Oral History Program Tom Kanno Interviewed by Everett Neiswender 05 February 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Tom Kanno Interviewed by Everett Neiswender 05 February 1971 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in Special Collections. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Kanno, Tom, an oral history by Everett Neiswender, 05 February 1971, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Tom Kanno. The interview was conducted on February 5, 1971, by Everett Neiswender. Mr. Kanno discusses his career in the military during World War II. EN: Where did your ancestors come from? TK: Japan. EN: Was there some Korean ancestry in there somewhere? TK: No they came from Fugushima, Japan. No Korean ancestry at all. EN: How long has your family been settled in the United States? TK: Oh I think about 65 years. EN: OK, this was 65 years before the outbreak of World War Two, right? TK: Yes, that's right. EN: I understand there were three internment camps for people of Japanese ancestry in the Intermountain West. One was in Idaho, one was in central Utah, and one in Arizona, which one was your relatives sent to? TK: Well, before the evacuation started in California, they had moved back up here to Ogden. So, there wasn't any internment camp involved. EN: Oh I see, is this the period after which they moved permanently to Ogden? TK: Yes, right. EN: And your family has remained in this vicinity since that time, is this right? 1 TK: Yes, that's right. They have been here since Ward War Two, and before that we used to live around here before World War Two. EN: Oh I see, I didn't knew that. Now on your entering the service, where did you enlist at? TK: Los Angeles, California. Right after Pearl Harbor I went down to enlist and they told me I couldn't enlist unless I had my birth certificate, so what I did was write to Boise, Idaho to get my birth certificate. As soon as I received it I joined the Army. EN: How long did this take? TK: Oh it took about two weeks. EN: In what year did you enlist? TK: In 1942 - January. EN: Where did you take your basic training? TK: Well, I started from San Pedro, went up to Everett, Washington and stayed there for I guess about two months, then we went to Santa Barbara and got bombed; so, from there they shipped us clear into Kansas. We stayed there for about a year and a half. From there we went to Fort McClellan, Alabama for our basic training. EN: Your organization is the one that participated in the Italian Campaign I understand. Is this true? TK: Yes, that is correct. We started from Italy, went up into France and in to Germany. EN: Where were you taken prisoner of war? TK: In France, in I believe they call it Burieres, France. EN: How long a period were you in the prison camp? 2 TK: Well, I was there a little ever six months in Stalag No. seven in Germany. EN: I remember a good friend of mine that entered the service with me was shot down over the POLESTEI oil fields in Romania and he was sent to Stalag No. three. He spent three years as a prisoner of war. What was the designation of the organization you were in? TK: The outfit I was with was the 442nd Combat Infantry Regiment. EN: How long did you stay in that organization? TK: We left here in September, we left the United States in September and got up there about the end of September. I was with the outfit for only about a month and a half. EN: Okay, since this was the most decorated outfit in the United States Army, what awards did you get? I understand that it was the Bronze Star instead of the Silver Star you received, is this true? TK: That is right. I received the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantry Badge, the Combat Medical Badge, and a ribbon with three bronze stars on it. EN: When were you discharged from the service? TK: Oh let’s see, it was in November, 1945. EN: That's strange, I was discharged in November, 1945. Where were you discharged? TK: Fort Douglas. EN: That's odd, how long have you worked at Hill Air Force Base? TK: I have worked up here 20 years now. EN: In other words ever since you left the service? 3 TK: No, not exactly. I went to Idaho far two years to do some farming up there, and then I came back, and started here in December, 1950. EN: Oh I see. Okay Tom thanks a million for the interview. 4