1 100 1 https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/49450f16b029bef3072c3f261ec237d9.pdf 2350ea7b4f6ff0125e0abd3b76dc9805 PDF Text Text Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Oral History Interview with Frank Fukuzawa, February 24, 2001, Los Angeles, California INTERVIEWER: Okay – today is February 24​th 2001 and today we are interviewing Frank Fukuzawa and my name is Jason Inouye on the interviewer. I have Eric Kowal on Camera, I have Michele Dojiri on audio and I have Ran Kollinado on cataloguing and Tory Sharon our production assistant for today and so let’s begin and Frank can you give us your name and even your birth place and where you grew up and your family background. FUKUZAWA: My name is Nichto Frank Fukuzawa, I was born in Santa Barbara California October 5​th 1923. I was the second eldest but the only boy among five sisters. Our family was very close knit. My parents were deviled Christians, so our – we had grace table and very much – a very simple but very loved and caring family. INTERVIEWER: Why can’t I start with your childhood first in the interview, can you give us a background of what was your childhood like? [02:00] FUKUZAWA: I attended school with my neighborhood kids which was comprised of the Italian Americans, Swedish Americans, German Americans because there was only three other Japanese families in close proximity where we lived so that was the routine, we would all get together, take our pack of lunches and walk to school and come back together and this type, it was a very – a nice – I thought it was just routine, but it was different, other niches that I talked to didn’t experience that type of neighborhood camaraderie that I had experienced. INTERVIEWER: Who were some of your childhood heroes? FUKUZAWA: I had quite a few when I was real young, I guess my heroes through school were George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and as I grew little older, sports figures became very popular, I think of Bobby Grayson of Stanford and Joel Nevin of USCI. There was no particular school or particular area, I just liked sports and that was where I went to and then as far as movie stars, it seemed like every movie that I saw, if that was a good one, that fellow or the girl was my [04:00] at the moment the – my star type of thing. INTERVIEWER: When you were growing up as – in your childhood, what were your feelings towards your Japanese ancestry? Did you know it at the time? FUKUZAWA: I was aware of that, but like I said I went to school with a cross section of everyone and so I didn’t feel that real prejudice of any type, but yet I was not – that I didn’t – I knew that there was – it was out there, but it did not effect me personally and when I got to high school age, I walked with the same neighbor’s kids, but during the lunch I ate with the other Japanese students that I knew in church or through other clubs and we ate together and I would walk home with my same neighbors. INTERVIEWER: In your childhood what clubs did you belong to? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 1 of 24 �FUKUZAWA: Well I – my father had me take to judo and then I was in the Santa Barbara niche high star group because of my brother in law who had a great influence me, he wanted me to go out for sports, then I was in the YMCA junior and senior highway club and later from that stem the Vikings club that I was affiliated within high school, off from high school and we had our basketball team and we had our baseball team too. [06:00] INTERVIEWER: In your child hood, what dreams or ambitions did you have to be in your occupation or any job or what – what did you want to be when you would grow up? FUKUZAWA: Well I wasn’t – I guess I wasn’t – I was just enjoying life, so that kind of what’s the way out in the future type of thing and I really honestly didn’t know what I really wanted to do and my parents did not try to influence me and so I just took the regular college trip, course in high school and let it go at that. INTERVIEWER: Can you give us a little – we talked before about your father and your mother, can you give us some background about your – your father because he had a – a sort of a different situation on his background, can you describe that for us? FUKUZAWA: Yes. My father came from a very wealthier do family, his uncle who lived in the same household was a mayor for 40 years in the little town that he lived at and he was – after my father passed away, my mother brought out a picture of him in his formal dress attire that they whore when they had a audience with the emperor, that type of thing, but my father never talked about that and I – I asked him why he didn’t and he said well because I am just a humble gardener here and there is nothing to brag about [08:00] that, but – his name was Sumotto and Sumotto means one who accumulate and my mother’s name was Midori and that means a spring green and here we had a real rich sense of humor, he said “but I did not accumulate green money, I accumulated happiness” and I – I never forgot that piece and then my mother was told little tales and dropped things to me of her culture and one was I remember her telling me about Toyo Tommy when he was just a young farmer’s kid, he was assigned to the – the lord’s place of that era and then he would quit – get in his stomach and over the cast of his wardrobe and when his master came out in the cold, he would put his – on the floor and so the – the master’s feet would get warm and then she had a lot of little tidbits like that, so I had a little appreciation for the history and a little of the culture that went along with the Japanese. My father, he came over at a very young age and he went to school, there was a lady teaching English at the YMCA in San Francisco where he was at, so he took a class in that and [10:00] so he was quite into English and he – all my letters I ever received from him where in English and he would speak through as well as written and lot of my buddies would never believe me that was my pappa’s letter because they thought no it’s fake and like that and so – but again thought that was annoying because I hadn’t ever experienced any of that – I thought everyone did that and found out that it’s very-very different, I knew a lot of easel that came over to the house and would bring a piece of paper and my father would translate it and tell them what it was and what not but they thought hey that’s not big deal, but when it was you know at that time – and so I had books in our book shelf that were – my father had purchased two years before demise by Richard Henry Dana and how he – my father would point out how the Cathal Rocks where it stood – where Dana anchored and stayed a few days at the local mission and it read that part in the book and he had outlined a history by wells and he had the book Shakespeare and just a testimony that was taken freshmen English, I asked him about, I think it was false stuff of one of the characters that we were reading and he knew about that, but he knew Japanese history of real world. I remember going to a movie on the 47 longing and there This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 2 of 24 �was one character that Hosho Muhune portrayed [12:00] and I didn’t think – I thought that was just something that was added, but he told me who the person was and where he came from and I was real surprised at that because this was years and years later and he still remembered those things. INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us – you told me a story about your father trying to enter the military for world war one, can you describe that incident? FUKUZAWA: Yes. My father was taken before evacuation, he happened to be on the board of the Japanese language school which was run by the church – our Christian church, but the FBI picked him up and put him in the detention camp and so then all the work that he would have ordinarily done, my mother had me take care of selling the car, storing the appliances what we – we weren’t a wealthy family, so they weren’t the electric type refrigerator, we still used ice in the icebox and those things, but anyway find a place for it and while he was in detention camp, he had his hearing, my father defended himself because he know – he knew how to speak English and when they asked a certain question if he was loyal or something, he said yes I am loyal to America, I enlisted in world war one, they didn’t believe this so they sent right away to Washington DC and there was his paper, but he didn’t have to go because he was both [14:00] reported to Texas Caulfield for basic training on November 16​th and the armistice was assigned on the 11​th​, so his orders were resented, but that record was still intact in Washington and so he had a quick outright release and his – without any strings attached, he was not debarred by anyone in camp, he was just left free and others that returned, there was always had – they had to return and report to a place every so often and what not, but my father didn’t have to do that, then that was a real interesting because I remember going to see him at the detention camp with five others, there were in Tohonga right in San Fernando valley and he couldn’t come out, we couldn’t go in, but right through the – what was an old abandoned CCC camp, we just shake hands through the wired fence there and then he left and they were sent – he was sent to Santa Fe New Mexico detention camp and from there he was released back to when we were in Tolery assembly centre and eventually we went to Hila relocation camp in Arizona. INTERVIEWER: I am going to just backup a little bit before we get into the torment. When – what were you – what were your plans in [16:00] life before December 6​th​ 1941? How old were you and what – what were your plans and – FUKUZAWA: Well I was 17. I remember December 7 because we were playing Arizona basketball team and we were playing a team from Los Angelis and right in the middle of the game the MPs from the local Holf hospital in Santa Barbara came to round up the – all the soldiers, we had several of the soldiers playing on out team and so they went back and so the match lead became what’s called off and they all went home, but one of my buddies I will never forget passed away, but he called me and he said – they called me Nich for Nichto, they couldn’t say Nichto so they called me Nich – they said Nich you know what happened today, there is no barring or reflection of our friendship, you are still the – you are still my buddy I will see you in school on Monday and I never forget that, that was a real reassurance and it was – he was of the Scottish background, a niche scouts man, his father and mother were from Scotland and so he would kind of smile when he heard my mother talking in English and I would kind of smile when I heard his parents speaking with the Scottish brogue, but we always kidded about that, but other than that my [18:00] – as I have said before I really didn’t know what I wanted to go into, perhaps I was too – as I would say in Japanese – too non key things like that I thought would take care of it selves and everybody had any ambition to pursue any – a vocation or vocation or profession, it’s just I was living each day as it happened more or less than we think in far range and That was about my thought to be honest will you because I didn’t know. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 3 of 24 �How – how did the bombing of Pearl Harbor change your – maybe your mind or thought or – or you physically, how – how did it change you? FUKUZAWA: Well I was – I didn’t know what the thing – it was just an entertaining, but I had a wonderful history teacher, she has stopped me in the hall one day and she said you know America is a very young country, we are not even 200 years old and there is going to be mass hysteria, but I want you to remember that don’t get too rattled one way or another, I know you have the feelings and I cant blame you for that, but give – give her a little time and she will be alright and that stuck me, I thought well at the time when she told me that she has been very nice to me but really she was – she was one that I really respected a teacher, [20:00] she was a Spencer who came to school everyday on a taxi and she took care of her mother, but she was one with that loved her country and she traveled all over the world and I had a lot of respect for her, so I wrote letters when I was in the service and when they got discharged, she was one of the first ladies to really – I was so happy that I had served my country in spite of being in camp and really there was something and fortunately she was a collector of buttons, she had Julian buttons, but I brought her back some captured German buttons – officers buttons and other types of buttons that I knew she probably didn’t have in her collection and she was so touched by that, not so much to give but that I would take the time to remember that she had those and to bring it back and – and she really made a big – big deal out of that but deep inside it touched me that she would say something like that. INTERVIEWER: I see. There is small question, did you know where Pearl Harbor was when it was bombed? Did you know what that place was or? FUKUZAWA: Well I only knew that it was in Hawaii, but as to what exact spot it was and all that I didn’t know. INTERVIEWER: Okay well after president Roosevelt declared war and Japan, where did you go or where were you? FUKUZAWA: [22:00] Our family was slated to go to Tolery assembly centre and so in order that we would get a decent place I volunteered with a group to go up there first and my rest of the family came later but it was a good thing that I did, I was a – I will never forget I was the 27​th person to be registered in there, the number one was a doctor, but I was able to get a nice newly constructed temporary housing place and the others had to stay in the horse stable, that was the Tolary fair ground so there was a racing track plus a lot of the stables and so – and my mother was – at first she had ____ my going there so early but after she found out the place that we got, then she was happy, she thought I was pretty wise to go and she was thankful for that. INTERVIEWER: What did you take with you and what did your family take with you when you – FUKUZAWA: We had – to take only one – one luggage that we could carry and the first thing I bought before I went was boots, they told me that we eould probably need boots, so I bought a a pair of boots, that’s the only thing I spent, I took the rest of the things we had and we knew that Tolary gets warm in the summer, so we didn’t have too much winter clothing because that’s bulky and we took light clothing and went [24:00] because we were limited to what we could take. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe any – any important talking or something that you felt was important that you left behind? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 4 of 24 �FUKUZAWA: Yes I had Indian Head Pennies, I don’t know the value of that, it didn’t matter I guess it was lot of different dates and at that time once in a while you would get it in change or – now and afterwards it was impossible, then I had a little stamp collection that started because my parents, relatives wrote a lot and they had a lot of colorful little Japanese stamps, so I had a universal stamp collection, but it was nothing to write home about it, it was just something that I did if I happen to find it, fine then I would paste it in there and do that and as I said earlier my – I guess my interest was in sport so that I – conference right in that – that was my first love. INTERVIEWER: Did your father or mother leave anything behind that they really wanted to take or – FUKUZAWA: Yes – yes I am glad you bring that because when we returned, you see – we happen to own the house, it was under another person’s name because my parents couldn’t own any property or anything but we had a friend who was also went into the army who signed the papers so they were able to get the house and my mother was [26:00] a very good – a cook, she made – brought me – she was – had a reputation for her Sishi, she really knew how to roll the Sushi – Mukki Sushi and those things and so she had some beautiful plates and what not – tracers that either she brought over from Japan or people had given to her and we stored it in a little – like a little small barn, kept all our things in there, well we had - in the time we were in the camp, we had three different tents and that’s another interesting thing, when I – when we were ready to find an agent – real estate agent to handle that, one man said – one agent said, yes I will be glad to take care of the house and now could you sign this power of attorney paper and I just happened to be taken business law in high school and as I talked to my law teacher, and he said don’t you ever do that. That means that once you sign or he could do anything he wants with that power of attorney, so make them your agent, so I went back and asked him would you be my agent and he said well I am a little busy. So I then found an honest man who said that he would be glad to be my agent, but now getting back to the story when – when we were gone in camp and we don’t know which [28:00] tenant did it but when we got home my mother’s beautiful - ____ and all that were – they broke them all up and my stamp collection, I don’t know what they did and they took my coin collection – what not – the only thing I saw left was my graduation picture, I guess the guys, they didn’t saw that and – and they had no use for that so they just left that, but anyway that was a very sad thing, that – that was a thing that my mother I guess really felt because it was something very dear to her in some in sentimental reasons and attachments to that, but other than that our return – we didn’t go right into the home, there was someone still there, so fortunately my brother in law, they had a big place so we stayed there till the people moved or we had wonderful neighbors so each time something happened, they would write to us and we would tell our real estate man, he check it out and he would either tell them to move out or something and so – and we had nice things to happen as well as we had – INTERVIEWER: Oh let’s get over – we are going to stop the tape and we are going to the nice things that happened. We are going to change the tape. BEGINNING OF TAPE TWO INTERVIEWER: You just described some of the tough times before leading off to the relocation center, but you said you had a good experience or a good time. Can you please explain? FUKUZAWA: Well there was an opportunity while I was in camp at a resort – some resort in Minnesota. And so all it said on the bulletin board, ‘Job; waiters wanted’, room and board and laundry and $7 was the earning power. So I took it This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 5 of 24 �along with several others and lone behold, the owner of that place was the great, great, great, nephew of Oliver Wendell Holmes. And we were staying in his summer cottage. But there was one room that was locked, security, and we were always wondering what that was. So one time when the boss came around, we asked him. He said, oh that was my great, great, great, grandfather or uncle or whatever; his library. So we were anxious. I would like to read and stuff. So he opened it up and that was just volumes of words that he had, and that was a real thrill for us, and I met some nice people there because they came from other camps. And I know it was a short term deal. So we – and the funny thing is that when he told us, well our season opens [02:00] next week, so I am going to assign tables and this and this and that and he found out that none of us had experience as waiters. And he was shocked. So right away – he was smart, he got us to get the plates and he put bricks on the plate and we walk around so we get balance and coordination and everything and we practiced that. And so when the season started it was the great northern power – and actually a convention and it was a wonderful banquet with and in there was a writer from the Minnesota, Minneapolis Paper and he was so surprised to see so many Asians in there. He didn’t know what we were and we told them, and we were camps and he says I am going to come up here in a week or two when I attempt to write about this. This is very unique. So sure enough, he came and he interviewed us and he had a big spread in the Minneapolis Paper. And so it was a real happy times there. That was a very compatible group. And later in college, one of the finest golfers at Santa Barbara College there you would see was – happened to one time talking to him, his aunt had a restaurant in town and I told him, oh we ate over there and he checked with her and she remembered some Asians that used to go there and – it’s a small world. And then how we were there? We met some [04:00] fellows in the army – navy program that was stationed in North Dakota, at the University of North Dakota, they came through to eat one time and we happened to know one of the fellows. He was a musician that played in the band with one of the fellows that we went to school and he was at camp. And so that was a small world. And things like that happened that were really a nice thing. The sad thing was one of the waiters went – he had volunteered for the 442 and he went – real hurt and he was one of the first to die for his country. And that was a sad experience there. But after spending time that summer I went to Chicago to go to school. And I first enrolled at the Loyola, not knowing anything about Loyola and I – they didn’t have the course that I was started out to going. So I switched over to Central YMCA College, which later became Roosevelt College in downtown Chicago. And all the time, I roomed with my Santa Barbara buddy who went to Chicago Musical College. He was a musician and he went there and – I was there until I got my notice to go in the army and so that’s when I returned back to see my folks before I went into service, to say goodbye to them. INTERVIEWER: Actually, I am just going to back up a little bit – FUKUZAWA: Sure. INTERVIEWER: - for the – [06:00] for the audience. Can you describe what Executive 9066 is? FUKUZAWA: Yes. That was an order by President Roosevelt to say that all persons of Japanese ancestry were to evacuate from the West Coast area for security purposes and what not and – and that’s what that meant, that he had the right as President to write an order like that and so it was referred to as Executive Order 9066. INTERVIEWER: How did you feel when this Executive Order came out? FUKUZAWA: Well, I just – it’s my cultural background at the time that – you can’t help but there is a word, shikataganai, and This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 6 of 24 �that was an order, they are at war. But as myself I felt that if I tried to buck it or something what would happen to my parents? See, these are war times. It’s not like a normal situation, will they get taken in separate camp or may be killed? So we just followed the order. And I think that’s the feeling of most of the people. INTERVIEWER: Can – for the audience that doesn’t know what shikataganai means, can you describe and how does that relate to the JA community? FUKUZAWA: Well its like – well that’s the way it is. You can’t help it kind of a thing. I am – [08:00] funny you would be asking me, I am not much of a linguist, but those words – certain words stick with you and that was one of the words that I remember, you can’t help it. It’s got – you got to be, you follow the – the edicts of the top and not do anything but follow it. So we just did. INTERVIEWER: For the audience that – for the audience today that – the people of today that don’t understand the time period that you just have to go and – why didn’t you stand up? Can you explain the situation of what that period of time was like? FUKUZAWA: Yes, I will give you an example. My own children said, my gosh, how come you evacuated? You are an American citizen, why didn’t you stand up and – they seen all the things that happened to people – I said, times were different. Sure if that happened now, I would be joining you and to be in that crowd and be in that group, waving my banner for you or whatever. But as I said times were much, much different in that time and they have to know that. They have to realize that. We didn’t have any choice, because if we just thought of ourselves that’s different. But we couldn’t, we thought of our family, devotion to family and this type of thing. And so I – when you have these the cases like the Korematsu Case and all those that actually did buck it own their own and fought it through. I think that those guys bought a lot of credit because they were soldiers too, [10:00] but another nature. And then their belief, they rank right up there. INTERVIEWER: Okay. When your family was interned, how did that affect your parents? FUKUZAWA: Well, as I told – did I mention that my father enlisted in the World War I? INTERVIEWER: Right. FUKUZAWA: So, as I was departing to go into the service, my father never said anything other than he shook my hand and he said, [Foreign Language] [10:50] that means ‘give it your best’; you know be alert and give it your best. Now my mother – she had tears in her eyes and she just said – as I embraced her she said I will be praying for you every day. And that was it. She didn’t make a big [Foreign Language] [11:15] and somehow or another that meant a lot to me, to hold that. So then as I was leaving in the army, the church came in with a new testament. And in that testament, it’s a special new testament and that Franklin Roosevelt had a nice message for those going in for the armed forces and then I didn’t have a girlfriend or anything at the time, so I took a picture of my mother and father and pasted into the page and I kept that new testament in my pocket. It just fit beautifully in the army clothing. So [12:00] I kept that right along, but I am not going to trying to tell you that I was a good Christian or anything because I really wasn’t, I went to church – but I – it’s just a matter because I had to, but – and I knew a This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 7 of 24 �few verses in there. And so once in a while when I had time I would refer to those verses, but by standard of a good Christian I sure fell short of that. But I wanted to explain this because I don’t want to stand and look like a goodie-goodie or something I wasn’t. But my parents were role models. They lived their life and they practiced their life and I never heard them argue once or say a cross word and that amazed me, especially after I got married. I think the reason I held my tongue in a lot of things that – because I reflect back to my parents, because they didn’t. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Good. For your sisters and – how did they react or how were they inside the camps? FUKUZAWA: Well my sisters – except for the youngest one, she was too young, the others all left camp to around the Chicago area and they did housework and other types of jobs that were open at the time, and [14:00] to get that freedom in things. But they – while I was overseas they sent me care packages all the time with their small earnings and I appreciated so much for that because I know it was a sacrifice on their part. And although I was a little negligent and didn’t thank them enough really, that I just took it for granted for it, but they were very, very considerate and – and that much I will say. INTERVIEWER: We are going to move into basic training now, but before we do is there anything else you would like to say about – inside the camps or moving over to basic training? Is there anything you would like to say before that? FUKUZAWA: No, I can’t remember right now, I can’t recall right now. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, that’s okay, because – first were you a volunteer or were you drafted into the army? FUKUZAWA: Well I was called – see I signed up for selected service, just because I got to Tulare Assembly Center. And so that was a new thing to me and then when I got my call to go in the service I went – and as I said I was in Chicago when I got the notice. So I dashed back to camp. But what we – when I got my notice, [16:00] I got my physical in Chicago and we are all – the Chicago place was so crowded that they sent us up to Milwaukee, took the elevated train to Milwaukee. But the funny thing occurred – the Curtiss Candy Company that made Babe Ruth Candy had a special candy bar for all the ones who were going to get the – taken or getting their physical and it had a special star and that said ‘good luck.’ And I know all the Chicago citizens, the Caucasians, what have you, got that bar and they threw it off the window and curse them at the same time and I thought, man they are wasting good candy, you know Babe Ruth and -. But I – the funny thing is – as a proof of that, I kept that wrapper and I still have it today. It – went on along to me that – some ungrateful guys must have really hated to go into the service because they took that bar and threw it right off the window. INTERVIEWER: It’s interesting. So when you were enlisted, where was the first place you went to? FUKUZAWA: Well from Hilo River Relocation, we took a bus and our first stop was Fort Douglas, Utah, right outside the Salt Lake City. And there we were processed, got our uniforms, got our shops, got everything; we were there for about a week. But another – again, another strange thing happened, while I was getting my uniform I recognized the Sergeant and I said to him, Sergeant Peters, am I right? [18:00] He says, yes. From Santa Barbara? I said, yes. I remember you in the boy scouts. You were at Troop Eight and I was Troop Fourteen. And we started This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 8 of 24 �talking, and so he says, gee can I help you? And I had a buddy who is from Oxnard and a very sharp fellow, who became a brilliant lawyer later, but he said hey – and he tried to ask the guy for a different kind of a jacket, a zipper and everything, so I didn’t. He says, yeah I got a couple. He says I’d like to have one for my buddy and myself. He says, yeah but don’t you wear it because I will catch it if you wear it. And we promised we won’t wear it. So we got that and then I had the nerve to go over there late and I said, hey Peterson, can I work for you while we are here? You see we had an ulterior motive. If we worked for him we didn’t have to pull K.P. So – and now that wasn’t my own idea, but my buddy who was way ahead of me. He just – he was thinking far, far ahead. He was a brilliant fellow. And so we both went and what it was, we count out all the bedding sheets down at the laundry. We count them out and then we – rest of the time we were waiting, we drank coke. They had a coke machine and – it was great duty, because we took – that for me took about half a day. We didn’t have to pull K.P. once while I was there. So – and then on top of that people were nice, they had a concert at the Utah University Stadium and then another night they had a dance. The Nisei and Japanese [20:00] population there threw a nice dance and we enjoyed that. So induction center experience was just too short. It was only a week. And then we rode a troop train to Florida where I trained at Camp Blanding, Florida. Camp Blanding was General Fales who was married to the JC Penney Farm Family. And so he got up fast through political ways and – and we trained there. And while we were there our basic training was cut in very short – 10 weeks, we were – they had one night. They had all these trucks lined up, and said report back to the company area, wash all your equipment and then we were sent on the planes and sent through – like myself with a bunch of guys that went to Arizona and there were bus to either Poston or to Hilo to say good bye to our family before we ship out to overseas. INTERVIEWER: Actually going back a little bit, I would just like to ask – can you describe a typical day in basic training? FUKUZAWA: You get up – I can’t remember the exact time. It seemed so early. But it was about 6:30, you wash up and then you line up and go to chow and then you got enough time to make your beds and everything and then you line up and go on a field project. You learn about the rifle, you learn about this, [22:00] all facets of the army training and you had films on it and then you go. It’s in one of these things that I learned a very important lesson. We had a gas attack drill and it was very difficult for me to take off the gas mask because it’s kind of rubberized and with my perspiration and the rubber, it just seemed to stick there. And so I put my rifle between my legs, standing and then I pulled it off and my rifle dropped while I was pulling up. And the Sergeant there said, hey you know that piece is going to save your life. Is that the way you treat it? I said, no sir. And so he said, well tell you what, you put the rifle in bed and you sleep on the floor and that will remind you. I did that for a week. So – that was one experience that I had. But basically we are all in the same boat. So everybody is like – everybody is doing something. But there are some humorous things that happen. In our hut we had one fellow who was overly ambitious, he really wanted to shine and make and impression. So my buddy that I told you that we were together, and the huts in there were just built up on the ground. They weren’t flat because of the incumbent weather of Florida, the typhoons and what not; they built those huts like it. And so one day while we were going on a problem, he was there to [24:00] pull K.P. So he got under the hut and he got the lined up – the wooden clogs, you know they get that, and he nailed from the bottom to get this on the – on the floor. And then he had the nerve to say when we got back, [24:21] tonight the last one through the churl line is going to have to treat. And so we all said, yeah. And so this poor guy put on his -. BEGINNING OF TAPE THREE INTERVIEWER: Okay, Frank since you said that your training was cut a little short; did you think you got enough training? FUKUZAWA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 9 of 24 �Well, that’s a question that’s hard to answer because we didn’t know what enough was or what too much was. But there was nothing to gauge it by or grade it. So we just took it for what it was worth, we couldn’t do it. Again that word shikataganai. The trucks were loaded up and we went on it. But out of that, the buddy that I told you, that was very sharp, he was the only one that was pulled out of the whole company and sent to an Officer’s training, a place in Fort Benning, Georgia and became an officer. But we had an interesting person, a young man from Louisiana, Joe Nagata, who was about 6’2’ and weighed close to 200 pounds. But he was a blocking back for an all American Football Player, Stephen Van Buren, who made all pro with the Philadelphia Eagles, and a wonderful person, half Irish and half Japanese. And so he had special permission when LSU was to play Georgia, the mother came with some of his buddies and Joe got to go there. And Joe was a very, very fine person. He felt sorry for the boys from Hawaii during Christmas that didn’t get any care packages or anything. So he had his mother sent a big sack full of stuff and [02:00] do it, and they were wealthy because the father had a big produce in New Orleans and they are well to do. And Joe was a top person. We have had fellow that – one fellow that was in that same training, became a heart specialist and we had one who developed an antenna system for the huge aircrafts or satellite working on that. We had a lot of – it was a good bunch of people. But out of all those talented, this – my buddy became Lieutenant. So he didn’t ship out with us. He remained back and did that. We had an interesting – probably the shortest soldier I have ever seen. And we had to wear the World War I backpacks for our training. And one morning we were lined up for the march and the Sergeant looked at this young man and he said, see what do we have here? And he says, you know something? You ought to sue the government for building the sidewalk so high. You know kidding about this – he was just as short as can be. And he did look a little bit out of place with such a big pack that was almost as large as he was. But I remember that incident. But basic training was a very meaningful time. We had good officers. We had good – [04:00] they were rough cadre, but they meant well and they wanted us to learn. Some had already had overseas experience, so they really – they had their best interest at heart, I think. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe what’s in the backpack? What do you carry? FUKUZAWA: Oh, you carry your rations, and you carry a wool blanket and your toiletries and just bare essentials. But that’s what it was, we trained like that. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe your relationship with your buddies, you described a little bit, but also with some of the Hawaiians you met in your basic training? FUKUZAWA: There were very few from Hawaii in our training. They were stateside Hawaiians that either were attending school or something. So I didn’t get to meet the real Hawaiian buddies until I got overseas. Now the reason I met the fellow from Oxnard as I mentioned earlier, at first I didn’t care for him, because I didn’t know him and – but when we got into the army we couldn’t help – everything is in alphabetical order. And my name is Fukuzawa and his was Fujita, no matter what we did we were always sleeping – he is either in a bunk above me or aside of me or something. So we said, hey let’s bury hatchet. I didn’t care too much for you. I know you didn’t care too much for me, because we didn’t know each other. So [06:00] let’s bury the hatchet because you may save my life one day. So that type of thing. And – and we became very fast friends. In fact I purposely today, wore the watch that – he passed away, but his wife – I had – I gave the eulogy at his funeral and his wife sent me some money as a Japanese custom. They give you something in return, and I returned it. And I said, that doesn’t mean anything to me. I have very warm memories of him and so please keep it. So then she said, well this is the only thing I have that my husband had and it was this nice watch. It’s an Omega. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 10 of 24 �Can we get a shot of that? FUKUZAWA: So I wore it today. I thought of him. INTERVIEWER: Can we get a shot of that? There you go. Okay that’s good. FUKUZAWA: Okay. INTERVIEWER: Thank you. FUKUZAWA: Well I – I don’t wear this watch. I purposely only wear it at funerals, when I attend the funeral or thing, because it’s kind of a reminder of my special friend. But today I thought it was special time because I am – I want to share that sentimentally. And then I – so I made it the picture of him in the Cookbook. And his wife called [08:00] and she knew where it came from. She didn’t even have to ask. She said, I know who gave that picture. So – he remained a very dear friend right up to the time he passed away. INTERVIEWER: What – when you were in basic training, what kind of stories were you hearing from overseas or what rumors were going around? FUKUZAWA: Well we not only heard it, but we used to get Pacific Citizen, the only Nisei paper so to speak, that was in print. That reminds me, I used to read that list and I did hear about the 100​th and the 442, the casualty list and everything. So – there was a chance one time when the Sergeant from the MIS came down to our camp to try to recruit people there and I was one of the first to try to go to MIS. And then – for he sat me down and he had this book and he was flipping these pages, and he says, do you know any of these character? And I would say, no, not that page, not that page. And he flipped about four pages and I said, yeah, I know that one. He says, how do you know that one? I said, that’s part of my first name in Japanese. And so he gets the red stamp and puts down ‘Reject.’ And it says, ‘Soldier, by the time we train you the war will be over.’ And so – it seemed kind of humorous but I was dead serious at that time. [10:00] But I thought to myself, my gosh, I should have studied harder when I was young. I had to do it. But as it turned out I was to hope for the best, and then my buddy on the other hand had a scholarship to Japan, so he studied in Japan and he right away – he puts down, how well do you speak Japanese, how well do you understand this and that, the questionnaire, he put poor, poor, poor, poor. And then Sergeant says, that can’t be, your background says you went to Waseda University and you are this and that. And so he said, well why do you put that down, falsify that, it’s because I don’t care to go over there, because I want to go to Europe. And besides my political ideology may differ from yours and I am entitled to my own opinion. So – he couldn’t help it. So he let him go. But that’s – that’s a story that I am not proud to say, because of my ignorance in that, but at the same time it’s little humorous that I didn’t know any Japanese. INTERVIEWER: Your friend that was a waiter, that you worked with, who was already overseas, are you still in contact with him? FUKUZAWA: No, it happened so fast you see. He left our job early. The boss gave him a going away party because he had to report to Camp Shelby to train, and then in that period before we [12:00] – the season was over the Minnesota, This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 11 of 24 �the 442 had shipped out and – I think in – very initially, the first or second action, he was killed. And that’s how we learned about it. And I thought to myself – gee that was real sad, nice kid, quite and – it touched all of us, because we knew him very well. INTERVIEWER: Do you feel your sports activities or your judo helped you in being a soldier? FUKUZAWA: Well, fortunately I didn’t have to use that. I probably would have ran the other way. But I didn’t have to use it. But getting back to my buddy, now he was a black belt, a real good judo. And there was an incident where we had to get together, we pair of, and he paired of with this Joe Nagata, the 6’2’ blocking back and this – my friend is about 5’5’ or so. And he threw this big guy all over the place because Joe Nagata never experienced judo and he was throwing him with all kinds of tricks and finally he said, you know how does a little – he used another word – like you get to throw that. So he was really shocked. And I remember that, because everybody was laughing. INTERVIEWER: Do you have any last comments about [14:00] boot camp before leaving? FUKUZAWA: Well as we were leaving, the General came up to inspect us. And he said to the troop, are there any questions that you have or dislikes or something and – one nervy guy raised his hand, stepped forward and he said, ‘General, next bunch that goes out, I hope you don’t just give them a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, give them some decent food.’ And he wrote it down – I don’t know if he ever did but that was one thing that we – we all thought the guy had a lot of nerve, but on the very last meeting we were in camp, they had a big battalion party. And gee, the Chaplin’s daughter from New York was there and she was a soloist with a choir back there. And my buddy that I always told you about, he told the Sergeant that I was a singer. And the Sergeant said, ah that Fukuzawa, he can’t do anything. He said, no he was – he sang in a assume name in Cleveland, Ohio. But see I didn’t know anything that was going on. And – so finally the Sergeant got up there, because he was the MC, and he said, we got a big surprise tonight. There is a fellow who is a professional singer and we are going to ask him to come up and sing. And so let’s give a hand before he comes up. Then he called my name. And I said, Sergeant I can’t sing. Oh [16:00] come on now, I heard differently, you get up there and sing. And he looks at the Lieutenant and – that’s an order, isn’t it Lieutenant? That’s an order. Get up there. So I got up there and – you know when you are caught like that, you feel, what song do I know and what song do I know all the way, not just one – few places. So I sang one song that was popular, that the Ink Spots did, ‘If I didn’t care’. You know that’s the one I knew just about all the way. But before that I followed the Chaplin’s daughter, beautiful singer, beautiful. She was so good, and then they called me for that thing. And so I got up and – oh its – and it was terrible. But it was so terrible, everybody got the joke, so they all stood up, gave me an encore. And then my buddy, he was there just cracking up. So the Sergeant got – he said, we will fix this guy. So he called my friend up and said, now you had a good laugh. Now you get up there and sing. I had told you my buddy is pretty sharp. He said, well I know one song all the way through, that’s our national anthem, if you want we stand and me sing that, or I know one Japanese song. And you know we are at war Japan, we are at war with Germany. But all the Caucasians officers, they all said, well take the Japanese song; you get up there and sing. And so instead of a love song or something, he sings the Japanese war song. [18:00] And he sang with steaming and gee, everybody, all the Japanese guys, they had their bowed down in shame, you know he is singing so loud, but the Caucasian officers, they didn’t know, so they thought it was the greatest, because he sang with feeling. And that was the end of the – our singing and – every time he would see me, an occasion comes up; he would always talk about that incident. But – believe me, after that incident I became pretty well known, because they knew that I had a lot of nerves going up there, but they knew that at the same time it wasn’t my choice. Well that’s one of the things that come up. See, again this is my story. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 12 of 24 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. That was a great story. Okay, great. Well I know – before you left what your mother and father said to you, did your sisters say anything to you? FUKUZAWA: Well, you see, that time such things as embracing among the young, we just didn’t do it. Today, my gosh, I see – I see one sister that lives here, every time I see her at church or something, I give her a hug and – we hug all my sisters and – my mother and father were very loving people. They always embraced and what not. I want to give you something – digress a minute. But I had an aunt, my mother’s youngest sister comes to America and all the family went out to meet her at LAX and there she came up – [20:00] we never seen her, never knew – just what my mother said. We all gave her a hug. And she was kind of startled at that reception. But years later I went to Japan and visit her, and she brought her family to meet us, and as my wife and I were getting off the plane she came up and gave us a real hug and her own children were so startled to do that in public, you know in Japan. And then even when we went out to eat, she had my wife sit on the right side and I was on the left and she just – in between dinner or something, she just held our hands and she told – when one of her son discussed that, she says you know, I never believed in that, because the Japanese are not that way. But when I went to America, that was the warmest thing I felt, like I belong. She told that to them. And so that’s the kind of parents that I had. They were very, very close without being exhibitionist or that type of thing. It was just a heartfelt thing and – I remember that very much. Every time I went to Japan, they passed away now, but they were that way. INTERVIEWER: That’s great. Okay, so now – where was the first place your company went? FUKUZAWA: When I joined they had just pulled back some of the [22:00] Lost Battalion. They were coming back to the area called – we were in Sospel, [22:12] ____ in France. That’s right above the town of – resort town of Nice, and the headquarters of the Fox Company which I was assigned to. It was an old ancient fort that was reputed to be built by Napoleon’s time. It was on the side of a mountain. But we were stationed by patrols on the outer edges to guard anyone coming through. Now when I joined we were still part of the – at the Nice Campaign and later that part – where we were at the Sospel and all that was – became known as the Champagne Campaign because there wasn’t much fighting in terms of combat, but we were able to take passes and enjoy good champagne, that type of thing. And that was my experience in France. INTERVIEWER: How – just go back a little, how long did it take you get overseas? FUKUZAWA: Going over – probably a little over a week, may be not a week. See, we went on a British steamship which was converted to a troop ship called HMS Aquitania. It was the third largest ship in British and [24:00] we went on that. And that had good speed. So we didn’t need a convoy or an escort, the sub would never be able to catch that ship. So we went over on that. But coming back was another story. Our ship that we were on broke down. So we had to spend time in the assorts near Portugal and wait for another ship to come by, pick us up and take us back. INTERVIEWER: Well what was your journey like, going overseas? FUKUZAWA: Well, by and large everyone was bending over seasick and you know – just pale as can be and then you get used to that. And so then you adjust to it. Then they had movies at night, kind of thing and they tried to keep you This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 13 of 24 �busy, having lot of inspections, this type of thing. And you had plenty of time to walk around and talk to your buddies or whatever, you know. So it wasn’t in a tour cruise or anything. But it was – it was pleasant as possible. They tried to make it that way. INTERVIEWER: What was the morale like going overseas? FUKUZAWA: Well, one was anticipation, one was – gee, what do you think it’s going to be like, whatever you know. I will never forget, at that time, one of the fellows told me that – gee I hope when I get over there – that bullets not have – marked my name [26:00] on it. And this other guy said, what you want on your bullet? He says, I don’t want the one that says, to whom it may concern, and they were all laughing about that kind of thing. So that was – that wasn’t all serious. They were not – everybody is different, just like your Hanashi, you are going to find different. No two are alike and what – I might have thought, someone next to me might have been entirely opposite of that. But yeah, I was trying to reflect, but actually that ride is not that smooth. So most of the time your tummy is not feeling too hot, you know. But we managed to get over there safely and what not. So it was – could have been worse. INTERVIEWER: Did you or any fellow soldiers know where you were going? FUKUZAWA: Yes, well we didn’t know the exact city. But we knew we would be in France because that’s where the 100​th and 442 was. But I knew Marseille, I knew Paris, because I read in the book. But to pinpoint where it was, I didn’t know. But we landed our ship, first docked in Glasgow, Scotland. That was our first stop. Then we got on these cattle cars that used to hold cattle. And they packed us all into there and we rode from Southampton, Scotland to down to – from Glasgow rather, I am sorry, [28:00] down to Southampton, England. And there we were shipped from England. We were going on a boat and went to France. INTERVIEWER: Okay, excellent. We will go on to France on the next -. FUKUZAWA: Oh I mean, we went from there to – yeah France. But I will say this about – it was the most beautiful countryside on that cattle car, even though that car you know it just – you knew cattle was there before, they swept the bottom, but the aroma is still there. But the countryside of the – stonewalls and covered with moss remind me so much like the reading ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’, a Conan Doyle story. It just – what a picture that was, and I saw that type of thing. And our ride over through the British, we were able to see that. And to see some of the buildings that were bombed and everything was – you knew you were going into a war area. INTERVIEWER: Okay, great thank you. We are going to France on the next tape. BEGINNING OF TAPE FOUR INTERVIEWER: Okay. We are rolling. Okay Frank can you describe the first thing you saw when you arrived in France? FUKUZAWA: Well, I – I noticed the flattened areas, buildings that were bombed and what not and in the – in the first This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 14 of 24 �realization that – hey there was a war going on type of thing and then I didn’t give much start because that’s dissipating joining the company, whoever I was going to be send but none of us knew and we were all on trucks going to our company and I happened to be selected to join F-company and F-company, at the time was in Sospel and Listerine France and as I said the – the fort was the Head Quarters for F-company, but we had a short indoctrination period where the – our battalion commander spoke and then we heard from our company commander whose name was Joseph Hail from Melbourne Arkansas, a big tall gentleman and one of the non nonsense type of a officer and then we didn't see much of the - anyone just in boys our sergeants [02:00] and right the way, I went – I was joined second platoon and we were had now outside the area, right by the cliffs an area where we - where kept there because of any one coming up the Rubene and north cliffs could be the enemy, so we were alerted on that and that was there – we were there for a month – couple of months and then we had orders to that we are going to ship up to Italy and there were a lot of rumors then – we will be going to the pacific or will be doing that, we didn't know but there were these for the first time the LST boats that’s the landing boats for the back comes down and we rode that over to France and rather to Italy from France to Italy for the Spring offensive, they called it the spring offensive and we joined the 90 second division we were attached to them and that’s where I had my first baptism of fire and combat. It was a real–real to me the barrage, we had of our own artillery from our side, but it goes right over our head [04:00] and for 10 minutes or more of constant pounding, it just - I couldn’t see how any one would get shell shocked or thing, it’s not difficult to see that because it’s just frightening and we had that then we were all packed and were supposed to climb this large mountain – mount Carmichael and all night just going up packing up there and we got to the top and then we see the different battalions, different companies, different – we don’t know how to take the same path they were stretched out and we – we got it all figured out that we would be meet at certain places and they have that all but none of us knew because we were not that high up there directing, we were they are just executing type of thing and so then we had a mission to accomplish F-company take a certain position, certain place, and then actual fighting came when we were going into Pariana you know that is such a small–small little town, it’s not in half the map, so that Italy, but it was important because the Germans down in the town at Pariana had 88 molder group all set up, this is the famous field marshal shelling - machine gun battalion that was there to plug up the gothic line and so at the time, his name or that’s [06:00] place didn’t even mean anything to me because I – I wasn’t – I was just there trying to cover myself type of thing you know you get to that but that’s where we had the first initial fire loosing toward evening and they were throwing shells right in there and one of the fellows got hit and he happened to be the browning automatic rifle carrier, it’s a bigger weapon and it’s automatic shooting rather than as supposed to the M1’s single shot type with a little clip you see with the bar few more rounds. Well, this Sergeant, he didn’t even know me – I never even knew him but he said hey you – you are going to be the next barman, I said our training was cut in short I don’t know anything about the Bar – that’s all right, you will learn you know you take on to the bar and then he said stick to Fujiyama the old veteran, he will show you plenty about the bar so that ensuing time from that point, became very close to Fujiyama, he is from Hawaii and a wonderful man and he was a lot older than all of us, but he taught me everything about the bar what – what causes the malfunction, what does this and he – he was just a great – great person, became very close and then we – we - through that battle we went and stayed at a home [08:00], but they had – half tracks and some other once already served into that home and they threw the shell – shell then there we had a couple that were killed out of them - that got injured, but of all the things that morning before the shelling we - among our squad we had - hey you it’s flip flop, we all set forth, the guy that looses go to fields, takes all the can tins and goes down and fills it with water. That particular morning I lost, the first time I lost, I went down there – while I was down there filling the water, the can tins with water – all this happened and I said gee my gosh how lucky can I be, you know I said that may be my Mom’s really praying for me man, I hadn’t been up there and so I went up there after that was over because by then they had then going down to – with Bazookas and things to shoot the tank and – and what not and then as I was coming up, there was a – there was a vineyard, great vineyard and there was terrorist off – along the side of the hill there. Then another group was going up and there was a great big shell came and boom – right in front of this fellow but there was a dodge, so the shell just stuck there and oh I never knew who that guy was but I know when they ask for volunteers – he was the first volunteer that I should have been dead, but if that can save me like that [10:00] my life I guess – I am not meant to die and I remember This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 15 of 24 �him saying that and these are the things I remember and I remember how good our medic was, oh gosh he was going around patching up everyone, guys with torn faces and everything, he - I just admired that and that was an experience that I would never forget, I have been through other things but Pariana, it was several things that our platoon was the first to enter in that town and all that and that helped later for us when we won the presidential distinguish unit citation within that that corner because we took - captured that place and got everything and – and the rest of the war just seemed like it was to me you know being in further up the line earlier that’s when Yukockuchu won the distinguished service cause for his exploit and also later he got - recently got the congressional medal of honor a real humble fellow, very good person, let him heel on that, he was honored go to his reception and INTERVIEWER: Oh actually I just want to – that was some great stories – I just want to now backup – just a little bit before we move on – how what did – what did the older soldiers teach to the – the newer incoming troops that were coming in to replace – what – do you have any stories or anything that [12:00] – that the troops that already there teaching the younger troops? FUKUZAWA: You – they – the older ones didn’t – it was entirely different from basic training, you are - every time you are in a rest area or something before you go to battle they are busy writing letters or receiving letters or getting care packages and what not, so you don’t have time to discuss about the thing, but you learn in battle, you learn from the one in front of you, the one in back of you or what and that was always smart to put an old timer with a new person and for instance that first night that I got that bar rifle that because it’s an automatic weapon, they put you at a very key spot where the enemy can come up because the – the easiest place for them to come up and infiltrate us through so they put you there to where they need that rapid fire, unfortunately no one came up all hours there but I know this old timer we keep watch and in every 15 minutes or half hour he would say hey Fukuzawa are you up yet? I would say yeah I am still up, he would say yeah you better not sleep man – I want to live here this kind of thing you know that’s – that’s a kind of a dialogue that goes on and they know, the season veterans they – they know and you follow them. We just had a wonderful platoon [14:00] leader from Hawaii from Hawaii Kowhai Han Koyasatto, he passed away, but he was a very–very great soldier and a better great human being. INTERVIEWER: When was the first time you saw like the people of France or other than like the other German soldiers like did you see the village people? FUKUZAWA: Yeah, when we joined – when I joined in Sospel and West Corinth, they had a dance for the troops and things and – and we went attended parties on that and their type of dancing was boarded on the like all your square dance type or except they go real – real fast and I didn’t there even get on the floor that I watched – they were that type of thing and I was wondering all they can last all night like that and then I remembered in one of the Olympics that there was a – a marathon runner from that town of West Corinth and I thought them that – well he probably have lot of practice dancing like that or something because it took a lot of - you had to be in good shape, but that was a curious thing and yeah that we were able to get around and I even got young as I was there and then we had a chance to go on Pass to knees and then come back like I said that was a champagne campaign [16:00] so we were already treated right and it was fun. INTERVIEWER: For the audience that doesn’t know what champagne campaign is and what that means, can you please describe what the champagne campaign was? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 16 of 24 �FUKUZAWA: Yeah, well now that we are going back to France again with that champagne campaign, but you consider easy, happy, joyful type occasion when champagne is served and all that and the campaign is - that’s a type of compared that the better battles that they were going through they call that because you were able to drink up, dance up and stuff, there was time for it and not everyone, but they did have once but a packet so that you were able to go out so they – for better word they - someone had the wisdom to name it champagne campaign instead of do nothing campaign because there was actually - we had to go on our patrols, we had to go guard duty and all that, it wasn’t just all free for all type of thing. INTERVIEWER: Did you loose any close friends during the war? FUKUZAWA: Yes, unfortunately I did up in that house where the shell came one of them got killed there – a lot of them got injured there, but then others that I knew the very last day before the – [18:00] they had the E-day one – one of our friends that was in the camp with me, he got killed and so that’s part of the – the unfortunate thing of about you know is sad part. INTERVIEWER: Okay, where did you go after Pariana? FUKUZAWA: Pariana, we moved back to another area and at that time we – F-company together with B-company of the 100 where on – on Fukuta task force, Michioshi Fukudo was a Captain who later became a major, they form the task force – the task force is when other elements they have specialized units that come and you are to take over a task, that’s why they call it a task force, the task is in our case we had to clear all the way from there to a town Avoova and we were assigned to that group and because of that success partially we were able to get the help – get the president’s distinguished citations so in all F-company had three unit citations although I wasn’t in on the first citation – I was a replacement, I was in the last two. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe one of those days [20:00] of what you were doing? FUKUZAWA: Well, on the task force we were primarily on the run, at the same time we - fortunately the Germans were I think knew that their time was going out and they were around the run, so we were more or less chasing them, there were many stationary type of a thing, it was just added type and we kept changing and they kept running so by the time we cleared through all the things pretty good – and then from there we moved to different areas, we went back and occupied an airfield called Getty airfield and it was bombed so just had runway and stuff there and we did lack there and there we were processing prisoners because the war was coming to an end and the most unusual thing about that one that there were hundreds of Mongolian slave labor for Hitler that were all coming down the hill and so you know the Niches they – they still have a lot of sense of humor goes through, they say would hey there is your brother there – hey there is your cousin, you know because they are all coming down - down the hill and so well experienced – I have never seen so many Orientals, you know down there and another kind of a uniform and we found out they were the slave labors that were captured, but another thing happened to me while I was in Getty. All of a sudden I was pulled out [22:00] and sent to the sent me first act acrobat, that’s the artillery that aims for planes and things and aircraft place only because my orders when I took the stationary thing was that I could type fast for a guy 40 words or 50 words I can’t remember a minute. What not – so they selected me and sent me to sent me first act acrobat and I was fortunate to work under a major Fadious Michel from Allen town Pennsylvania and he said after a couple of days seeing me there – I thought you This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 17 of 24 �are tired of that stuff typing the way after what you went through, so I am going to do you a favor. I said what is that, he says how would you like to be my shelfer to see the countryside, so I know that, so they had captured German staff car and I drove them around but that guy he had an ____ too, he had a girl friend in Verona, so I drive and leave him off at his girl friends house and he just say never get off the car, so I just drove all around the town Verona and everything and that certain time come back and pick him up and take him back and I did that for a couple of weeks – it was too good the last time we did, but that’s what happened that I had a very interesting experience got to see the Country and at the same time was able to serve some kind of the purpose. INTERVIEWER: If you were processing prisoners, [24:00] did you ever come face to face with any of the Nazi Army? FUKUZAWA: Well, I dealt with the – that period when the Mongolians came through I just then got assigned to the sent me first act acrobat, but we talked to Germans and everything later on when they were in their compounds they had barbers and they had people, so they would give us cigarette or two and get a free hair cut and this type of thing I even bought a painting, there was an artist a German soldier who was an artist and he had painted this – a sailing ship and only used the side of tent for canvas and he had house paint and he did that, I was so impressed with that I asked him how much do you want for that, well money doesn’t mean anything with him, he wanted Cigarette, so he ask for 10 cigarettes or some – ten – I will give you a pack so I gave him a pack. BEGINNING OF TAPE FIVE INTERVIEWER: Okay, when was your fondest recollection about being in the service, overseas? FUKUZAWA: Fondest – I guess because I had five sisters and no brothers. I, the army I met lot of boys from Hawaii and they became like so called brothers even today I have - I go to Hawaii – I go there, I visit them, stay with them, one is in Maui and the others in Honolulu and they are as close to me as anyone besides, the one that grew up that's newly lives in Chicago another one in Gardena, so I made a lot of brothers and a question was asked by one of the sons of my buddies, with studying evacuation and the son asked him and he said – my buddy said well hey he was in the camp, he says you were? Man you must have been crazy going in the army as to what they did to you, and he said what do you – what do you think about, I said you know something if I had to do it again I would do it again. He said you are crazy why is this – because I am here talking to you, your father and those kind, those are precious things you know, I gain so much from them and I [02:00] learnt - they became my – my brothers, and what not so he was – he was really surprised that I would say that, then they have – it is true. I could speak _____ which many of the natives don’t know, but that doesn’t prove anything because I like Poi, but it’s just something that – they are very dear to me you know. I am appreciative of that, that experience alone – I made a lot of brothers from the service and that remains steadfast today. INTERVIEWER: Who did you most admire when you were in combat? FUKUZAWA: Most admire, well the man who had a real to me a class like a soldier, like one who would saw humble and so great and I think is General Mark Clark. I saw him I thought I was really seeing he was something because he would be walking and he would see a 442 person come, say General can I take a picture with you. Oh I will be honored and then I saw him when he came to our very first reunion and we went to the evergreen tour for the service, I saw him with tears in his eyes, a big giant of a man that he really love the [04:00] 442 and when he was president of ____ University, his first commencement speaker was Daniel Leno and this type of thing – they This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 18 of 24 �were loyal all the ways go through and Mark Clark to be could admired he is a –a soldier could be and should be. Sure he was a military brad but he – he know what – what was what and I just admired him I admired Linn goes towards the correspondent for all the scenes and wrote about the 100​th and wrote later – wrote about 442 a real lady I know she was dying of cancer and my buddy wrote to her as a fan mail and said how much he enjoyed the book and he said you know, that dog you talked about that was the picture I took that’s in that book and so she wrote another letter says all I have many generations of boxers dogs and I just love then and I said I would have liked to have done your story but I did it the boys from Hawaii. And then couple of months later she died and not a year later and my buddy died, he was in L-company. INTERVIEWER: Okay. FUKUZAWA: Those two I guess I admired – I respected a lot of people but those were to me really – INTERVIEWER: And as part of F-Company can you tell you are – you and the F-company’s participation in the Gothic line? What role did you guys play? FUKUZAWA: Well the role – the Gothic line is a line that goes between Germany and France and Italy through there. It’s a long line that the Germans really had a fort to fight it and they were very strong hold something like in World War one, it was a imaginary line they have called. This one was – there and we are – the thing was to crack that, go through its to just nothing by that’s where we have to climb the mountains and go through there. Other than that it was no – it was in a city, it was a long line that had all these different emplacements and what not along there so that no matter what side you would be trying to stop it and then for the most part we were successful, in our part at that time was not a long drawn thing were very fortunately we were able to go through Mount Carchio to do that. And so I can’t say too much what did I see there or what did it look like that was from mountains that we remember. INTERVIEWER: Can you describe what the mountains were like out there? FUKUZAWA: I don’t know how many – hundred feet it was or how long it was - all I know was I climbed, climbed it and that hard, it was – it was tough [08:00] and I can’t say I was in the best shape, but I was just probably as good in shape as I being but it was time for everyone but it was a determination that we had to accomplish our mission and so then get that tiredness another thought we were forced to do what it was and – and I am just fortunate I had great leaders. INTERVIEWER: Okay and when did you learn that the war ended? Where – where were you when the war ended? FUKUZAWA: We could sense that it was coming to a close. Everywhere we – we were going they seem to be going that way we had to – we had to always keep following them and so we thought well it was probably pretty close, but when it actually happened it came as a surprise and like I said some died on that last date and you know, you would say gee why could they have ended sooner or what, but – and when it ends it’s not just an abrupt end because the Germans themselves didn’t really know and they won’t - some of them won’t believe that. And so we were on our way when we heard it then when that actually happened we were all gathered in mess and the This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 19 of 24 �company - that whole regiment really was sent to various spots and we worked from there but everybody was happy that [10:00] it ended and what not, no we had some parties you know, they actually would say no one of that, I remember that. INTERVIEWER: How long did you stay in Europe before you returned home after the war ended, how much longer did you stay in before you went? FUKUZAWA: We were – we were kept – the war ended in May and we had to still stay through their and then VJ day in Japan - September was it? – I can’t remember that part but I didn’t come home till toward the end of August, but our ship broke down I don’t know if I mentioned that - in the Azores and so we had to wait and wait for the ship, but fortunately the second ship that picked us up home, we had – that ship had all the merchant marine on that, the cooks were Chinese so I got to know someone so I got my daily code of rice and – and stuff by and able to take fresh showers because I got to know one person and I used his number and we were able to do that but it took long longer for us - end of August and middle of September by the time we came home and saw the Statue of Liberty and New York harbor.[12:00] INTERVIEWER: When you arrived at the New York harbor, what kind of emotions did you feel at that time? FUKUZAWA: Well it was beautiful to see the great lady but you see my – my folks and family was – they were back in Santa Barbara, so my thoughts more or less focused over there. It was nice to land again but we were – we had to go to - for a separation center was Camp Kilmer in New Jersey and so we had to go there and get cleaned up, get our hair cuts and everything and they gave you a – the first thing they give you is a nice stake dinner and all that and I asked my captain if I could take off for two days because my buddy is up in Seabrook Farms in New Jersey and I would like to go see him, this was the buddy I was telling you, another reason her went home early is he had – he was going to ship – ship them Japan but the war ended over there so he was discharged and I went over there to Seabrook farms and I stayed there, took the train and everything, bus and then came back to Kilmer and took a troop train to California to Campbell near Sacramento and I was discharged from there. INTERVIEWER: Where was your parents [14:00] at this time when you came back from California? FUKUZAWA: They – they left the camp and were in Santa Barbara but as I mentioned earlier the home was occupied yet by the vendors so they stayed with my bother-in-law’s family and then later on by the time I got to Santa Barbara, we were back in our old home and from there I waited till it was too late to enroll at school so I waited and kind of rested in _____ hill school started and then I went back to get my degree and – and then come to L.A and went on and then later on met the love of my life and got married and next year I will be 50 years and so we have two wonderful children, one works for the United States Customs and the other is a school teacher and I have one grandson and two granddaughters and so my life is centered around my grandchildren and – and then my spare time I come to volunteer for the Memorial Foundation and I am very pleased with that you have started that initially from the very beginning the time we had this was just a thought, a drop in the bucket and to see it come to fruition [16:00] INTERVIEWER: Have you told your story to your grandchildren? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 20 of 24 �FUKUZAWA: In parts. I don’t volunteered a child unless they asked me something of that – that nature and some dew and some don’t one time my grandson was over the house and he said to me hey grandpa I never see anything around there that you are in the service and you have any medals or something and so I have a box and I give to them I brought up he just touched everyone he said hi I don’t know what they mean but it looks good grandpa and all that but that’s an extent of that. INTERVIEWER: Can you – can you describe your medals for us? FUKUZAWA: Well the bronze star was given to us through the department through congress for those who fought and received combat infantry badge and they upgraded that and then the other one is that I have three battle stars for the European theatre of operations and a unit citation with Oak leaf cluster which that means oak leaf means another one, so it’s like wearing two and the rest were the regular medals that they give up for the occupation, for the victory medal and naturally good conduct medal and that type of thing. [18:00] INTERVIEWER: When you returned to the states, what kind of reception did you get from the public or was the public’s view that you saw from your eyes? FUKUZAWA: They were – they were very – very good because on that time they knew see I come from a small town and they – they knew the exploits of the 442 and the 100​th because fortunately the Japanese in Santa Barbara that knew that they are served either in the pacific MIS or they were in the hundred and so we they knew about us and by the time I came home and you know and especially my student friends I just recall not its towards mentioning my very good boy scout friend and were not had a full scholarship to document you with the captain of the football team but he is a brilliant man and he wrote to me when I was in camp and he said if you need money can I send you something and that really touched me I didn’t need you know that – that kind of money so I said no thank you very much and – and so I really had some real dear friends and he passed the way on one thing wonderful – wonderful group wonderful class graduating class just tremendous and I had them to be only the only the Japanese male in that graduating class for some reason [20:00] my birth you know and that were about 8 or 9 girls that were from my part but they were really wonderful good group. INTERVIEWER: So after the war can you describe what your occupation was? Or what I can see you can walk here that are read FUKUZAWA: So it was gone over time INTERVIEWER: Oh no – no we were on time they finished early so can you tell us what your occupation was after the war? FUKUZAWA: I enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the – I can’t remember if I told that when I got out service I took all the battery of with the exams and so I decide to embark on a teaching career and I presume that and I was – felt so old because my younger sister had already graduated from college and here I am going at the refreshment and because my schooling and scholar know that all that was not a full semester I had to leave when I was almost half way. So I presume that course and I took the exam for the Yale city schools and was very This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 21 of 24 �fortunate to – to have a nice school a very fine school luckily I – I was able to get that [22:00] school and just wonderful students and their parents I had friends who were not just kids I had _____ kid Allan – all the top movie producers and kids and as well as all the others a wonderful bunch of kids at - I couldn’t have asked for a nicer deal and I remember Franks are not – you are coming to this at me and open house I said you know Mr. Sinatra I enjoyed your concert that you gave to the boys when we were in Milan Italy and he had been down and he said yeah but I didn’t have this then, he had a bull spot there, just a wonderful – wonderful person and he was a wonderful – BEGINNING OF TAPE SIX INTERVIEWER: Okay Frank, we almost done so I like you to tell us how did you first get started with the under 442 MIS Memorial Foundation? FUKUZAWA: In the initial start actually stumped from – we were trying to may be have a museum or some sort to perpetuate the - so called good for good spirit with souvenirs or whatever and we had several meetings but – but the wisdom of Colonel Kim and ​buddy mummy and few others they said lets do it, they got that under way which was the really the influence of the Japanese-American Museum. When we got to that point I said no, we should turned that over their own thing and we should start building a monument, because no one else is going to build it for us. And so then they got their heads together they said well lets have the some form of design, some form of design and have a context, and so they did. They open it up in a larger publicity Mabel – Merlin Grable was the original girl and she send publicity. Of that all this newspaper medium we have over a 130 some what applicants who had designed some _____, and we are really shocked with that and I was shocked with the publicity because one of my officers [2:00] who lived in Watertown New York send me a clipping from this little newspaper. They said oh no when did they ever get that, that was the work of Mary Grable publicity and I think, and then we has context and I have to decide what design they like most. And so they had a panel, a very great panel of - I remember one of the family the Olympic diving champion was on it, there was some the man who designed the marine maritime monument in _____ a member and few others said there were talks and they selected this one drawing that was outstanding they thought and we all thought later. And to find out no one known but he was an architect in LA Roger M. Molino, and so when he was selected then we got other so fortunately by then more really joined forces with MIS Colonel Kim said that to get to that property it must be in the World War II because they were the only group that not we were segregated, we were kicked out and everything else so it going to be that period that what LA wanted so that was fine and they gave, they said 80 by 80 type place to build it and we are lucky we had the structural engineer like [4:00] _____. So many people with expertise that and the next thing went for raising of funds and we were commit to so much as a board members and then we – we are in a on in that eventually regarded and the building is there so it was wonderful we had lot of controversy a lot of thing but that goes with many thing and when you plan and stuff like that but its some way it could be proud of something that the future generation could be proud of and the beauty of that I think its our grandchildren – great grandchildren were not they can go up there and say hey, hey that was my great, great grandpa or whatever and we are leading something and the most important thing we have young group carrying on that legacy and that – that is the most important thing that their job to continue with that. And its – its that's the job that is really going to really find, I went to the telephony awarding of 500,000 were to the education committee yesterday and to see that place pack with all the dignitary reason and I said that they have said and stuff like we have to lot of faith in the young people and their work and – and certainly I am touched and think go for that, that were same go hands what I am saying. [6:00] INTERVIEWER: For those of – of the public that don’t know what go for broke means we know it’s the go for broke monument can you describe how that came about the term go for broke? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 22 of 24 �FUKUZAWA: Yes the boys in the army love to shot grabs therefore pass their time and – and when they are coming down from the last of the money or something they want to shot that all out go for broke, give that all and that stuck with it, and that’s where – where the word came and it was so well known and well spread later that now its part of the excepted in part of the English language in the dictionary what is go for broke and that's where that – it stand from that but it means on all out. INTERVIEWER: Now looking back at your past experiences what – what kind of things do you feel like you learned from your experiences in how you apply it to your everyday life after – after the war what – what did the experiences give to you? FUKUZAWA: Knowledge taught me that I respect from my fellowmen for all people to be tolerant, to be understanding and to put your place in anything that I often time my [8:00] children and then that a question was asked whether for war comes along what should I do or what you do at your conscience dictate but remember that place of your birth, place of your – what your country had done for you and to along with that sprit that was told to us and I think its worthy of passing it on to the other, we hope that they may no wars and all that but they follow that same thing you ought to the country of your birth that's even biblical too. Its from lay back its nothing new and we hope that we can all learn from it. INTERVIEWER: Okay, do you have any – any last comments you would like to say or anything else you would like to tell us before we finish our interview today? FUKUZAWA: I would – I will just go back my wise history teacher who told me that America is a young country but it is a fair country and we look from there and what she said certainly turned out that way and that was said so many years ago and its all true in – she much have known through as a history teacher to look back at everything and my thought is the same thing that you have faith, trust in your country and [10:00] carry on the way you suppose to as good citizens. You know, when I say I know she will because I have nothing really shattering but it is my story and so whatever be its my story and I am so happy to that I had a chance to be able to take part of that you know, and thank you for that. INTERVIEWER: All right, and thank you Frank. FUKUZAWA: Thank to you. INTERVIEWER: Anyone have last questions? INTERVIEWER: Thanks Frank. INTERVIEWER: That's a good interview and we are now done. Yeah, let move okay. Frank can you tell us what this picture is of you? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 23 of 24 �FUKUZAWA: Yes the picture there was taken in Europe, Switzerland after the war was over I had a pass to Switzerland and I met Dr. Shin Jun Sakamoto were the correspondent for the Japan Mainichi newspaper who’s office was in north circle and he was married to a lovely German girl who spoke beautiful Japanese and I was able to break bad with them and she took the picture and its beautiful art to me, he was a wonderful man. INTERVIEWER: Thank you I got it thanks and I think we just have one more – can you tell us what this 012:00.6] picture is? FUKUZAWA: Yes this picture was taken in Leghorn Beverly that's my very close friend through the years and he promotes not – now he is in Santa Barbara and we decided to do take a picture together in a photo studio and that's what he said. INTERVIEWER: Okay I have one more. INTERVIEWER: Okay Frank can you tell where this picture was taken? FUKUZAWA: That picture was taken Leghorn Beverly during a break time and the gentleman name next to be Jim Tamaki from Oso Flaco California. INTERVIEWER: Okay thank you. INTERVIEWER: Okay let’s go ahead. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 24 of 24 � 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 Michito Frank Fukuzawa oral history interview, February 24, 2001 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 Frank Fukuzawa oral history interview transcript [full interview], February 24, 2001 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fukuzawa, Frank: narrator Inouye, Jason: 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. 24 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 2001-02-24 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Los Angeles, 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 2001OH0152_T_Fukuzawa