Oral History Videos

George Takabayashi
Interview Length: 2:26

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
And of course, we were in American uniform.  Sort of perplexing if anything for the enemy to see somebody with the same facial features, physical features.  Brown eyes, black eye, black hair. But, the first POW that I interrogated I will never forget him.  The first thing he said was, "please do not let my family in Japan know that I am a prisoner of war."  And you can understand why this was uttered by this particular individual.  Unlike the United States soldier who is instructed that the only thing you should be giving the enemy should you become captured is your name and your serial number, nothing else.  According to the Geneva Convention of war I guess.  But for the Japanese, when they left, you now fight for your country, fight for the emperor.

Although in the heart of every mother who sent her son or husband or father to war, inside I'm quite sure, mothers whether they are Japanese, black, Caucasian, want to see their dear ones come back alive.  But in Japan this was not so.  And the training itself that they received was to be ashamed to be captured.  And so we had to get them out of this particular mode of thinking.  That because they are POWs, that they should be ashamed of themselves.  No, they, they did their job.  Unfortunately they got captured.  But I say it was fortunate they got captured.  Because once they came into our hands, they required medical treatment, they got it.  They got clothing, they were fed.