Bright Onoda oral history interview, part 2 of 3, November 22, 2008

Bright and Sam continue their recollection of the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Their stepfather would be taken in by the FBI and they had to continue working until they heard about Executive Order 9066. With that, they were forced to evacuate their homes and move to Puyallup Temporary Center , where they would live in horse stables until moved to a more permanent location. They would be moved to Minidoka concentration camp in Idaho and live in barracks that afforded very little privacy. During this time, the boys would get work outside of the camps, farming sugar beets until Sam decided to volunteer for the Army. While he attended his basic training at Camp Shelby with the 442nd, Bright would write to Hillsdale College, where he would attend college courses until he was drafted into the Army towards the end of the war. Sam talks about his time in Mississippi and being sent to Europe in the heavy machine gunner squad, going through combat and even getting a small wound while there. He also talks about the Lost Battalion campaign. Bright talks about his basic training at Fort Sheridan and being involved with the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) while in occupied Japan. He would be assigned to Honshu and serve there, while Sam getting discharged from the Army and attending school in Florence. He would go on to attend more high education in Chicago.

video/m4v

0:59:08

2008OH0950_02_Onoda

http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/950-Onoda-Bill-2.m4v

1921 Jul 25

Yes