Hal Oishi oral history interview, part 1 of 2, January 18, 2009

Oishi begins the interview with his family background and moving to Hawaii from Hiroshima. He would grow up in Kona, Hawaii working at the family farm and then for his aunt at her grocery store, all while attending school and Japanese language school. He would grow up heavily influenced by Japanese culture, as he grew up Buddhist and spoke Japanese much of his young life in addition to English. He would be working at the store when he first heard of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and would be forced to black out their home and carry gas masks to school. After high school, he would work for Captain Cook Coffee as he had an interest in the accounting field and was given the opportunity to keep their books. Next, he would be drafted by the Army and head to Schofield Barracks for his induction before heading to Camp Blanding for his basic training. As his cousin was working as a language instructor in Minnesota, he was able to get Oishi moved to Fort Snelling for Military Intelligence Service Language School (MIS). During this time, the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered, so the Army cut his courses short and shipped him to Japan to begin his time translating in occupied Japan.

video/m4v

0:52:23

2009OH0966_01_Oishi

http://www.goforbroke.org/oral_histories/mp4/966-Oishi-Hal-1.m4v

1924 Dec 02

Yes