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

I used to go to Roosevelt Theater on Maunakea Street, used to see cowboy picture. See, cowboy pictures you don’t have to know English to understand that, by action. So I used to enjoy for another reason, cheap. I think it was only five cents or ten cents admission. Five cents I think it was, [19]39. So I wrote about the cowboy picture. And I got called in again to principal’s office. “I understand you went to movies over the weekend.”
“Yes.” So I said, “Why, is it wrong to go to movies?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Why?”
“Jesus Christ. As long as they had any free time, he studied book, Bible, and prayed. He didn’t have to go to movies to spend time.”
So I retorted again, “Well, Mr. Rice, even if he wanted to go, I don’t think they had movies those days.”
(Laughter)
I guess this time, Mr. Rice kind of disgusted with me, too. I was totally disgusted. I was totally disgusted with the school. Not necessarily against the religion, but the way they tried to influence me. So I told my brother, “Eh, Brother, ask Farrington [High School] if they can accept me.”
So, at that time, Farrington principal was Mr. Walter Gordon who happened . . .
[Walton Gordon.]
TH: Walton Gordon, who happened to be his teacher at Central Intermediate when my brother was going over there. So I asked him, “Eh, ask Mr. Gordon if he can admit me to Farrington.”
So again, they told me, “If he can pass a minimum test, I’ll let you in.”
Again, I don’t know how I passed it, but I was admitted. So September 1942, I transferred to Farrington. But in between, I’ve been working right through, yeah, part-time. Admitted Farrington, and then finished Farrington [19]42, [19]43, June. Sophomore. At that time, this nisei volunteer group came out, see, 442nd volunteers stuff came out. My brother [Warren Higa] was already at the university taking ROTC [Reserve Officer’s Training Corps] also. So he signed up right away. I don’t sign up for a long time. So my brother keep asking me, “Eh, what are you going to do? All the nisei are going, signing up, you know.”
So I told my brother, “Eh, brother, remember I ran away from Okinawa because I didn’t want to be drafted into the Japanese army? And still, my lack of English understanding, you expect me to volunteer, go in the army? Bullshit.” You know.
He said, “Well, everybody’s volunteering, you know.”
Then, in those days, FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] was rounding up all Japanese community leaders, eh. Especially schoolteachers and the ministers. And here, I’m only a young punk that came back from Japan only two years before the war. Eh, they might lock me up in Sand Island. So I said, “Eh, if I don’t volunteer, they might lock me up.” So I did volunteer. But somehow, they didn’t take me. My brother got selected, they didn’t take me.
At first, I was very reluctant to volunteer because as I told you, I ran away from Okinawa because I didn’t want to be sent to Manchuria. And another thing is, still lacking proper English knowledge. But after seeing that - reading the newspaper, all the community leaders, Japanese community leaders, being rounded up by FBI and thrown into — what shall I say? — relocation camps in Sand Island. I just came back from (clears throat) Japan a couple years ago, so they might throw me in there. I was afraid of that, I did volunteer. But they didn’t take me. My brother was accepted, but they didn’t take me for some reason. So, at that time, I kind of felt sad. Why wasn’t I selected? Was it because they suspect me? You know, they suspect me of being disloyal? That was my concern.
Anyway, about three months after the 442nd left the Islands for training on the Mainland, I got a letter from the war department. The content was, “This time, we’re going to organize language soldiers, Japanese-language soldiers.” And the content was, “Are you still interested in serving your country?” Hey, that put me on real turmoil, I tell you. Because if it’s Japanese, it’s understood that after training is over, I’d be thrown into the Pacific warfront. My big concern was, what if I meet up with someone I know at the warfront? My relative, my classmate, my good friends, you know. What am I supposed to react? That was my biggest concern. Then I thought about it, thought about it, and said, “Well, since I did volunteer for combat duty, I cannot say no now.” I cannot say that I cannot volunteer for a language. So I said, “Oh, I will.” So I responded, said I will.
So a few weeks later, I got a letter, said come to Dillingham Building, room so-and-so, for an interview. So I went. There was an intelligence officer and an FBI agent, too. So they start asking me a lot of questions and some of the things they asked me, I forgot the answer. Yeah. I forgot what it was all about. Then they look at their notes, “Oh, no. You so-and-so, you did so-and-so.” I was surprised they know more about me than I remember myself. Yeah. So at that point, I had a tremendous respect for American intelligence and the FBI. At the end of the - toward the end of the conversation, they stick in front of me one small article — I don’t know what kind of book it was, but “Can you read this?” So I read it, nenenenene you know. “What does it say?”
So, I said, so-and-so, so-and-so.
“Okay, we’ll let you know if we’re going to accept you or not.”
[This is English you read?]
No, Japanese. And then I read the Japanese and they tell me, “Do you understand what it says?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Okay, translate.”
[How was your English at that time?]
Well, I just finished Farrington High School sophomore year. Speech wasn’t good, but at least I knew some English words. Sentencing, and whatnot.
So afterwards, say, “Okay, we’ll let you know by letter whether we’re going to accept you or not.”
So about several weeks later, I got another letter. Said this time, “Please report to Schofield on so-and-so, certain room, certain-certain day, certain time.” So I went. (Chuckles) There were almost three hundred people over there. At that point, I was inducted. (Chuckles) Altogether, 239 of us joined.
[Were there others that went to that same building and had that same kind of interview?]
No, only me. I was really surprised they knew so much. I mean, I was only a sixteen-year-old young punk that just came back from Okinawa two years before the war. And why they were keeping dossier on me, I don’t know. Because I didn’t do anything, outrageous things in the two-year period. Somehow, they keep track of me, I guess. They know some of the things I don’t remember, I forgot. That really shake me.
[You said that the main reason why you enlisted in the first place was that . . .]
Afraid that . . .
[. . . you thought that you were going to get . . .]
. . . I might be turned in.
[. . . turned in. Was that the major reason? Were there other reasons why you . . .]
I mean, loyalty and service to the country, farthest thing from my mind.
[What about your brother, did he tell you why he enlisted?]
Brother, well, he was already in the ROTC program, so he and his group, all volunteered right away. Ted Tsukiyama was one of them. And as you know, afterwards, they were inducted into Hawaiian home guard [Hawaii Territorial Guard], yeah. And they were guarding the beach. And later on, army discharged them from their duty. And thereafter, Hung Wai Ching and somebody else’s influence, they organized Varsity Victory Volunteers, Triple V. Those are the forerunners, my brother, Ted Tsukiyama group, all of them.
[You know, when you realized that you were really inducted into the army, how did you feel?]
I had a mixed feeling. I had a mixed feeling. Now that I’m inducted. One good thing was, I was going to be sent to Minnesota, yeah, for training. And going to Mainland is a dream, eh? (Chuckles) I didn’t know what to expect over there. But at Minnesota, Camp Savage. . . .
To go back a little bit to the history of the MIS [Military Intelligence Service], somehow, some offices, intelligence officers — the United States Army, especially 4th Army, Western Division, headquartered in Presidio, San Francisco — among them, Colonel [Kai] Rasmussen. I don’t know what was his rank at that time, but he was one of those officers recognized a possible conflict with Japan. And he wanted to train language personnel. So in November [19]41, he started school in San Francisco, Crissey Field, San Francisco. One of the old, unused hangars, converted into classrooms. They started a class with sixty-two students. Four of them, hakujin [Caucasian]. And I think six of them failed, or something, of the original class. Okay, class was conducted in San Francisco, Presidio.
But in early [19]42, there was an executive order, I forgot the number [9066], but FDR [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] issued an executive order, evacuate all Japanese from the West Coast. So even school has to move somewhere. And luckily, Camp Savage, in Minnesota — formerly, I understand was a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. Happened to be empty, available. So the school was moved to Camp Savage, early [19]42. Exact month, I don’t know. If you look at our MIS history book, you might be able to find the date. But offhand, I don’t know the date. Anyway, Camp Savage available. All barracks-type, yeah. So school was transferred over there. And the first class started the [19]42. We were the [19]43, second class.
[And you mentioned that you had mixed feelings. The good feeling was . . .]
Going to the Mainland.
[. . . that you get to go to the Mainland. What were the bad feelings?[
Bad feeling is got to go in the army.
(Laughter)
I don’t know what to expect in the army. I mean, excitement, too. But deep inside, inner feeling is fear, what to expect.
[And, you know, I never asked you, but when the war first started — when Pearl Harbor was bombed — what did you feel?]
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. War actually came. See, the day the invasion, December 7, I was still at the cafeteria, working. Sunday. About nine o’clock, one haole lady came into the cafeteria asking for coffee, see. “Coffee, coffee, coffee.” And she was really upset. And she say, “War, war, war, coffee, coffee.” So we gave her a cup of coffee. She shake so much, half of the coffee spill over into the plate. So we look at the girl, say, “Eh, that lady must be cuckoo little bit.” You know, we didn’t know what it was.
“War, war, war. I just dropped off my husband, Pearl Harbor.”
Among us, we say, “Eh, this wähine [woman], I think little bit cuckoo, yeah.”
She went out. And then about eleven o’clock — oh, before eleven, yeah, I think — the radio announcement came, this is the war. So when the second attack came, instead of watching the sky, we ran to the basement. First attack, we didn’t know it was war, yeah. I was one of the guys who went up to the rooftop of YMCA, second floor, observing Pearl Harbor side with the binoculars. So every time a plane dived, black smoke come out, see. “Wow, today, renshü [practice] must be real terrible, terrific renshü.” We didn’t know it was war.