When Harry Katsuharu Fukuhara's father passed away, his mother decided to return to Japan with all of her children. Initially, Fukuhara refused to go but relented when she promised he could return to the United States after he turned 18 and completed high school. By the time of his death, Fukuhara's father had accumulated a small fortune through farm sales, and unlike other Japanese Americans Fukuhara had grown accustomed to living in a middle-class American household with Caucasian friends.

He arrived in Japan in 1933, and life in Japan came as a shock. He hated the regimentation of school life, especially the uniforms and short hair, plus he could not speak Japanese:

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Right away we were singled out as foreigners who couldn't speak Japanese and most of us (Nisei) were two or three years older than the class that we were in. There was always the hazing that goes on. Of course, being from the United States, we would be picked on. [Oral History]
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At age 18, his mother gave him a ticket to Seattle and some pocket change and he returned to America. He worked odd jobs in Seattle and in the canneries in Alaska, finally ending up in Los Angeles:

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I was told by friends of my father in Seattle that my father was a very good friend of Charlie Chaplin. He said that Charlie Chaplin's secretary was an Issei named Mr. Kono and that if I looked him up he would be very influential. He was. [Oral History]
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After bouncing from job to job, Fukuhara found work as a houseboy and entered college. Fortunately, the couple he worked for, the Mows, helped him get through school and supported him through the difficult times. After December 7th, amidst the war hysteria, they even suggested that they adopt him so that he could have a Caucasian last name. The authorities said no.

The Army began evicting Japanese Americans from their homes, and Fukuhara's sister came from Seattle with her baby daughter to stay with him. They were the only two of their family in the United States:

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We went into camp together; 1st of May we went to Tulare, I think we were there about three months and we all moved to Gila, Arizona, and I was there maybe two or three month.... I left Gila Arizona around November 20 or 21. I was in camp six months. [Oral History]
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Even though he had fun going to the dances, he knew if he stayed much longer in camp, his attitude would have soured:

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I was looking for an opportunity to get out of the camp and although going into the Army wasn't my first choice, when they came around recruiting I thought that was a good chance of getting out of camp. [Oral History]
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His decision was a matter of freedom, not patriotism:

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People asked me over the years how did I feel and why was I still patriotic and loyal to the United States? I finally told them that I was not patriotic.... I was in the Army 30 years and no one doubts my loyalty or anything like that ... but I didn't volunteer just because I was a true loyal American, or anything ... I took the first thing that came. [Oral History]
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Early in the morning, he and about 25 other young men left Gila River, Ariz., for Fort Snelling in Minnesota to enroll in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Language School. Because he had lived in Japan for so long, he did not need to study as much as other Nisei. As the Pacific War's intensity grew, the language school decided to send out some of their students before graduation and Fukuhara left for the West Coast:

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As to where we were going beyond San Francisco, at least our group of ten did not know... All we knew was that there was a war going on, MacArthur had left the Philippines, the navy was in Hawaii... Most of us didn't think about coming back in a year or two. No one had any idea how long it would last other than the fact that it was going to be a long war. [Oral History]
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	First, the Army sent him to the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) in Australia. There, the MIS linguists demonstrated what they could do:

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Initially, however, they had to educate the people as to how we could be used to their advantage. Later on as we participated in these campaigns of landing, it was the first time for all of us, a trial and error in some respects, but they caught on very fast that we were useful and there were things that we could do that nobody else could do. [Oral History]
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Next, Fukuhara went into battle. Unlike most soldiers, he had an entire closet of materials he had to haul with him: 

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We had one called B rations which was only chocolate bars. We had a C ration, that was divided up to breakfast, lunch, and supper. We packed all those things and then we had dictionaries and all the things that were issued to us. So we had to take pencils, papers, etc. I thought it was odd going to war with dictionaries, pencils, and papers. We also carried typewriters. I had a gun too. I think it was comical; I wish we had a camera to take picture of this, going to war with a carbine and a typewriter. [Oral History]
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En route to his first landing, he lost his helmet, threw up, and passed out while Japanese planes shot at their boat. After setting up camp, he wandered away from his bodyguard to pick up a jug of water at the beach: 

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I got on the jeep and went down to the beach to get the water.... Then all of a sudden one soldier saw me and I saw him and he picked up his gun and he pointed it at me. Then it dawned on me, he wasn't sure but he thought I was an enemy soldier. I put down the five gallon can of water and heading toward the jeep and I started talking to him in English, tried to convince him that I was one of his people and not an enemy soldier. Maybe that confused him all the more because I spoke English.... This bodyguard that was assigned to us realized that I wasn't around and he came looking for me. He finally talked to this soldier and convinced him that we were on the same side. It shook me up for awhile. After that I was very careful because I realized it could cause problems. [Oral History]
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Fukuhara participated in various beach landings, interrogations, and night patrols. He scouted islands with the indigenous people and got along well with most of the men he worked with, Caucasian, Native American, or Mexican. Throughout it all, he realized part of his mission was to convince soldiers to turn in documents and prisoners.

As the war wound down, Fukuhara realized that the Army had scheduled him for the invasion of Japan. He did not want to go and told them:

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I don't want to go on the invasion into Japan, not that I am scared or anything like that, but I have a family-my mother is there, my older brother who is in the [Japanese] army, I have two younger brothers who were probably in the [Japanese] army someplace, and I just don't feel ... I just don't want to go to Japan. [Oral History]
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After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered. And while Fukuhara did not have to participate in the invasion, his family lived in the Hiroshima area. After arriving as part of the Occupation Forces, he commanding officer made a generous offer:

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The division commander, the general, told me that whenever I was ready they would give me as many vehicles and as much food and whatever I needed to go look for my family. But I couldn't get through. The roads and bridges were gone and I couldn't buy anything. They would give me anything I wanted-drivers, guards, and everything. Free vehicles. [Oral History]
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Finally, he took an 18 year-old driver, and headed out to Hiroshima:

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When we went into Hiroshima station it was about 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock in the morning. It was moonlight so I could see all the way across the city from one end to the other. Nothing was standing except a couple of shells of buildings. I thought, "Oh, there is no chance that the family would survive." [Oral History]

I found the house. By that time I guess it was 5 o'clock in the morning and I knocked at the door and nobody answered.... So I went around to the back of the house and banged on the door there and my aunt came out.... So right away she called my mother and my mother looked at me and she couldn't believe that it was me. She said that I was in camp. They knew that I was in camp. [Oral History]
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About eight years after he left Japan, Fukuhara had returned.

In the beginning of 1946, the Army deactivated him and he returned to the United States. One year later, he decided to go to Japan to participate in counterintelligence activities and stayed with the Army for the next 30 years of his life.

