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

WN: Were you aware, or did you witness any incidences contrary to that? Your belief.
TH: Personally, no. Personally, no. I don’t think anybody deliberately shoot civilians. Not even GIs. Although I heard one incident in my village. As I said, my village had a lot of people who came to Hawai‘i and went back to Okinawa. So many of them can speak pidgin English. So the GIs told ’em “Come out, come out,” they all came out. So they came out intact. And once you got home — one man, for some reason, was trying to run up a hillside path, and GIs told him, “Stop, stop.” But he doesn’t understand, so he got shot for no reason. Just because he didn’t obey the GI’s order. He’s the only one casualty from my grandparent’s village. And that’s because he didn’t understand what the GI was saying. Not because he was doing anything wrong. That’s the only incident I heard.
WN: So for the most part, you would say that the GIs there, the haole GIs, . . .
TH: I never heard any atrocity. No. Never heard one. There may have been one, but I don’t know. Because being mistaken for a soldier, disguised soldier, some of them might have gotten shot. That, I have no idea. I have no knowledge whatsoever about the innocent civilians being shot by GIs. There may have been some incidents of being killed by GIs, I’m sure. Because of the war condition. But mistaken identity, maybe. But not in the deliberate brutality that I know of. No.
MK: You know, as a kibei nisei serving under the American flag in Okinawa, how did Okinawans react to you?
TH: I didn’t have direct contact. In fact, the general I spoke of, brigadier general, he knew my relative was very close to our division headquarters. Just about four kilometers away. So one day, general came to my tent, he said, “Hey Junior, your relative is only a short distance from here, eh?”
“Yes, Sir.” Shimabuku is only four kilometers away to the north from Futema headquarters, see.
“Okay. Take Captain Fernandez, go visit. Two-hour time.”
So we drove up. And we went up to my aunty’s house, closest to the highway. (Chuckles) Before the war, my aunty’s family had only five people living in the whole house, yeah. When we went, several hundred people, all the evacuation center. A lot of people, strangers. So not knowing any one of those people, three of us, my jeep driver and Captain Fernandez, we stand in a three triangle way, cover each other’s back. And I’m talking to my aunty in högen, eh. So I could hear people in the background saying, “Eh, I understand this guy is that lady no nephew.” This and that. I could hear, högen. They making comments behind me. But I don’t know them. So I wouldn’t know if any one of them might come up with a dagger and try to kill me. So we’re watching each others background. Captain Fernandez watching me in the background and I’m watching someone else’s background. And jeep driver watching this side, yeah. Three of us, three, triangle way. Covering each other’s back. I’m talking to my aunty. Excitement. And I didn’t realize Aunty was slightly pregnant. So after the war, baby was born. The youngest, Itsuko, born. So we got the letter. So my sister asked me, “When you went to see Aunty, you saw Aunty was häpai [pregnant]?”
“Hell no, I don’t know.” Must have been.
(Laughter)
Soon after the war, the baby was born, see. So must have been quite big, but I never noticed because my mind was the farthest thing from watching the behavior of the aunty, talking to Aunty. And the uncle asked, standing right next to her, so I told Uncle, “By the way, where’s Hiroshi Nïsan?”
“Oh, Hiroshi Nïsan being a doctor, got drafted into military, doctor, went to someplace in the Philippines or someplace.”
So I told my uncle, “Uncle, Hiroshi Nïsan, don’t worry. Americans would never bomb or shell a military hospital or aid station. Don’t worry.”
And my younger cousin, same age with me, Minoru, he was drafted into the air force. Some kind of technician. So he didn’t know where he was. So I told Uncle, “Minoru might be in danger because he might be in the frontline troops. But the oldest cousin, Hiroshi Nïsan, don’t worry. As long as he’s with the military hospital. We will never bomb or shell military aid station or the hospital.”
And sure enough, all came back alive. And so I told Uncle, “Don’t worry about Hiroshimi Nïsan.” And this Hiroshi Nïsan is one real kawaigaru [cared for] me, treat me like a kid brother, because I lost my parents when I was twelve years old, yeah. So they treated me like a kid brother. And really treated me nicely, the oldest sister and oldest cousin. So to this day, I’m very close to them.
MK: And during that visit to your aunty’s place, no incident?
TH: No. There were a couple hundred people in that house. Every space in the house was occupied, including the pig pen. They cleaned up the pig pen, put straw. Horse stall, everything. Everything was occupied. And all neighboring community people, yeah, evacuated. My uncle and aunty’s house was a nice house, see. And it was intact, so it was used as one of the evacuation centers. I was flabbergasted. So many people and all unknown, yeah. I was afraid, too, because not knowing any one of them. That’s why the three of us watched each other. And because we only had two hours’ time, so I couldn’t go to my other uncle’s house, the one I grew up with. And the uncle heard about me and came to my aunty’s house. But by then, we’re going back already (chuckles). So missed the uncle. They heard about, you know, I being in Shimabuku. So, spread like wildfire, yeah. So Uncle was running toward my aunty’s house, but by then, we were on our jeep on the way to headquarters. Just missed him by about five minutes.
MK: And then by late June, Okinawa was all secured by the end . . .
TH: Well, the actual organized resistance ended in June 22, or 23. But mop-up operation continued for a few days, I’m sure. That part, I’m not sure because I wasn’t there. Then after that, after Okinawa was secured, our division went back to the Philippines for a short R-and-R. Rest and recuperation. And on the ship back to the Philippines, there was all kinds of rumors. One of the rumors was that after the short break, we were scheduled to land somewhere in Kyushu on November 3. Of course, on the way back, Philippines, Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing took place, yeah. Then, the day we arrive at Mindoro, Philippines, August 15, the war officially ended. Unconditional surrender. So then we debarked and went to the plan. And then few days, there was talk about demobilization and the division was going back home for discharge. So I ran into my colonel’s tent, “Colonel, send me back to Okinawa, maybe still can be useful over there.”
Colonel looked at me, smiled, and said, “No, Junior, I cannot send you to Okinawa because you are scheduled to go to Korea.”
I said, “What? Korea?”
“Yeah, you’ve been asked to be assigned to the 6th Division in Korea.”
“For what?”
“No, you’ll be asked to interrogate repatriating Japanese from north.”
So I was sent to Korea in early September. I think it was September 3rd, I think, I went to Korea and stayed there until December 22 or 23, almost three months, interrogating the evacuating Japanese from north. Manchuria, as well what is now North Korea.
MK: What did you interrogate them about?
TH: What they saw. And what I heard from them, and what I heard from our own senior officers in division headquarters, really disturbed me. For one thing, war just ended. This is what I overheard a couple division staff officers talking to each other — I’m a nosy buggah so, you know, I’m listening to a lot of stuff, yeah. And a couple of them talking to each other, saying that we are Seabees — American Seabees, yeah — widening the entrance and deepening the Inch’on Harbor so that bigger ships can go in and out easily. And the air force engineers enlarging and expanding the Kimpo Airfield—one of the main airfields—so that B-29s can go in and out easily. And they plan to build a super highway near Kimpo Airfield. And that can be used as a fighter strip in case of emergency. Okay, these are American sources, now. Overheard. I don’t know if it’s a fact or not, because I never actually saw ’em, yeah. What I overheard. But, okay.
Then, from the Japanese side, they tell me they saw many airfields under construction in the north. Especially north of Yalu River. And some were carpenters, so, what appears to be the construction of a barracks up in the north. They don’t know the identity of the airfield construction and the barracks. They didn’t know who they were, whether Chinese or Koreans, they don’t know. But anyway, construction was going on in the north. And this could be easily identified by the aerial reconnaissance. So I made a notation in my interrogation reports, this and that. But what I heard from both sides really concerned me. I was confident, deep inside myself, I was confident we’re going to have another conflict. Some kind of conflict within three years. And sure enough, five years later, Korea incident blew out.
So I came back in December [19]45. I think I got home about December 23, our time, yeah. I stayed overnight at Tokyo, from Korea. And on the way to Tokyo, from Korea, army plane, BC-3, two-engine plane. We flew around Mount Fuji once, and the captain, I mean, the pilot of the plane, he said that was his last flight. Next day, he was going home. So he said, “Oh, hell, I’m going home tomorrow, let’s go one more time.” (Chuckles) So we saw Mount Fuji twice, from the air. And that mountain is beautiful. No matter from what angle, you see the same shape. And being December, late December, snow was all the way to the bottom. I mean, not bottom, but way down, eh. It’s so beautiful. Nice weather, beautiful scenery. So we had the opportunity to see Mount Fuji from the air twice, thanks to the pilot.
(Laughter)
And stay overnight in Tokyo one night. And in the few hours we had, I had the opportunity to go visit the Imperial Palace. I even took a memorial picture there. I have the picture at home. The Japanese photographer took the picture for us. Myself in a uniform, and standing in front. And then came home by way of, I think it’s Midway. I’m not sure which one, Guam or Midway. In those days, DC-4, the four-engine plane, not enough to make a direct flight from Tokyo to here, eh. Have to stop somewhere in between to refuel. So I’m not sure whether it was Guam or Midway. But anyway, we stopped at one island and flew back to Hawai‘i.
And in the meantime, my brother had enough points to be discharged right away so he remained in the Philippines, waiting for shipment back home. But those days, Hawai‘i GIs, I mean transport, all went back to Main[land]—San Francisco, Los Angeles, West Coast. Hawai‘i guys came by plane. And coming back on the plane according to ranks, yeah. Higher ranks get higher priority. My brother was only tech sergeant so they would push back, push back. Then finally, he came on January [19]46. He was supposed to be home before me. So when he came back, I was waiting for him at Hickam (chuckles). So he look at me, “How come you got home already?”
(Laughter)
He knew I was sent to Korea, yeah. And then after that, I don’t have correspondence with him, see. We didn’t know each other. (Chuckles) Then, I got discharged January, early part of January, [19]46, and I went back to Farrington High School.
MK: Before we get into Farrington, I was wondering, how was your homecoming when you came home?
TH: My brother-in-law and my sister had just opened a store on Kukui Street. Grocery store, hole-in-the-wall. I just came home on the bus from Hickam. Catching the bus, and stop over at the Kukui Street store. I walked in, yeah, my sister look at me, “Huh? When you got home?” (Chuckles)
“I just got home few minutes ago, few hours ago.” So I talk story. They didn’t know, they didn’t expect me coming home.
WN: But nothing at Hickam?
TH: No. Hickam, just processing. Process coming home, processing. And then go home.
WN: I was wondering, when you were in Tokyo — I know you were there only for a little while, but did you get any feeling of the mood there . . .
TH: No.
WN: . . . or what people were saying?
TH: No. Was too busy. (Laughs) Too busy looking around. I know there were a lot of niseis stationed in Tokyo, NYK [Nippon Yusen Kaisha] building. That was their quarters. I think we slept in NYK, I’m not sure. Only one night anyway. That was nisei headquarters. All assigned to the occupation, eh.
WN: You weren’t encouraged to re-up, sign up for occupation?
TH: No, no. Even if they did, I wouldn’t have signed up anyway. I was going back to school. I told you, I only finished high school one year. So I was determined to go back to school. And we knew the GI Bill was in there, so I knew I could afford to go school.