Hitoshi Sameshima oral history interview, part 4 of 8, February 24, 2002

Files

Dublin Core

Description

Hitoshi G. Sameshima discusses his training to be an interrogator at Fort Snelling. After completing his training, he goes to Fort Spellman and goes overseas to the Philippines. Hitoshi stays in Manila and Luzon to interview the Prisoners of War for a month before going to Japan.

In the interrogation, there is only Hitoshi and the interviewee. He tries to make the interrogation informal for the interviewee to feel at ease. There are many POW camps in the Philippines, and Hitoshi is not able to visit them.

Hitoshi's first interview with the Prisoner of War (POW) is with a sailor. The sailor is about a year older than Hitoshi and did not want to talk. Therefore Hitoshi uses psychological warfare to try to interrogate the POW.

Hitoshi learns about psychological warfare at Fort Snelling. Hitoshi also takes psychology in college "shinri-gaku." In the interrogation with the Japanese sailor (POW), Hitoshi explains being a Japanese American in the US Army. However, it is difficult for the Japanese sailor to understand how Hitoshi can be Japanese with no Japanese ties. Hitoshi also shares his interrogation experience with a businessman (POW).

Hitoshi says the treatment of the POWs is good in the US POW Camp. Hitoshi recalls a War Crime interview with Major Phillips. They interviewed a sailor from a mini-submarine (from Pearl Harbor). The objective of the interview is to see if he experienced any mistreatment in the US POW Camp. The POW is happy the war is ended.





Identifier

2002OH0249_04_Sameshima

Oral History Item Type Metadata

URL

http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/249-Sameshima-Hitoshi-4.m4v

Date of Birth

1921 Apr 13

Location of Birth

War or Conflict

Branch of Service

Entrance into Service

Nickname

Location of Basic Training

Citation

Sameshima, Hitoshi: narrator, Sato, Christine: interviewer, and Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher, “Hitoshi Sameshima oral history interview, part 4 of 8, February 24, 2002,” Japanese American Military History Collective, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ndajams.omeka.net/items/show/1052655.