ClickOkinawa.com - Oral Histories

Higa Takejiro
published Oct 12, 2018

An Oral History

Takejiro Higa's interview courtesy of the Center for Oral History.
Photographs courtesy of Takejiro Higa.
The Hawaii Nisei Project © 2006

TH: Whatever comes in. Whatever. Any kind of document they pick up, it comes in to our headquarters. They don’t know what kind of material that is, so everything. Even sometimes trash that comes in. But the ones we’re going to pay first attention is the map. Especially enemy troop disposition map, yeah. And then we look through. Among the captured documents, the most useful information comes from diaries. See, Japanese army, they have a habit of keeping a diary. In America, no-no. We’re not supposed to keep anything with us. Because in case you’re captured or dead, and in your pocket you find something, might be useful to the enemy, yeah. Whereas the Japanese, no such thing. No counterintelligence training. Because they’re told to fight until die, yeah. So they cannot give you training say, oh, in case you’re captured. So regular soldiers, they have no training whatsoever. They don’t know the value of intelligence. So they spill out everything they know. But the ranking non-coms and officers know the value of information. So they’re tight-lipped. If they do talk, they give all bullshit. So very useless interrogation, those guys.
WN: What kind of information was in those diaries, like for example?
TH: Oh, what they. . . . First, their name, of course. Date where they move around from, you know. Today, what they did during the day. And sometimes they write some information about their family. All kinds of - just like daily activity. And that becomes real useful information to the higher command. They piece together. Not only one source, but from all the sources accumulated becomes a good picture. So sort of a crossword puzzle. My information, or the information I got from this guy, might fit into someplace else, make more sense. So it’s an accumulation of this kind of information becomes real useful to the higher command, higher-echelon intelligence officer. For intermediate to me, not too much useful. Yeah, because I could care less where they come from.
WN: For the most part, were these documents legible?
TH: Well, yeah. I mean, there’s some wet and hard to read. But many times. Especially written documents, the printed kind, it’s pretty good. Ink, handwritten ones, were hard to read. Hard to read.
MK: You were mentioning just a little while earlier about how sometimes you could get useful information from some Japanese enemy, and how some you cannot get anything, you know, just bullshit. I was wondering at that time in Okinawa, how did you folks interrogate the Japanese soldiers?
TH: See, Okinawa, I got more useful information than the rest of the guys because I know the locality, yeah. So they move around from one locality, locality, so I know their movement. Other than that, very little. Because for one thing, we didn’t have too many prisoners in Okinawa. See, especially toward the south, very few. Because they all holed in the cave, yeah. And they wouldn’t surrender, for one thing. If they don’t surrender after so many — so much time spent at trying to urge to come out. If they don’t come out, engineers going to throw the explosive and seal off the cave. Or they throw flamethrower, burn ’em. So I don’t think they can really identify how many people died in caves. Many of them may be buried alive. And my own - one of my fellow members told me, he saw one time — he went to the front, cave, eh — they no come out, so the American engineers throw the can of gasoline, then they throw a grenade and explode the whole cave. And later on, flamethrower. And then toward the end — I don’t know how soon that thing came. But anyway, I think you read about uma nori kögeki?
MK: Mm-hmm [yes].
TH: That was the most feared tactic by the Japanese. What happened was, a few guys concentrate firing on the entrance to prevent the guys getting out. And the rest of the guys go around and line up on the top side of the cave. So when they tried to escape, they’re just pigeon-shot, you know.
MK: And when you were in Okinawa, you were a cave flusher, you would try to . . .
TH: Well, primarily tried to save the civilians, knowing the GIs won’t come out.
MK: And how do you get people to come out of the caves?
TH: Well, every cave I went to, first thing I did was I introduced myself in Japanese, regular Japanese. Who I am, where my parents come from. Although I was born in Hawai‘i as a nisei, son of immigrant, I grew up in Okinawa from age two to sixteen. And grew up in Okinawa, went to school in Okinawa. So believe me, Americans are not savage like you’ve been told. “Come out, come out, while you still can.” Then I repeat the same thing over and over and over in Okinawa-högen. Repeat the same thing. And I told myself, what my name is. That’s how this Mrs. Tawada remembers after fifty years of saving her. Because my name is such a short name, and the fact that I spoke högen. She remembers me, so she contact the newspapers. Tried to contact me when I went back in [19]95.
MK: So she was one of the survivors.
TH: She’s — from what I gather — must have been the first cave that I went to, near Futema. And I think I told you about the meeting, yeah? At the Kentucky Fried Chicken (chuckles) over a cup of coffee. See, there were about a little over two hundred people in that cave. And all grouped up into ten, fifteen. And each group had a hand grenade to commit suicide, rather than surrender. Then there was a man, kind of elderly man — how old, I don’t know — urged them, “Get out because you folks are still young, don’t throw your life away. There’s an Okinawa boy over there, he’s not going to shoot you. Go.” And then because of that, they came out afterwards. As I mentioned earlier, I never got to see anyone come out because I wasn’t there all the time. I have to go to other caves. At the most, about ten minutes, and then we got to go to another cave, another cave.
At one cave, I forgot what location it was, but Captain Fernandez and I were hiding behind a small piece of rock and I’m pointing my megahorn to the cave entrance and talking, yeah. And we could hear the bullets flying through, (makes sound), you know, all around us. Scary, yeah. (Chuckles) So I told Captain Fernandez, “Ey, let’s get the hell out of here.” So we got out. As soon as we got to our jeep, hoo, we saw one enemy mortar shell land right on the rock. If we stayed there a few minutes longer, we would have been blown up to pieces.
Then later on, I talked to infantry boys from the front, and they tell me, “As long as you can hear, you’re safe. If you cannot hear, you too late. By then you’ll be shot.” But when you can hear, it’s scary. (Makes sounds), you can hear the bullet flying by. It’s real frightening. Time?
MK: You know, we were just talking about your work as a cave flusher. Trying to get the civilians . . .
TH: Mm-hmm [yes].
MK: . . . to come out of caves. You told us how, generally, you would try to entice them . . .
TH: Yes.
MK: . . . to come out. And I was wondering, when you were doing that, were you armed, too?
TH: Oh, yes.
MK: . . . or was it your escort . . .
TH: I had my rifle—I mean, carbine, yes, all the time. Fully armed, yes.
WN: Captain Fernandez, during all this time, was with . . .
TH: With me, right next to me.
WN: Why do you think he had to do that?
TH: No. I mean keep me company as well as protection from the other guys. Because of that, I was lucky because then I got to see the Japanese officer getting married to an Okinawa girl during the wartime. Didn’t I talk to you about that?
MK: No (chuckles) what is that?
TH: See, soon after we landed — I don’t know, within about two or three weeks, I think — this Japanese officer surrendered to front troops because he fell in love with his company nurse, Okinawa girl, Arakawa something. Shizuko or what. And in order to save her, he decided to give up. He threw his pistol, and his Japanese sword, and came out of the cave. And proposition to the frontline command, “If you let me marry this girl, I give you all the information you want to know about our unit in the front.” So the front troop commander could not give permission. So how far up it went up the channel. But finally, the — what do you call? — permission was granted. And the wedding was conducted at one of the hillsides, yeah. One afternoon, Captain Fernandez came to my tent and said, “Hey Junior, let’s go, let’s go.”
I tell, “Where, where?”
“Shh. Confidential.”
So we went out together and ended up in a wedding scene. I forgot where it was now.
WN: You can find it later.
MK: Oh, you can show it to us later.
WN: Tell us the story.
TH: (Chuckles) Anyway, this Japanese lieutenant, Second Lieutenant Kimura, machine-gun company officer, surrendered. I think he was in the Kakazu Ridge area. Because that’s very close to the front line at that time. And he surrendered and permission was finally granted. As I say, how far up toward the top it went, I don’t know. And the ceremony was conducted by the American chaplain in one of the hills. If I was smart enough, I would have sit behind the couple, so my picture would have been in there. But I was so stupid, I guess, Captain Fernandez and I were standing to the side of the chaplain, facing the couple (chuckles). So our picture is not in there. (Laughter)
But I believe I was the only nisei who witnessed that because it was held in confidence. And the reason why even Captain Fernandez found out was because he’s the commanding officer of the counter-intelligence corps (chuckles). So he gets to know a lot of secret stuff. (Chuckles) So because of my relation with Captain Fernandez, I witnessed that, too. (Laughs)
MK: That’s one of the happy things, yeah (chuckles). The happy events . . .
TH: Yeah.
MK: . . . of this campaign.
TH: The other one was, as I told you, that one particular cave that we went to. It was so frightening, I told Captain Fernandez, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” So we got out. And soon after we reached the jeep down the road, boom, landed on the rock. So that kind of saved us.
The other incident with Captain Fernandez was this. One day, we were coming back from the cave flushing and running through a village. It’s a small farm village away from our division headquarters. We saw one man running, see. So we thought maybe that was Japanese soldiers. So he and I got off the jeep and chased him into the farmhouse. And in Okinawa house, usually, there’s a pig pen. And next to the pig pen, there’s a cesspool, open cesspool. About a little smaller than this, I guess. Lengthwise, about this wide.
WN: Four feet?
TH: Four, maybe four, five feet. And about little narrower, but deep. I know what it is, so I don’t try to jump over. Captain Fernandez, not knowing what it is, tried to jump over. He misstepped and fell into it up to here. (Laughter)
So I had to drag him out. (Laughs) Stink like the dickens. So he tells me, “Junior, you know how to drive jeep?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, you drive.”
And he sprawl out on the front, jeep, and I’m driving jeep, back to division headquarters.
(Laughter)
So the MP, watching the entrance, look at us with the curious eye, yeah. Everybody looking at us. But I drove him straight to the shower room first and hose him down.
(Laughter)
So everybody, “What happened?”
So I told them what happened. And in the meantime, I asked the supply sergeant, “Oh, go get the complete set of fatigues for Captain Fernandez.” He had to throw away all that. Stink like the dickens. I got to brush him off and hose him down.
(Laughter)
That was . . .
WN: Did you and Captain Fernandez ever talk about what might have happened if you folks got captured?
TH: No.
WN: Nobody told you about it?
TH: No. Because we’re within our defense unit. You know, our front troops all around us. That’s why he got to be there to protect me. All around us, American troops.
MK: You felt pretty safe?
TH: Yeah. I didn’t feel any fear about being captured. No. Of course, if you overran the position, then might, possibility. But other than that, no. I never even thought about being captured.
MK: And you know, you mentioned you spent maybe like ten minutes or so at each cave.
TH: Keep going to the next cave, yeah.
MK: How many caves did . . .
TH: Oh, there are lots of caves in Okinawa. Natural caves. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Okinawa was a volcanic island maybe before. Get a lot of caves. And these caves can be used by army defensive position. That’s why the troops moved to the south. Southside even get more.
MK: And when you gave your talk to the people in the caves, what kinds of reactions did you get from the people?
TH: Nothing. Only bullets flying by. Because as I said, I never saw anybody. I know they’re in there, because I get the report from GIs, yeah. Frontline troops. That’s why we go to the cave in the first place.
MK: So most times you don’t see the people coming . . .
TH: No. Never saw even one. For one reason, I was there forever. I got to keep on going, moving, next cave, next cave. And they won’t let me go inside the cave anyway.
MK: And during the time you were in Okinawa, you were in danger, you know. Like you said, you could hear the bullets going by. I know that you were telling us that at times like that, there were no atheists, you think.
TH: Oh, no. That’s when you go in the invasion. Landing, for instance. Landing time. You don’t know when, as you land, you know, machine gun might shoot at you, yeah. I don’t think there’s any atheists in the warfront. Especially the guys like the 442nd and the 100th Infantry guys, under constant enemy fire. Like me, I wasn’t under enemy fire constantly. Even occasionally, I go to the front, close to the front, but not to the real front. Close enough, yes. But not actual fighting ground.
MK: How did being in the war affect your faith, or your religious views?
TH: Just arigatai itte kaeta [thankful I returned]. (Chuckles) And as I said, my true religion, deep in my heart, is the traditional Okinawa belief, ancestral worship. Although I’m now officially a member of Honpa Hongwanji. Jikoen Hongwanji, that’s only for form. I recite sutra without knowing what the hell I’m saying. Kanji, you know. I don’t understand what I’m reading. Just recite what I’m being told to say. No meaning to me. But deep in my heart, I do believe my respect for ancestors. Because of my ancestors, I’m here. Not because of God or Buddha or what. That’s my belief. That’s why, in a way, I’m a renegade. I’m hard to instill in my head that because of God or Buddha, I’m here. Bullshit. Because of my ancestors, I’m here. That’s my belief, okay. I can’t say that to even my minister. I’m sure he’s going to reprimand doing that.
(Laughter)
But I’m a hard-head buggah. No question about it. Stone head.
MK: But I know that, you know, when you were in Okinawa, you were carrying a carbine, right. And there were times when you almost had to shoot it. What were your thoughts on actually hurting another human being?
TH: You know, I’m very glad of one thing. Although I was involved in the Leyte invasion, and Okinawa invasion from the beginning, I never fired one shot out of my carbine against anybody. I was able to discharge my obligation as citizen soldier by use of a megahorn, notebook, and my mouth. Not one shot I aimed at anybody. Although the first day of invasion of Okinawa, I almost shot the young girl and old lady. Almost. But that’s the closest I came. Never shot one. And I’m very happy I discharged my obligation.
My only regret is this. If the people that hiding in the cave believed in us nisei a little bit more, perhaps we could have saved more. Maybe in some cases, our effort wasn’t strong enough, or far enough. But we did our best, tried to convince them. Tried to convince them, yeah, that, “Americans are not savage, please come out. If you come out, we have water, food. And if you are wounded, our aid person going to treat your wound and give you medicine.” We repeated that over and over, and over and over. And tell them, you know, “Americans are not savage like you’ve been brainwashed.”
WN: The incident with the young girl and her grandmother, what did you learn from that incident? Did that change your approach to your job?
TH: No. My belief, as soon as I found out I’m going to Okinawa, my true feeling was, I’m going in there and try to save as many innocent civilians as possible. I’m not going there to kill somebody. That was my inner thought. My innermost thought was save as many as I can. Innocent people. Combatant, I have no choice. If I have to face, I got to protect myself, I’m going to shoot him. But innocent people, I’ll try to save as many as I can within my power. That was my inner thought. And I’m glad I was able to pull through that.