FEATURED VETERAN

Sue Kato, Women's Army Corps

Sometimes showing up is half the battle. If so, on Dec. 13, 1943, Sue Ogata Kato claimed a major victory.

That was the first day of basic training for the Women's Army Corps (WAC). Getting there had required determination and perseverance on the part of the 22-year-old from Greeley, Colorado; staying there would require even more. But by her last day three years later, Kato would be a staff sergeant and one of fewer than 50 second generation Japanese American (Nisei) women who served her country as a WAC during World War II.

Initially, Kato's father had not shared her enthusiasm about the Corps. "Have you lost your good sense?" he said, thinking of the well-paying bookkeeper job his daughter would sacrifice.

But Kato did not dwell on her own well-being. "I thought that I could do something to relieve the boys who were tied down to a desk job," she said in a Hanashi Oral History Program interview. After hearing her reasoning, Kato's father gave his blessing, saying, "Well, you do your best."

In May 1943 Kato sent her letter of intent, but received no response. Then in September she read in a newspaper that the civilian-based WAAC had been converted to an official branch of the Army and renamed the Women's Army Corps. She also read that Nisei women would be allowed to enlist and realized for the first time that, until then, they had been barred from serving.

In time, however, Kato was accepted for service and instructed to report to Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, for training. Before leaving, her former employer told her that that for two days an FBI agent had secretly watched her at work. "We (Nisei women) were all probably under FBI scrutiny when we joined," Kato said.

She soon discovered it wasn't only the FBI who was watching her. On her first day of training, Kato returned to her barracks to find all her clothes pulled from her closet and thrown on the floor. Stunned, she said, "Who did this?"

A tall, slim WAC quietly came forward and said, "I did." "Why?" Kato asked. "Because one of your kind shot and killed my only brother," the woman replied. Immediately, Kato felt a deep sadness. "That's a tragedy," she told the woman, whose name was Helen. But she added, "I was born in the states – in Nebraska – and I'm an American, just like you."

The next day Kato found Helen struggling to make up her bed and stopped to help her. This scenario repeated itself for three days, each time earning them both demerits for being late, until a commanding officer intervened and, learning of the circumstances, erased Kato's demerits.

After basic training ended, both were transferred to Fort Devens, Massachusetts. One day Helen approached Kato and said, "Would you like to go shopping with me to the PX?" At first startled, Kato took only a few seconds to reply, "Sure." When a concerned WAC went to check on them later, she found them sitting at the snack bar sharing a cup of cocoa.

Months later while Kato was at Fort Snelling for language training with the Military Intelligence Service, she received a letter from her former commanding officer saying that Helen had requested a medical discharge for emotional disability. "Helen had a lot of character," Kato wrote back. "It must have taken a lot of personal courage for her to realize that she was having a difficult time coping with army life."

Despite their initial tensions, Kato said she never felt any animosity toward Helen. "We never became buddies, but we became friends." And sometimes that is more than half the battle.

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