1 100 1 https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/2bc08cbbe4e9bd7f8ff47d84cd47c823.pdf 30d4b41ea78f21098b5ba74f7894d93a PDF Text Text Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Oral History Interview with Robert Fukuda, October 8, 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii INTERVIEWER: It is October 8th, 2010. We are now at the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu. And Mr. Fukuda has joined us again to finish up his interview. Thank you, once again, for coming. We wanna talk a little bit about your growing up in Hawaii now. And I understand your grandfather immigrated from Japan. FUKUDA: He came to Hawaii with the first group of Japanese immigrants in 1885. INTERVIEWER: And he came looking for work? FUKUDA: Oh, all the Japanese in Hawaii came looking for work. INTERVIEWER: What'd he end up doing? FUKUDA: Well, he became a farmer. INTERVIEWER: And what did he farm? What kinda crop? FUKUDA: Anything that grew. INTERVIEWER: Oh, man, he was good. FUKUDA: [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: He was good. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 1 of 64 �FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And then your father, was he born here or did he also immigrate? FUKUDA: My father was born in Honolulu, and he worked all his life for the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper. INTERVIEWER: And what did he do for the newspaper? FUKUDA: He was a proofreader. INTERVIEWER: Wow, that's a tough job. One of my brothers is a copy editor . . . FUKUDA: Oh. INTERVIEWER: . . . same kinda thing. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. He really knew the language well. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, my father was a linguist. INTERVIEWER: Really? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 2 of 64 �Yeah. INTERVIEWER: So he spoke both Japanese and English? FUKUDA: Not so much the Japanese, but he was a proofreader for the Honolulu Advertiser. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. And that was a big paper back then. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. INTERVIEWER: They covered everything, yeah. What kind of a guy your father? Was he a disciplinarian? Was he easygoing? FUKUDA: Oh, he didn't bother with me very much. INTERVIEWER: He didn't? FUKUDA: No. [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: Why not? FUKUDA: I don't know. I just grew up by myself. INTERVIEWER: Did you? FUKUDA: Yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 3 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Okay. Did---when you say grow up by yourself, [02:00] you mean you played by yourself a lot, and . . . FUKUDA: Yeah, with the kids in the neighborhood. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah? FUKUDA: Uh-huh. INTERVIEWER: What neighborhood you grow up in? FUKUDA: We grew up on School Street which is still there today. INTERVIEWER: That's up by University of Hawaii Manoa, huh? FUKUDA: No, no. INTERVIEWER: No? FUKUDA: Off of Lydia Street. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. Okay. And your neighborhood, mostly Japanese Americans or big mix? FUKUDA: Yeah, mostly Japanese neighborhood. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 4 of 64 �Mm-hmm. You go to Japanese language school? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, I did for the first 12 years. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Was that hard? FUKUDA: [Laughs.] Well, you had to study. INTERVIEWER: And did you study? FUKUDA: I didn't. I flunked out. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. But you had fun playing games, huh? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Did you---what kinda games do you like? What kinda sports? FUKUDA: Oh, well, right now I don't do anything. I just lie in bed. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. Well, that's now. But when you were a kid . . . This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 5 of 64 �FUKUDA: Oh, all the kids played together all the different games. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Do you---did you play baseball? FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: Just running around with neighborhood kids? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. Good. Your friends---did you have a particular friend, growing up, that you liked a lot? FUKUDA: All the kids in the neighborhood. INTERVIEWER: Oh, so you were a big, tight group? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Oh, very nice. Very nice. You guys go fishing? FUKUDA: I was a fisherman from the time I was five years old. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. How did you get involved with fishing that young? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 6 of 64 �Well, my father was a fisherman, [04:00] and he used to take me with him when he went out. INTERVIEWER: Do you guys go out on a boat or do you fish from shore? FUKUDA: My father had a little boat, skiff. We used to go out on his boat. INTERVIEWER: That's pretty exciting stuff. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: That's a lot of fun. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: But then you also told me before, that you like model airplanes. FUKUDA: From the time I was five years old I was a aviation nut. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever get your pilot's license? Did you ever try to do that? FUKUDA: No. But I did volunteer for the U.S. . . . INTERVIEWER: The Army Air Corps? FUKUDA: Yeah, I volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps training program. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 7 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: How'd that go? FUKUDA: Okay except the---Colonel Taylor was in charge of the program, and he told me that the U.S. Army would not give flying lessons to Japanese students. So I went all through the ground course and graduated from that, but I never got any flying lessons. INTERVIEWER: Hmm. Why wouldn't they give you flying lessons? FUKUDA: They didn't want us to bomb the Panama Canal. INTERVIEWER: They really thought you were gonna do that? FUKUDA: [Laughs.] I don't know. INTERVIEWER: Oh my. Now, you had talked about a couple of moments in aviation history. You were talking about Lindbergh. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. What was so special about Lindbergh flying across the Atlantic? FUKUDA: Well, it was Lindbergh. It was something else. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah. Did you ever get a chance to see his plane? FUKUDA: Yeah, I seen it. It's hanging in the Smithsonian museum. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 8 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. [06:00] FUKUDA: I've seen it several times. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. What is it about flying airplanes that you like so much? FUKUDA: I don't know. I just loved it. INTERVIEWER: You just loved it. Yeah. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Now, being in Hawaii, since Pearl Harbor's close by and there's---'cause you grew up Honolulu, right? You grew up in Honolu[lu]--yeah. FUKUDA: Right, right. INTERVIEWER: And you got air force bases, Hickam Field, Ford Field, and all that. You got all these planes flying. As a kid were you able to see the Army airplanes flying around? FUKUDA: Used to see 'em every day. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 9 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: No kidding. Did you have a favorite plane? FUKUDA: No. I just liked all airplanes . . . INTERVIEWER: All of them. FUKUDA: . . . since I was five years old---since Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, it's the first time anybody ever made it. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: That was a big deal, man. FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: I remember seeing the movies when he landed, and it's dark, and they have these lights out, and there's a ton of people all around. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: That was amazing. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 10 of 64 �Yeah. With---growing up Honolulu, and Pearl Harbor's so close by, and airplanes going across, you ever actually go to one of the airfields and try to meet the pilots? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, I used to go do that all the time. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: And I'm gonna press your memory, and if you don't remember, that's okay. Just tell me. But you remember any of the pilots? Do you remember their names or anything about them? FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: They treat you pretty nice? Were they friendly to you? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Wow. Then---we're gonna talk about school a little bit. Did you like to go to school? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 11 of 64 �Yeah? [08:00] FUKUDA: Yeah. I went along with my classmates. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. What---you have a favorite subject? FUKUDA: [Laughs.] Aviation. INTERVIEWER: Aviation. Well, with aviation, math is important. FUKUDA: I passed . . . INTERVIEWER: [Laughs.] FUKUDA: . . . barely. INTERVIEWER: Barely. Okay. So we're not gonna make you a navigator. FUKUDA: No. I took the navigation course and I passed it. INTERVIEWER: Oh, congratulations. That's good. FUKUDA: But I wouldn't wanna do it for a living. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah, [groans]. What about, like, history? Did you like history at all? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 12 of 64 �FUKUDA: That's another one I passed. INTERVIEWER: You passed? Good, good, good. How about your teachers? Were your teachers haole or were they . . . FUKUDA: Well, they were all mixed. I---when the war started, it ended my career at the University of Hawaii. But after the war I went back to college and I finished---graduated in 1948. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Wow. Well, in---let's talk about high school a little bit, because you gotta finish high school before you get to university. FUKUDA: Yeah, I went to Roosevelt High School. INTERVIEWER: Roosevelt? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah? And what kinda school was that then? What was the student body made up of? FUKUDA: It's all mixed, all different races, all mixed, and it was a good school. INTERVIEWER: Yeah? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. That's always good to grow up where you got a good mix of people. You learn a lot more then. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 13 of 64 �FUKUDA: Yeah, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. What did you like most about high school? Was there a particular class or a teacher or some kinda program they had? FUKUDA: No, [10:00] it was just a regular high school. INTERVIEWER: Just a regular high school. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Now, did you have to work after school or could you just go to school? FUKUDA: Back in those years every student in high school had to go to a Japanese language school in the afternoon. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: So I did that. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Now, the Depression was on at the time, and money was real tight. Things were tough financially. Do you remember the Depression at all? Was it tough on you guys? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, I remember the Depression. I remember everything from the 1920s. INTERVIEWER: Do you really? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 14 of 64 �FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. So how---was it pretty hard to get enough money for food? FUKUDA: No. My father had a regular job at the Honolulu Advertiser, so we were all right. We were well off. INTERVIEWER: Wow. That is great. He could work a whole week, a whole 40 hours? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Wow. My grandfather had to only work 20 hours at one job, 10 hours at another job, and 10 hours at another, 'cause they tried to spread it around. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: That's great. So your dad only had one job. FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Did you ever get to the Honolulu Star Bulletin while he was working, and see what they do there? FUKUDA: Oh, I guess I did. I knew the editor of the Star Bulletin. He was a good friend of mine. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 15 of 64 �Yeah. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. And you met him through your father, then. FUKUDA: No. I met him through---actually through my own connections. INTERVIEWER: Nice, nice. And you became friends with him. FUKUDA: Oh yeah, we became personal friends. INTERVIEWER: Very good. Very good. Now, we're gonna move forward a little bit to December 7, 1941, [12:00] Pearl Harbor. Where were you on that Sunday morning? FUKUDA: Sunday morning? I was sleeping. INTERVIEWER: You were sleeping? FUKUDA: Yeah, Sunday morning, no school. INTERVIEWER: What woke you up? FUKUDA: The gunfire, the cannons. INTERVIEWER: How close were you to Pearl Harbor? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 16 of 64 �Well, I could climb up on my roof and look over the rooftops, and I could see all the bombs exploding in Pearl Harbor. It was that close. INTERVIEWER: Wow. FUKUDA: In fact, one bomb fell right near the bridge---Kalakaua Avenue Bridge. So I stayed up there and watched the fireworks for a couple of hours. INTERVIEWER: Now, while that was happening, all these Zeros---Japanese Zeros are flying in. FUKUDA: Yeah, I was watching them fly over my house. INTERVIEWER: How close did they get to your house? How low did they fly? FUKUDA: They flew over Kau-Kau Korner, which was a well-known restaurant on Kalakaua Avenue. And there must've been---well, as the saying goes, you could almost touch them. INTERVIEWER: And I imagine that close, you look up, you can actually see the pilot. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, yeah, you could---you could---yeah, I saw the American fighters, too. INTERVIEWER: You did? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: What were they doing? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 17 of 64 �Chasing the Japs. INTERVIEWER: Yeah? FUKUDA: [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: Were they doing okay up in the air, or was it pretty confusing? FUKUDA: Well, I think the U.S. Army Air Corps lost 27 planes that day. So they didn't all escape. [14:00] INTERVIEWER: Now, when there's bombs being dropped and dogfights in the air, bullets are flying everywhere. FUKUDA: Yeah, you could hear 'em. INTERVIEWER: Oh yeah? How close were they that you could hear 'em? FUKUDA: Close enough that you didn't wanna stick your head up. INTERVIEWER: But you stayed on the roof to watch. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Wow. Any of 'em get really close to you, scare you a little bit? FUKUDA: Yeah, one guy was down, shooting up the bridge right in front of my house. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 18 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: When it first happens, you're sleeping, and all of a sudden you hear a cannon going off and gunfire . . . FUKUDA: Yeah, my mother woke me up, said, "You better get up, they're shooting." INTERVIEWER: And that's all she told you? FUKUDA: Hell, she was scared too. INTERVIEWER: I'll bet. I'll bet. But then you climb up on top of the roof to watch this. FUKUDA: Yeah, yeah. It was a great show. INTERVIEWER: I'll bet it was. FUKUDA: Uh-huh. INTERVIEWER: I'll bet it was. While that's happening, you see bombs being dropped and exploding. What did you see explode that day? Any particular ships? FUKUDA: Oh, far away I could see the bombs hit the ships in Pearl Harbor. INTERVIEWER: You remember which ships, or were you too far away to see? FUKUDA: No. All the battleships at Pearl Harbor were getting hit. And I could sit on my roof and watch 'em. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 19 of 64 �Now, when that's happening, you said your mom was scared. But you don't seem to be as scared about it. You went up on the roof. FUKUDA: It was a great show. INTERVIEWER: Okay. So it was worth the risk. FUKUDA: [Laughs.] Yeah. [16:00] INTERVIEWER: [Laughs.] Now, when that first happens, did it seem like it was real, or did it seem more like a dream? FUKUDA: Just like I'm talking to you. INTERVIEWER: No ki[dding]---that real. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Wow. And how old were you at the time? FUKUDA: I was, I guess, 15. INTERVIEWER: Wow. You were a young kid. So you're watching all of this happening in front of you. Now, it begins suddenly. You're asleep. You go up on the roof to watch it. What did you think that meant at the time? Did it make sense to you what was happening? FUKUDA: The war was on. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 20 of 64 �You figured that out right away? FUKUDA: Well, you know, for a couple of years we were expecting the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. Everybody in Hawaii was ready for war. INTERVIEWER: They could see it coming. FUKUDA: Yeah, sure. INTERVIEWER: How do you figure that war's coming? What tipped you off? FUKUDA: Every morning in the newspaper you see something about Japan. INTERVIEWER: Now, before the attack you're reading stuff in a newspaper that's, you know, telling you about Japan, and the tension between the United States and Japan. Did you ever think they'd actually do it, though? FUKUDA: Sure. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. Everybody expected the war. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Okay. This goes on---Pearl Harbor---the bombing goes on for a couple of hours. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 21 of 64 �FUKUDA: And that's what started the war. INTERVIEWER: That's right. That's right. Now, after the bombing stopped, [18:00] what happened next? FUKUDA: Well, that's when the war started. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, but what---how did it affect you personally? What changed in your life the day after the bombing happened? FUKUDA: Like I said, the war had started. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. But you're only 15 years old. FUKUDA: Yeah, so I went to work for the United States Army in . . . And I went to work as a truck driver for the United States Army. INTERVIEWER: And how long did you do that, then? FUKUDA: For five years. INTERVIEWER: Five years. FUKUDA: And then I volunteered for the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, and I got sent to the U.S. Language School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 22 of 64 �Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Now, when you say you joined up, they didn't come looking for you? You went to them? FUKUDA: Oh, they had a volunteer program, and I just signed up for the Intelligence Corps. INTERVIEWER: Now before you went to school, had you ever left the islands for anything, gone . . . FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: . . . on vacation? Nothing? FUKUDA: No. No. INTERVIEWER: So you join the Army, and they're gonna send you to the mainland to teach you language. FUKUDA: To learn the Japanese language. INTERVIEWER: Right. First time off the islands. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. FUKUDA: At Camp Savage, Minnesota. INTERVIEWER: Now, leaving the islands, was that kind of scary or a little unsettling? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 23 of 64 �FUKUDA: No. We went on a big [20:00] boat all the way from Hawaii to California, and then we loaded up on cattle cars, and went on a train to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the U.S. Army Language School was. INTERVIEWER: Yup, yup. Now, big difference between Oahu and Minneapolis. FUKUDA: Yeah, you bet. It was as cold. INTERVIEWER: Is that the first time you ever been in that kinda cold? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Had you ever seen snow before? FUKUDA: No. That was the first time. INTERVIEWER: What'd you think of all that? FUKUDA: Too cold. INTERVIEWER: Time to go home. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 24 of 64 �Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Now, you get to Camp Savage and they start to teach you Japanese language. FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Your classes---they teach you how to speak, how to write. How was that? Was that a difficult thing to learn? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, it was a hard language to learn, but we did it. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah, you did. Yeah. What made it so hard to learn, you think? FUKUDA: Japanese is a very difficult language to learn. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Did you ever have to study when they called, "Lights out"? FUKUDA: Oh, some of the students did. I didn't, but some others did. INTERVIEWER: Where'd they go to study? FUKUDA: In the latrine. INTERVIEWER: I know. The program that they have there to teach you the language, the kanji, kata kanji, and then the spoken language, how intense was it? What kinda pressure was put on you guys to learn? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 25 of 64 �Well, we had to do it, so we did it. INTERVIEWER: Hmm, hmm. They ever tell you, "Work hard, work hard. Don't shame the family"? FUKUDA: [Laughs.] That's the Japanese culture. INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh, uh-huh. Do you remember the name John Aiso? FUKUDA: I knew John Aiso at the school, and later when he was an attorney in California. INTERVIEWER: Oh, no kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah, I knew him. INTERVIEWER: Good. What kinda guy was he? How would you describe him? FUKUDA: Straight as a lace, and very strict. INTERVIEWER: That's what I've heard. FUKUDA: Yeah. It's too bad he got killed. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. It seems like such a waste, just . . . FUKUDA: Yeah, he was a great man. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 26 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. Yes, he was. Yes, he was. Colonel Rasmussen, do you ever get a chance to meet him? FUKUDA: I think I met him once. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. FUKUDA: At the school. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, he was kinda in the background more. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. How about the instructors? I'm gonna throw a couple names at you. FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: And this is a long shot, so . . . FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: . . . I'm just asking. But a guy named Tom Sakamoto? FUKUDA: I don't remember. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 27 of 64 �Don't remember him? Okay. Okay. So you go to language school, and you're there for, what, eight months, nine months? FUKUDA: I think it was nine months. INTERVIEWER: Nine months. And then on top of that you---did you do your basic training or did you pass on that? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, I got to do the training too. INTERVIEWER: Where'd you do that? FUKUDA: We had our own training grounds. INTERVIEWER: Did you go to McClellan? FUKUDA: No. I was assigned to the Technical Air Intelligence Unit, and sent to Washington, D.C. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. So, wow, you went strategic from [24:00] Minnesota to Washington, D.C. FUKUDA: To the Pentagon. INTERVIEWER: To the Pentagon. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: That's something else. How'd you manage to pull that off? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 28 of 64 �FUKUDA: Because of my aviation background. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah. I was assigned to the Technical Air Intelligence Unit, which was picking up and rebuilding and testing all the Japanese airplanes out in the field. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. And this is during the war. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. FUKUDA: Yeah. In fact, I was sent overseas to---first to New Guinea, and then to the Philippines, and eventually I ended up in the Technical Air Intelligence Unit in the Philippines. And from there I went to Okinawa, and from Okinawa into the occupation of Kyushu. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: And I was there for---until the war ended. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: I was in the occupation of Kyushu. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 29 of 64 �Let's start in Washington, D.C., okay, 'cause you go from Snelling to D.C., and you said you were with the Intel Unit, and your job was to . . . FUKUDA: Oh, we were assigned the job of rebuilding and testing all Japanese airplanes. And the headquarters of the U.S. Army Technical Air Intelligence Unit was at the Pentagon building. INTERVIEWER: So---I'm trying to understand. Like, how do you get your hands on these Japanese planes? FUKUDA: Oh, the field unit was in New Guinea when I joined TAIU. And [26:00] all the personnel were picking up Japanese airplanes and crating them up and sending them back to the testing airfield in Washington, D.C. INTERVIEWER: Now, are these planes that they---that crashed? FUKUDA: Oh, no, no, no, these were all flying examples, so . . . INTERVIEWER: So they captured them. FUKUDA: Yeah, we captured them from New Guinea all the way up to the occupation of Japan. And so I ended up in the---as a personnel of the Technical Air Intelligence Unit in Japan. INTERVIEWER: Right, right. Now---but back to Washington, D.C. These planes come in and---do you need some water? FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: You sure? Okay. These planes come in in crates, and you guys uncrate 'em and start to put 'em together again. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 30 of 64 �That's right. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Now, did you ever get a chance to sit in any of the cockpits? FUKUDA: No, I never flew in any of the Japanese aircraft. INTERVIEWER: Okay. FUKUDA: But I knew all the test pilots. INTERVIEWER: You did? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any of their names? FUKUDA: No, I don't remember anymore. INTERVIEWER: But d[id]---then that means you worked closely with them. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, every day we were out in the field at the test airstrips, and working on the airplanes to get 'em ready for flying. INTERVIEWER: Any of the Japanese planes that you had put together, and then the test pilots were flying---any of those impress you? [28:00] FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 31 of 64 �They were all impressive. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. They were that good? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Wow. FUKUDA: They had some kind of planes that we never built. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Fighter planes or bombers? FUKUDA: Both. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Wow. I've heard stories of the Japanese Zero that---real fast, but it's got a thin skin. FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: And the gas tank's behind the pilot. FUKUDA: Yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 32 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: And it's easier to shoot down that way. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. I talked to all the test pilots, and, well, they did a good job. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. FUKUDA: In fact, the Japanese had one plane that was not a bomber, but it did a long-distance flight from Moscow to Tokyo. INTERVIEWER: Really? FUKUDA: Yeah. This was in the 1940s. INTERVIEWER: Wow. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: That's quite a feat. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: And you actually saw this plane? FUKUDA: It's hanging up in the Smithsonian museum. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 33 of 64 �Yeah? Sounds like a lot of planes that you worked on are hanging in the Smithsonian. FUKUDA: A lot of 'em are still there. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah. Now, one quick question. You were in Snelling going to language school, and then you end up in Washington, D.C. putting together airplanes at---you know, through the Pentagon. Did they know about your aviation background? Is that why they gave you this job? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Well, I volunteered to serve in the Army Air Corps Technical Air Intelligence Unit, which was in Washington, D.C. INTERVIEWER: And that's where you went to ground school? FUKUDA: No. Ground school was from New Guinea to the Philippines and into occupied Japan. INTERVIEWER: [30:00] Oh, you did that during the war, then. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. I get it. Okay. So there you are in Washington, D.C. You're putting together these planes. You're on the tarmac with the test pilots. You're watching 'em fly. And then from Washington, D.C. they send you to New Guinea? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 34 of 64 �Went to New Guinea first. INTERVIEWER: And how did you get to New Guinea, by boat or plane? FUKUDA: I don't remember. INTERVIEWER: Okay. And what'd they have you doing on New Guinea? FUKUDA: Translating all the documents that we captured, and talking to the pilots. INTERVIEWER: Re[ally]---the Japanese pilots. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: So the documents that they capture, where were they---where were these documents when they captured them? FUKUDA: In their offices and in the airplanes. INTERVIEWER: Oh, within the airplane itself? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 35 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: And then---I imagine at airfields---they would capture an airfield . . . FUKUDA: That's right, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Oh, and they got the documentation from there. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: So there you are. You're translating all this aviation stuff. FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: When you're doing that kind of work, it's very technical, very technical language, very . . . FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. How did you figure out the Japanese technical language? 'Cause that's unto itself---that's hard. FUKUDA: Well, you just figure it out. You just learn by doing. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Did you have dictionaries and stuff? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all carried dictionaries. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 36 of 64 �And when you would interrogate a pilot or an officer---a Japanese officer from the airfield or a Japanese pilot, would they give you information that'd help you translate? [32:00] FUKUDA: [Laughs.] They were just like an open book. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah. They had very poor intelligence training. INTERVIEWER: So you could literally just sit down with them . . . FUKUDA: Sit down and talk stories. [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And you'd get what you want? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Did you . . . FUKUDA: Tell us anything we wanted to know. INTERVIEWER: Did you give them a cigarette? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 37 of 64 �FUKUDA: Sometimes. You don't have to. They're just happy to be able to talk to somebody in Japanese language. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. They were very friendly. INTERVIEWER: Now, when you talk to them, you're what, a T5 or a T3? FUKUDA: I was a staff sergeant. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Staff sergeant. And they have officer rank. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. But they just wanted to talk to somebody in the Japanese language. INTERVIEWER: And when you would approach them . . . FUKUDA: Well, they had a lot of noncom pilots, too. INTERVIEWER: Really? FUKUDA: Sergeants. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 38 of 64 �Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Oh, that's good. So then there wasn't an issue of rank. FUKUDA: Yeah, we got to be very friendly with the pilots. INTERVIEWER: Was it---did you ever get talking to a pilot, and you're interrogating him, but---I don't know---you just start talking about personal things, family or . . . FUKUDA: Yeah, we did. We did. In fact, I met one of them later on after the war in Japan. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: No ki[dding]---the same guy that you . . . FUKUDA: Yeah, the pilot, yeah. We became good friends. INTERVIEWER: That is great. FUKUDA: Yeah. Well, that's what the war does. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. So what is really interesting about what you're telling me is that the information you're dealing with is pretty high security level information. [34:00] FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 39 of 64 �Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: This is not the run-of-the-mill interrogating prisoners. FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: No. This is really important stuff. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Did the U.S. Army assign a hakujin officer to you? FUKUDA: Not to me directly. INTERVIEWER: Okay. FUKUDA: But at the Pentagon our headquarters was at---I guess what is now Washington National Airport. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. So there you are in New Guinea, and you're translating documents. You're interrogating Japanese pilots and Japanese aviation officers. How long you do that for? FUKUDA: Well, I ended up in the occupation of Japan. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, but you had Philippines before that too, no? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, TAIU was doing work in all the battlefields of the war. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 40 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: So you're gathering an awful lot of intelligence. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: How many other Nisei did you work with? FUKUDA: Well, the headquarters was back in what is now Washington National Airport. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: So there were quite a number of Nisei soldiers all around there. INTERVIEWER: Ye[ah]---oh, yeah. But when you're in New Guinea . . . FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: . . . how many guys were---did you have, like, 10 guys? FUKUDA: Well, the unit had about 15 Nisei Japanese American soldiers. [36:00] INTERVIEWER: They . . . FUKUDA: We were all interpreters. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 41 of 64 �Yeah. And amongst your group, they send any Kibei too? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, we were all mixed up. We were all second-generation Japanese Americans. INTERVIEWER: Right. So you had both Nisei, Kibei. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Good. So you had strength in language and in writing. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: That's a good team. That's a real good team. Yeah. Now, when you guys are doing that kinda work, do they tell you [to] be quiet about it, don't talk? FUKUDA: No, we had no security order. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Okay. Now, when you're in a combat zone, because of your ancestry that---a lot of times the U.S. Army would assign bodyguards. FUKUDA: We didn't have any. INTERVIEWER: No bodyguards? FUKUDA: No. But I almost got hit in the head in the Philippines one time. There was a guy that didn't like Japs. We went to a swimming pool, and he happened to see me, and he came up behind me, hit me on the head. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 42 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Wow. Is this a Filipino? FUKUDA: Yeah, a Filipino. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, they didn't are for . . . FUKUDA: Oh, no, no, no. INTERVIEWER: . . . anybody of Japanese ancestry. FUKUDA: They didn't like us. INTERVIEWER: No, they did not. FUKUDA: [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: No, they did not. So you're in New Guinea, and you're doing your work there, interrogating and translating with your team. Then you guys move to the Philippines. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And what kind of work did your team do in the Philippines? FUKUDA: Oh, the Philippine Islands had I guess what's now called Clark Field, which was our headquarters in the [38:00] Philippine Islands, the Technical Air Intelligence Unit headquarters. So I was there for, like, six months before we went to New Guinea. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 43 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Now, the---when you're in the Philippines at Clark Field, are you doing the same kind of work, translating and . . . FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: . . . interrogating? FUKUDA: Yeah. We were capturing all the first-line Japanese airplanes and rebuilding them. INTERVIEWER: Now, as the war progressed, Japan didn't have as much metal, and they didn't have as much equipment to make their planes, to make their tanks. FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Did you see a difference in the quality of airplane as the war progressed? FUKUDA: No. They used their best materials for their airplanes. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Wow. So the Japanese war effort was focused on making their airplanes the best they could be all the way to the end. FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Holy smokes. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 44 of 64 �I made a mistake there. We went to New Guinea first, and then from New Guinea we went to the Philippines. INTERVIEWER: To the Philippines, right. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Now, the airfields that you're capturing along the way---or that the troops are capturing---but then you come in and do the translation and interrogation. Any kamikaze? Do you ever come across any kamikaze pilot? FUKUDA: Not after---only when we were in [40:00] the Philippines. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 'Cause I've read where there's a difference between Japanese navy pilot and a Japanese kamikaze pilot, different way of thinking. FUKUDA: Kind of. INTERVIEWER: Yeah? FUKUDA: But we talked to all of them. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah, you guys would talk to them all. But did you see any difference between the two guys, the---a regular navy pilot or a kamikaze pilot? FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 45 of 64 �Or were they kinda the same? FUKUDA: They're pretty much the same. INTERVIEWER: Ever run across an officer or a pilot who was all about, Yamato Damashii, and, "I'm not gonna talk to you," and, you know, code of the bushido, and all that? FUKUDA: They wanted to, but they didn't dare. INTERVIEWER: Really? How did you make them---how did you approach them so they would not resist you? FUKUDA: They wanted to speak to anybody who spoke Japanese. So we did. INTERVIEWER: And it's just approaching them in a common . . . FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: . . . decent way. FUKUDA: Yeah. They wanted to speak to anybody who could speak Japanese. And we did. INTERVIEWER: And you did. That's so great. No, I hear that from so many Nisei because the common idea is that, if you get a prisoner, you treat them roughly. FUKUDA: No, no, no, you---well, we didn't have to because their military discipline was what counted. When they spoke to us, we treated them like human beings. They were happy. [42:00] INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 46 of 64 �That makes all the difference, doesn't it? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: It's just amazing. FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. When you're translating the documents, I can understand that 'cause it's on paper. But then when you assemble the plane and you look at the cockpit, there's---it's gonna be all kanji. FUKUDA: We put the English translations on there for the American pilots. INTERVIEWER: Did you really? FUKUDA: Yeah, yeah. INTERVIEWER: No ki[dding]---did you write 'em on paper and tape 'em there, or did you---how did you do that? FUKUDA: We used paper. Sometimes we just used black ink. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Oh, yeah. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 47 of 64 �No kidding. Now, at any time when you're going over the plane for the test pilot, you ever stand on the wing while he's in the cockpit, and kinda talk to him that way? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, we talked to them all the time. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. Now, our American pilots, did they ever come to you with questions? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We took them in the cockpit and translated it for 'em. INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Translated the instruments for them. INTERVIEWER: And when the test pilot would come back, they would fly the plane out, and then they'd bring it back and it would land. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: They ever comment to you guys about the performance of the plane? FUKUDA: Oh, yeah, we had to talk to them to get the report on how this plane flew or that plane flew, and . . . INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: Yeah. We were working with the pilots all the time. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 48 of 64 �Very closely. FUKUDA: Yeah. Well, they were part of a TAIU field units. They lived with us. INTERVIEWER: They were all part of the team. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Now, these pilots, they're haole pilots? FUKUDA: U.S. Army Air Force [44:00] pilots. INTERVIEWER: Yup. Okay. They---how did they treat you guys? Did . . . FUKUDA: Oh, we were real buddies . . . INTERVIEWER: No kidding. FUKUDA: . . . because I knew all about airplanes. INTERVIEWER: That's the thing that pulled you together, airplanes. FUKUDA: Yeah, yeah. INTERVIEWER: What is it about airplane guys, pilots and ground crews? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 49 of 64 �FUKUDA: [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: They're the tightest groups I've ever met. FUKUDA: Yeah, we liked each other. INTERVIEWER: Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Wow. So---I'm sorry, I'm jumping around a little bit, so I hope I'm not confusing you. I wanna go back to the Philippines, 'cause you went from Washington, D.C. to New Guinea to the Philippines. And the war's coming to an end. It's getting close. FUKUDA: Yeah. TAIU packed up all the airplanes in crates and boxes, and put 'em on a---sent them by truck down to Manila . . . INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: . . . and put them on aircraft carriers to take 'em back to the U.S. And I went along with the boxes and the crates on the aircraft carriers. INTERVIEWER: So you were---and then would you return to the Philippines, or would you just stay back . . . FUKUDA: No, no, no, no, no, when the war was over. INTERVIEWER: Oh, when the war's over. Okay. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 50 of 64 �So you actually got to ride on a aircraft carrier? FUKUDA: Yeah, I did. That's the way I came home. INTERVIEWER: Are you kidding? FUKUDA: No. With a bunch of Japanese---captured Japanese airplanes. INTERVIEWER: Well, that's a hell of a lot better than riding on a transport. FUKUDA: Well, actually the Technical Air Intelligence Unit ended up in Japan in the occupation of Kyushu. INTERVIEWER: Right. FUKUDA: And these planes were loaded on at the Yokosuka Naval Airbase, and that's where I got onto the carrier. INTERVIEWER: Did you say Yokota Airbase? FUKUDA: Yeah, Yokota Airbase. That's where we [46:00] kept---put all the planes on the carriers. INTERVIEWER: My father-in-law ran the PX at Yokota Airbase. FUKUDA: Oh, I probably bought peanuts from him. INTERVIEWER: That's what I'm thinking. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 51 of 64 �FUKUDA: Yeah, I probably met him. INTERVIEWER: You probably did. FUKUDA: [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: Son of a gun. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: 'Cause this was right after the war, too. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: I mean, 'cause he was in Yokohama---or . . . FUKUDA: Uh-huh. INTERVIEWER: . . . yeah, Yokohama when---before they signed the surrender. FUKUDA: Mm-hmm. INTERVIEWER: He was one of the ones that were telling Japanese citizens, "We're not gonna kill you," you know, one of those guys. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 52 of 64 �Our headquarters was at . . . INTERVIEWER: Yokota. FUKUDA: . . . Yokosuka. INTERVIEWER: Oh, I'm sorry. Where was it? FUKUDA: Yokosuka. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Okay. Wow. What a small world. FUKUDA: [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: That's so neat. That's so neat. So, then in Japan---we talked the other day---during occupation, and you were going around searching for test planes. FUKUDA: Well, our headquarters for the shipping of the planes was at Yokosuka. INTERVIEWER: Right. FUKUDA: But we had commandeered a school in Tokyo, and we made that our barracks. And so we got very friendly with all of the people that lived around there. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 53 of 64 �And I met a lot Japanese in Japan that way. INTERVIEWER: Were they afraid of you guys at first? FUKUDA: No, not really. INTERVIEWER: No? FUKUDA: Because we spoke Japanese. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Were they afraid of the haole troops? FUKUDA: Yeah, I guess, a little bit. INTERVIEWER: A little bit, yeah. Yeah. So then you find all these airplanes, these test airplanes, and you crate 'em up and you send 'em to the aircraft carrier, and then you hitch a ride [48:00] back to the United States with these planes. FUKUDA: That's right. That's what I did. INTERVIEWER: You---now, I'm gonna press your memory, and if you don't remember, that's fine. But you remember the name of the aircraft carrier you were on? FUKUDA: Sure do. INTERVIEWER: What was it? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 54 of 64 �Dashing Wave. [Laughs.] INTERVIEWER: Now . . . FUKUDA: I can't forget that one because we went all the way across the Pacific Ocean on that tub. INTERVIEWER: On that tub? FUKUDA: Yeah, it was slow. But we had all our airplanes onboard. INTERVIEWER: You had a pretty heavy load. FUKUDA: Well, we actually used I think three carriers altogether to bring all the planes back to our Technical Air headquarters. INTERVIEWER: Wow. Three carriers? FUKUDA: Yeah. We landed in California, and then I had to escort my shipload on the trains all the way back to D.C. No, I take that back. They weren't by themselves on the trains. And I guess I went along on passenger cars. INTERVIEWER: Then you get to Washington, D.C. And what do you do there? FUKUDA: Well, the war was over. So there's not very much to do. I just hung around a couple pf weeks and made a short trip to Washington---to New York City, and then came back to the headquarters. And all the people I knew were all gone, so they shipped me back to California, and home on another boat. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 55 of 64 �And then it was over for you. FUKUDA: That was it. INTERVIEWER: Now, you had a pretty exciting experience with all those airplanes during the war. FUKUDA: I sure did. [50:00] INTERVIEWER: So what kind of a job did you get? Did you end up working in aviation? FUKUDA: No. I ended up being a truck driver for the U.S. Army. INTERVIEWER: Really? FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: You went back to driving trucks? FUKUDA: I went back to driving trucks 'cause the war was over. There were no more war jobs left. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Yup. And how long did you do that? FUKUDA: Oh, for a couple of years until I went back to the University of Hawaii. INTERVIEWER: And what did you study at University of Hawaii? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 56 of 64 �FUKUDA: I became a lawyer. INTERVIEWER: A lawyer? FUKUDA: Yeah. That's what I am now. INTERVIEWER: Okay. How do you satisfy your love for aviation as a lawyer? FUKUDA: By talking to you. INTERVIEWER: By talking to me. Did you ever get your pilot's license? FUKUDA: No, I never did. We had a U.S. Army Air Corps colonel who was in charge of the flying training program at the University of Hawaii in 1940, before the war started. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: He told me---he said, "You know, the U.S. Army---you can go to this school and learn about flying, but the U.S. Army will not train you as a Air Force pilot." He was very honest with me, and that's what he told me. So I knew from the very beginning, before the war started . . . INTERVIEWER: Hmm. FUKUDA: . . . that I wasn't gonna be a pilot for the U.S. Air Force. INTERVIEWER: That's hard words to hear, though. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 57 of 64 �FUKUDA: Yeah, well, it was all right because I then went to work as a truck driver for the U.S. Army. INTERVIEWER: Yeah [laughs]. You still got a job. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah. So then you go to U of H and you become a lawyer. FUKUDA: Right. INTERVIEWER: And you get married. FUKUDA: I did . . . INTERVIEWER: Did you get . . . FUKUDA: . . . to a lady that I worked with. [52:00] INTERVIEWER: In a law office? FUKUDA: No, no, no. She was working for the city and county of Honolulu. And I met her through her work. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 58 of 64 �And we were married, and we lived a long life together. INTERVIEWER: Very good. And what was her name? FUKUDA: Loretta. INTERVIEWER: Loretta. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And now, every Nisei does this. I ask them how they meet their wife, and they always say, "Oh, we just met at work," or, "We met here," or, "We met there." FUKUDA: In fact, we did meet at work. INTERVIEWER: You did for real? FUKUDA: We both worked with the city and county government and that's how I met her. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, you could---feel free to tell me to mind my own business, okay? But I like romantic stories, so I like to actually hear how people met. And I understand you both worked at the same place. But what was it about Loretta that you like so much? FUKUDA: Oh, she was a very pretty lady. INTERVIEWER: Oh, yeah? FUKUDA: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 59 of 64 �Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Yeah? Was she nice? FUKUDA: Oh, very, very nice. INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now here's the big question: What did Loretta like so much about you? FUKUDA: I wish I knew. INTERVIEWER: [Laughs.] And now, so you and Loretta decide to get married. Is she a island girl? FUKUDA: Yeah, she's from Honolulu. She and I both graduated from Roosevelt High School. INTERVIEWER: Did you know her in Roosevelt? FUKUDA: No. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. She's a couple years behind you? FUKUDA: Yeah, but we both worked for the city government. INTERVIEWER: Right. That's how you met. FUKUDA: Yeah. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 60 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Yeah. So you decide to get married. You raise a family. FUKUDA: Two daughters. INTERVIEWER: Two daughters. FUKUDA: One here and one in Seattle. INTERVIEWER: One in Seattle. And what are your daughters' names? FUKUDA: [54:00] Silvia and Anna. Anna is right there. INTERVIEWER: Mm-hmm. And Sylvia is in Seattle. FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Okay. And what do they do? FUKUDA: Seattle is a housewife, and Anna works for the city. INTERVIEWER: Very good. And grandchildren? FUKUDA: We have four: three in Seattle and one here. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 61 of 64 �And we met one of your granddaughters the other day. FUKUDA: Yeah, that's Anna's daughter. INTERVIEWER: Right. And her name? Angela, I think. FUKUDA: Angela, yeah. INTERVIEWER: Angela. Okay. FUKUDA: Right. INTERVIEWER: And then you got three granddaughters in Seattle. FUKUDA: That's right. INTERVIEWER: Okay. That's a . . . FUKUDA: No, one grandson. INTERVIEWER: Oh, a grandson. FUKUDA: And two granddaughters. INTERVIEWER: Very good. Four grandkids. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 62 of 64 �FUKUDA: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Any great grandkids? FUKUDA: Yeah, we got the little girl that was here the other day. INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. FUKUDA: That's Anna's daughter. INTERVIEWER: Very good. Okay. Now, we always ask a veteran this because you guys lived through very extraordinary times, with the war breaking ou[t]---first of all, the Depression, then the war breaks out, and then the discrimination against Japanese Americans. Then you fight in the war, and you come home and you help America become a very strong country. So we ask this---what do you hope for the future? What do you hope for our country? FUKUDA: Well, that America will continue to be a great country. I hope so. INTERVIEWER: Good. And what is your hope for your grandkids? FUKUDA: That they have a great future. INTERVIEWER: Very nice. [56:00] Well, I wanna thank you once again for coming out and answering all these questions. It has been a lot of fun. And thank you for your service to our country. FUKUDA: Thank you. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 63 of 64 �INTERVIEWER: Really appreciate it. Okay. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 64 of 64 � 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 Robert Fukuda oral history interview, October 8, 2010 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 Robert Fukuda oral history interview transcript [full interview], October 8, 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fukuda, Robert: narrator Hawkins, Richard: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher US Army Center of Military History: sponsor 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. 64 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 2010-10-08 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Honolulu, Hawaii 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 2010OH1012A_T_Fukuda