HANASHI ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM CAPTURES 1000TH VETERAN INTERVIEW
Gardena, California resident George Kobayashi, a Military Intelligence Service (MIS) linguist in occupied Japan, gave Go For Broke National Education Center's Hanashi Oral History Program its 1,000th unique veteran interview in mid-March. GFBNEC is working with the US Army Center for Military History to collect and transcribe 30 oral histories a year for a scholarly, objective and professional history of Nisei or second-generation Japanese American linguists who served in Japan from 1945 – 1952, during the US military's post-World War II occupation. This is the second year of the three-year program that began in September 2008.
The Center for Military History intends to use the oral histories collected through this program for a sequel to "Nisei Linguist: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II" by Dr. James McNaughton. The book focuses on Nisei linguists during the occupation of Japan.
GFBNEC Hanashi staff captured 32 of these interviews last year and 20 so far this year. An estimated 3,000 Japanese Americans served during this period. Before beginning this project for the Center for Military History, GFBNEC had already interviewed several Nisei linguists who were in the MIS during World War II and stationed in occupied Japan after the fighting ended. Working with the Center has enabled GFBNEC Hanashi staff and volunteers to experience unique, never-been-told stories that underscore the bilingual, bicultural significance to building peace in post-war Japan.
PFC Kobayashi arrived in Tokyo in 1946 and was assigned to the War Crimes Tribunal, A Trials. His job was to call the court to order every morning and sit in on questioning of those being tried to ensure that questioning did not damage the legal process.
Kobayashi grew up in San Francisco where a high school counselor told him he would never amount to anything because he was Japanese American. Disregarding his counselor, he applied to Berkeley in 1941 but his family was forced into the Topaz incarceration camp in Utah before he could finish his degree. He found a way to get out of Topaz by working on a farm and applied to the University of Utah to finish his studies. But, on the heels of an older brother in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Kobayashi was drafted. Kobayashi became a structural engineer after he completed his service in the MIS.
The Hanashi team is traveling throughout California and nationwide to conduct its interviews with MIS Nisei veterans who served during the occupation of Japan. In addition to Kobayashi, Hanashi's recent interviews for this program include Kaoru "Kay" Yokoyama, San Clemente, CA; Paul Ito, Sacramento; Fred Fujimoto, Elk Grove, CA; Koji Kawaguchi, Woodbridge, CA; Toshi Uesato and Moffet Ishikawa, San Jose, and Joe Kurata, San Francisco. More interviews in Northern California, Seattle, Texas and Minneapolis are planned.
Additional information about GFBNEC's Hanashi Oral History Program, including volunteer opportunities, is available by contacting Laura Shigemitsu, Program Manager, at 310-222-5705 or laura@goforbroke.org. GFBNEC also welcomes names and any information on Nisei who served in occupied Japan.
