Oral History Videos

Hiromi Suehiro
Interview Length: 2:44

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
And that it was better to die than be a coward.  And disgrace my family.  Be the first man in the 100th to be a coward.  So I kept repeating that over and over again.  Better to die.  And then I remembered a letter from my mother so I took the letter out.  It doesn't get dark in Italy.  At that time, I think it was around 8:00, I could still read it.  You know, the letter started out with the usual salutations, everybody's fine, how are you.  You know, so don't worry about us.  And then she said that she's been working as a janitress at the University of Hawaii for the last year.

And as I read her letter, I knew why she didn't let the students or the professor help her write the letter.  Because what she said to me can only be said from a mother to her son.  She said, "soon you will be fighting the enemy.  My son, do not be a coward.  Be brave for your father and your family."  And I think that my mother loved my father that much.  She knew from the day I volunteered that some day she would have to say the words that she said to me in her letter.  "Don't disgrace my husband and your family."  And I said to myself, how can I hurt her by being a coward.  So I made a silent vow to her.