higher and then she come down. Oh, I think---I don’t know how long go the barrel, but they carry it on the shoulder and go. INTERVIEWER: So four men carried ammunition. KAMI: And three of them carried the mortar in there. One guy carried the legs, the barrel, and the tripod or, you know, the base. INTERVIEWER: So a squad of men is responsible for, you know, one mortar? KAMI: Yeah. We had one couple that gave us orders what [12:00] to do, when to shoot, because we had four, I think. No, it wasn’t, yeah. So, like our group, we had one couple, the other one has another. So we wait for our turn to shoot it. INTERVIEWER: Did each company have a mortar squad or each platoon have a mortar squad? KAMI: Only D Company had the mortar squad. The others had---because like A Company is all rifle, and I think C was the machine gunners I think. I forget how it goes though, but like, B company, we were the heavy equipment. INTERVIEWER: But you only had one 81 millimeter gun? KAMI: We had four. INTERVIEWER: D Company had four then? KAMI: Four. INTERVIEWER: So almost a squad of men responsible for one mortar? KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: I see. But had four squads. So you mentioned your lieutenant and corporal were killed. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 24 of 41 �KAMI: Corporal Tanouye. I forget his first name. Katsumi, Katsumi Tanouye, I think. And the lieutenant was Lieutenant Ray. We used to call him Ray, but I don’t know his first name. We don’t call by the first names, so we don’t know the first name of the lieutenant. He was our lieutenant. INTERVIEWER: His name was Lieutenant Ray? KAMI: Yeah. And Sparky Matsunaga was with us, too. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. I see. Did you have a nickname? KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: Did you have a nickname? KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: What was your [14:00] nickname? KAMI: Not much. Like Sparky, he was good to us though. But too bad he had to go so soon. INTERVIEWER: Some of the other members of your squad or your company were killed. You were mentioning some of your friends. KAMI: Well, Fukumoto from Kohala. He was killed. And Tanoe was killed. And some Gaijin, but I forget their names. Too long ago. INTERVIEWER: You said your best friend. KAMI: Marty Shiroma from Maui. He died already. And Hamasaki died, too. And Sergeant Ikeda. They all died already. INTERVIEWER: So these were gentlemen that were wounded, not killed in action? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 25 of 41 �KAMI: Well. INTERVIEWER: Right. KAMI: Had some, though, other. I forget the names. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. A lot of men. Let’s go to the Fortuna River. That was a pretty tough river to cross. KAMI: Well, we crossed the river. Because as we go, that river going up so we crossed the river so many times, yeah. We go zigzag like that. But one time when it rained, the river was high, [16:00] so they put a tape across as a guide. But we don’t want to fall, so the tape will come down. And then I was following the tape, and then I just happened to go in the deep place. So two of my buddies saved me, Tanoe and Marty Ishiroma. So I don’t know how I took out the shells though, but I took them out, and then I was saved. INTERVIEWER: You were lucky, huh? KAMI: Lucky. Thanks to my buddies. INTERVIEWER: They told me to stop saying “hmm.” I think I say that a little bit too much. You crossed the river three times? KAMI: Three or four times over there. INTERVIEWER: Was it because the river was winding like this? KAMI: I don’t know how the river was shaped, but, you know, as we go, we go one time and sometime come back again. You know, it depend on where the enemy is. INTERVIEWER: See, I said it again. So the three times, is it because you had, your orders were to take out enemy encampment at this part of the river? So you have to cross to get to them? KAMI: Right. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 26 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: So since you’re in the heavy artillery group, company, tell us about that, about crossing the river, and the one time you did fall in. Were there times where--KAMI: Oh, [18:00] at other times we were just, the water was low, so not too bad for crossing. But only that time when I went down, it rained so hard that the river was high. And the water was muddy, you cannot see where you’re walking. If the water was clear, if you get a hole, you can see the hole down there, but all muddy water, so you cannot see. So you just follow the guide and go and I just happened to be hard luck to go in the hole. INTERVIEWER: Okay. KAMI: Maybe that’s what saved the other people’s life, too. If I didn’t go in, somebody else might have gone in. But like they told us, we’re not too bad that was [Laughs]. It shocked people more, more, that too. INTERVIEWER: I understand you didn’t know you had a plate inside your head. KAMI: Yeah, I didn’t know. INTERVIEWER: So when did you find out? KAMI: Oh, it was last year I think. Because I felt kind of dizzy on the head, so the doctor tell me, more better you go take X-ray, so I say Okay. Then I went up to the hospital, then they took the scan, and they said, “Hey, you have a plate on your head, huh?” I said, I don’t know. They didn’t tell me anything. Then he showed me the picture, you know, the X-ray, he say--INTERVIEWER: They didn’t tell you? KAMI: They didn’t tell me [20:00] anything. INTERVIEWER: Does it bother you? KAMI: No, it doesn’t bother me. That’s why I try to collect disability pay, but they don’t want to pay me disability, too. Even 10%, even 10% all right, if they could give me 10% I say I’d be satisfied, but they say no. So I get nothing. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 27 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: Your family is from Hiroshima? KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: You went to Hiroshima in 1949? KAMI: About there I think. INTERVIEWER: The first trip? KAMI: First trip. INTERVIEWER: And was that for a visit, relatives? KAMI: No, we went on tour. We went on a tour, and then that tour called for go to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and all here and there, so we went with that. And then, the last stop was Hiroshima I think. Then from there we took the bus and go to Osaka Airport, and we came home from Osaka. INTERVIEWER: You got to visit some relatives though? KAMI: Yeah. And then we stayed there, talk story, drink beer. Then they took us to the memorial, too, but I said, we went over there already. So then they said, “Oh, let’s go to Miyajima.” INTERVIEWER: The island? KAMI: The island. So we went to the island. INTERVIEWER: You went to the memorial earlier then, the same visit? The same visit, but? KAMI: But [22:00] those days they didn’t have the memorial yet I think. It wasn’t built I think yet. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 28 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: Oh, I see. But in 1949 when you went, the city was still rebuilding? KAMI: Still rebuilding, yeah. INTERVIEWER: What had you heard at this time about what--KAMI: About the bomb? INTERVIEWER: Yes. KAMI: This is like according to her, she’d say, “How come they dropped the bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?” Like Nagasaki, I hear plenty of haoles got killed, too. And Nagasaki, when we stayed, the hotel was right across the memorial, so we could see from the hotel. INTERVIEWER: The first time you went to the memorial, when it was---was it the second trip you went maybe? KAMI: Yeah, the second trip I was there. INTERVIEWER: Then they had the memorial? KAMI: They had the memorial over there. That was, when was that? About four years later, I think. INTERVIEWER: Tell me about that, going to the memorial. KAMI: Oh, that time we went. On one side where the children was killed, over there they had all the cranes, you know, cranes they made and hang. And in the center had a tomb, or a flame coming out. And on this side it had a museum like, upstairs, second floor. It go up and then you walk. Up there they had all the [Inaudible], and the [24:00]---how the people were, shifting. Oh, pitiful. INTERVIEWER: Since you were responsible, you know, 81 millimeter shell, did you think that they could build something that was that powerful? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 29 of 41 �Well, I don’t know. I don’t think so, because that’s the only one we had. I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Kind of amazing? That they could build something that could be that destructive. I don’t know. A little crazy. Coming back home then, what did you do after the war? KAMI: After the war I worked for contractors, like, carpentry, carpenter and like Yamada Transfer. I work all over the place. INTERVIEWER: When you first came home, what was the best thing about Hawaii you felt? KAMI: Oh, Hawaii. First thing I did was I go buy beer, but no more beer. INTERVIEWER: How come? KAMI: They had only the royal ale. I took one, I try it. Enough, not going to drink that beer. [26:00] So I gave to my friend, one Portuguese friend. I gave him a bottle. I bought six, and I took one. I gave them away. Too strong, that. INTERVIEWER: And you have kids? KAMI: Like Arizona, no more beer. Not even whiskey. INTERVIEWER: None? KAMI: Yeah, but not the kind of famous whiskey like you get, Old Kentucky, and all. Unknown kind of name. I was going to buy for my friend, the place I stayed in. No more whiskey. So I’m not going have. I bought Old Kentucky or something, one bottle, and we drank that night a little bit. INTERVIEWER: In Arizona? KAMI: And the funny part is, when I left Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, I go over their time, yeah. And when I go to Arizona, the time difference, and they don’t have telephone in their house, see? My friend’s house. So I had to call the neighbor house, and nobody answered, because I don’t know what time it was. We got the time, you know, Kentucky and Arizona, the time difference is about This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 30 of 41 �three or four hours I think different there, I think. So I had to sleep in the station, and the next morning early I called, and they came to get me. INTERVIEWER: You have children? KAMI: Yeah. [28:00] My son working for telephone company. My daughter is in Pleasanton, that’s in San Francisco someplace. So we used to catch the bus and go to my daughter’s place. And then, like then, they work so every time we like to go to Holo Holo, we had to catch the bus and go here and there, or catch the bus. The bus was cheaper, like senior citizen, so half price. So we used to go all over the place. San Francisco, you can get mostly everyplace already. END OF AUDIO FILE 2 BEGINNING OF TAPE THREE 034-Kami-Hideo-3 INTERVIEWER: [00:00] After the 100th is moving to a position, and you are firing all the artillery out, clearing the way, so the infantry can move up. Then what does the D Company do at that point? KAMI: Well, we’ve got to supply the ammunition to them, because we have the ammunition. So we used to supply the ammunition to them. We’d take off that ammunition from us, and then we supply it, so they can fire the ammunition. INTERVIEWER: So you’re like runners? KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: You’re like runners, you run the ammunition up, or what? You bring them up to the front. KAMI: Well, yeah. Because we don’t have to stay too far away. Because the ammunition hit the barrel, then she come out, see. So only the sound, you got to close your ears. That’s all. INTERVIEWER: How far does the 81 millimeter gun shoot? KAMI: Oh, quite a distance, though. I don’t know how far it goes, though. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 31 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: Maybe 100 yards, maybe more? KAMI: More than that I think. INTERVIEWER: Two hundred, 300. KAMI: More than that. INTERVIEWER: Well, that’s quite a ways. What did you do when the battle calms down? What did all the men do? KAMI: Well, we roam around there, look for something. You know, if you get a town or something, we’d just go roam around and look for something. [02:00] Sometimes get chicken or something. We catch them and we bring them back, we kill them, and then we get the helmet. We boil them in the helmet, make soup like that. INTERVIEWER: Chicken soup? KAMI: Mm-hmm. We had a good time, though. But one time we came to where we had a chestnut tree growing. Oh, it was on the ground full with chestnut. We used to make a small fire, a bonfire kind, and we used to roast them inside there, and that could pop open and then we used to eat them. It was good. INTERVIEWER: As good as Hawaii ones? KAMI: Oh, no. No can be. Then we had the furlough, so I went down to Naples, went to Pompeii, like that. INTERVIEWER: How was that? What did you think of those cities? KAMI: The Pompeii, the time we went, and the last time we went on a trip it looks different, though. The time we went it had more pictures on the wall, you know, of the kind, naked ladies and whatnot. But this time didn’t have much. Even the route was different. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 32 of 41 �When you were wounded and you went to recovery, where was that? KAMI: Was in Naples, I don’t know where. Naples, [04:00] I think. Naples general hospital someplace. INTERVIEWER: You want to talk a little bit about that time? KAMI: Well, I don’t know much, because most of the time I was in the bed. Only I couldn’t walk around. They didn’t allow me to walk around, so I just stay in the bed. If I want to go to the lav or something, I had to call the nurse, bring the, you know, for go doo-doo or something like that. I had to ask for that pan and whatnot. So not much over there. INTERVIEWER: So you just had head injury or more injury? KAMI: Only the head. INTERVIEWER: How long were you in recovery? KAMI: Oh, maybe about six months or so I think. INTERVIEWER: When you were discharged--KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: When you were discharged--KAMI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: ---how did that feel? What did you think? KAMI: When I was discharged I was happy, really. So I took an Army plane, you know, kind of a free plane, came to Hawaii, and then went home. Surprised my parents. [Laughs] And that was on a furlough, so I had to go back again. No. They said they’re going to discharge me, but they told me that I had to come back once more to the separation center, so I went back. This time I was for sure discharged already. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 33 of 41 �INTERVIEWER: Where was the separation center? KAMI: In Wahiawa. [06:00] INTERVIEWER: Your brother Albert, he was either MIS or CIC. Do you remember? KAMI: I don’t know. I know he told me he was an interpreter, but I don’t know which one. INTERVIEWER: Tell us about Albert. KAMI: Well, I don’t know his life story, but after he came back he told us that he was stationed in Japan, and he went to the Tokyo trial, and then he interpreted over there. Then he say, they got good results. INTERVIEWER: He must speak pretty good Japanese to be an interpreter at the trial. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 34 of 41 �KAMI: Oh, yeah, he was pretty good. INTERVIEWER: [Addressing the crew] Can we stop down for one second? CREW MEMBER: Is that rain? INTERVIEWER: It’s rain. [interruption] INTERVIEWER: Go ahead, talk about that. Tell us about that. CREW MEMBER: Yeah, you guys got to tell us some of those stories. KAMI: No, no one wants--INTERVIEWER: How is it when you get back together with all your friends now? KAMI: Oh, when we get club meeting like that. Oh, the whole squad now wants to talk about this and that, shoot the bull. INTERVIEWER: It kind of feels good having the ones that made it home, and you can all get together, and share the good time now. KAMI: Oh, yeah, good now. INTERVIEWER: [08:00] Tell us about the 100th Club here. KAMI: Club? INTERVIEWER: No, the club here. The Club 100th here. KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 35 of 41 �Well, like Club 100, we have our meeting once a---on the last---on the fourth Thursday of---no, of the month, every month. But, like this one was Thanksgiving. So we had it on the third Thursday. Then we talk about the war front and like now, November, so we talked about our next month when the Christmas party, where the sons and daughters come provide for us, and it’s going to cost us $8. INTERVIEWER: The sons and daughters group, it’s kind of nice. KAMI: Oh, yeah, they are good. Because when we used to go and put flowers at the Veterans Cemetery, they all come out and help us. Like us, we cannot bend down already. When you bend down, probably you can’t come up. But the young ones, so fast, though. They used to come out, help us. In case we get some kind of occasion, we need help, we go ask them. They’re willing to help us. INTERVIEWER: Did you get to go to the last convention in Honolulu? KAMI: No, I didn’t. INTERVIEWER: Do you have a Memorial Day service here? KAMI: At the Veterans Cemetery we had. [10:00] That was in September. That was the closest day to when [inaudible] Taketa was killed. On that day we didn’t have flowers, so all the sons and daughters came and put flag on each grave. It was nice, though. INTERVIEWER: So when you get together with all your buddies, do you all ever reminisce or think back about the ones that didn’t make it? KAMI: Yeah. We talk about that, but we cannot do anything now really. He was something good to us. He did something good to us, but now he’s in one of these holes. We talk about this and that. If you talk, no more end. [Laughs] INTERVIEWER: You were with the early guys, 100th, first ones, right? KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: First 100th to go. You were with the first guys? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 36 of 41 �KAMI: First ones, yeah, 100th, yeah. INTERVIEWER: And you were one of the early wounded. KAMI: Early. I got hurt early. INTERVIEWER: So, because of you guys the 100th get their nickname, [12:00] Purple Heart Battalion. KAMI: Purple Heart Battalion. Yeah. Oh, boy, you sure went and got hurt, though, plenty of people. But I’m glad that I’m here today. I can talk about it. INTERVIEWER: When you came home from the war, and the guys still fighting. KAMI: They were still fighting, yeah. So I thought, after I get discharged from the hospital, I thought, asked the doctor, am I going back to the front again? He said, “No, you don’t have to already.” So I said, why? He said, “No, your wound was too serious, so they’re going to send you home.” So I said oh, if that’s the case, no sense arguing anymore. INTERVIEWER: Did you want to go back, help them some more? KAMI: Well, if I have to, I have to. Well, as we are the Army come out there, Yamato-Damashii. [Laughs] INTERVIEWER: Explain for the young people who see this, what’s Yamato-Damashii? KAMI: Well, Yamato-Damashii is the spirit of the Japanese. You know, they go for broke, just like the 442nd say, “Go for Broke,” it’s something like that. INTERVIEWER: When the war first broke out, did you feel---what did you feel you were going to do? KAMI: Well, when the Japanese planes started attacking Pearl Harbor, we thought nothing of it, but soon after that, I think it was President Roosevelt, no? Declared [14:00] the war. And then we can’t do anything anymore. We just got to follow the President’s order. Then they surrender all This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 37 of 41 �our Japanese and send us to Camp McCoy, no Camp Shel[by], no Camp McCoy. That’s where we go to training. INTERVIEWER: You know, for the young people, like all of us here and also the children that are going to come, new children, do you have any words that you want to say to them? Any thoughts? KAMI: Well, I’d like to tell them that if you have to do things, don’t be afraid. Do it. For Japanese, if you be afraid, you’re not going to get there. You have to go and do it, whatever your orders are. INTERVIEWER: [Addressing the crew] Could you pause the tape one second? [Interruption] CREW MEMBER: Go. INTERVIEWER: So you have two children? KAMI: What? INTERVIEWER: Two children? KAMI: Two. INTERVIEWER: You. KAMI: One boy, one girl. INTERVIEWER: Do you ever talk to them about the war? KAMI: They ask, so you tell them, but I don’t know if they’re listening with their mind open or shut. Because every time I talk they only laugh at us, so they’re not taking it [16:00] serious. But when I show them my Purple Heart like that, then they kind of settle down and they think on the thing a little bit. And I show the ribbons, too. You have to get some kind of proof that you went and you got for what we did. If you don’t want the proof, they won’t acknowledge it, I think. But if you This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 38 of 41 �show them that what we did is for our country, then they’re thinking then. I hope they follow our footsteps. INTERVIEWER: You got a number of medals. You received a Bronze Star, and an Infantry Badge. I’m trying to remember here. [Addressing the crew] Russell, what was that? CREW MEMBER: A Distinguished Unit Badge. INTERVIEWER: A Distinguished Unit Badge, a Purple Heart. What do those medals mean to you? KAMI: Oh, they mean great to me, because I know I fought for it. So now I feel great. INTERVIEWER: [Addressing the crew] Want to pause for a second? Were you going to say something? CREW MEMBER: Yeah. Are those the medals that we wrote down? INTERVIEWER: Okay. Are we rolling? CREW MEMBER: Rolling. INTERVIEWER: I want to clarify the medals. You received the American Defense Service Medal with clasp. KAMI: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: The Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, the EAME [European-African-Middle Eastern] [18:00] Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Purple Heart, and of course probably a number of the, you know, European theater. KAMI: European, yeah. INTERVIEWER: And then Infantry. So I just wanted to clarify that. Can you explain what the EAME Medal is, the Service Medal? KAMI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 39 of 41 �Oh, I forget already. [Laughter] INTERVIEWER: Yeah, I’d forget, too. Okay. How about one last thought? KAMI: Huh? INTERVIEWER: One last thought. Do you feel you were ever anything else besides an American? KAMI: No. INTERVIEWER: Always an American, huh? Do you think that the 100th Battalion and the 4-4-2, they had to prove something? KAMI: Oh, yes, we had to---we have to prove that, you know, we are Japanese. We are Japanese American, so we had to show what we can do. I don’t want them to think we’re Japanese, so we are going to pull for the Japan side, because we are Japanese American. So we had to fight for America. That’s all. INTERVIEWER: Well, I want to thank you for the interview, and I want to tell you that you never had to prove anything to us. We always felt that the 100th and the 4-4-2 made our future what it is today. KAMI: I think so. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Thank you. KAMI: Thank you for the interview. I don’t know whether I made [20:00] good standing, showing, or what, but excuse otherwise. INTERVIEWER: No, it was very good. I think we should get you a beer now, huh? [Laughter] KAMI: I go home, I drink beer. END OF AUDIO FILE 3 This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 40 of 41 �This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 41 of 41 � 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview, December 30, 1998 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 Hideo Kami oral history interview transcript [full interview], December 30, 1998 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kami, Hideo: narrator Nishikawa, Lane: 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. 41 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 1998-12-30 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 1998OH0034_T_Kami