In 1942, Grant Ichikawa volunteered to go to Camp Savage, Minn., from Gila River Detention Camp. Before he made his decision final, he met with his family. His father said, "Well this is your country and if you want to volunteer and fight, even against Japan, if that's what you want we'll support you.... The only thing is, don't do anything that will bring shame to the family." [Uncommon Courage].
Ichikawa entered the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) on November 1942, became fluent in Japanese, and graduated six months later. After completing basic training at Camp Shelby with the 442nd Regiment, he left the United States and joined the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) in Brisbane, Australia. By the time prisoners had arrived at ATIS, the Allied forces wanted to extract strategic information from prisoners ranging from information on American POWs to the types of weapons being manufactured in Japan.
At ATIS he worked in the interrogation section for about one year and then transferred to the 39th Division in the Philippines in July 1945:
That's why I call our service extreme patriotism.... In our case, we know we're going to go to the Pacific Theater and fight against Japan.... You're in camp because you're being accused of being pro-Japan, or possibly espionage agent, cannot be trusted and all these things, and then here you are volunteering fro the same Army that put you behind barbed wire fence ... that you're willing to fight against the very country you're suspected of being loyal to. [Uncommon Courage]
Yokohama was heavily bombed because that's where they had the factory.... Yokohama was flat. They had firebombs, you know, dropped on it. It was devastating. So our first impression was, oh boy, war is terrible. My uncle lived in Yokohama. He had a business. He had a nice house. It was all gone. [Uncommon Courage]
Our group was the atomic bomb group. And we visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Hiroshima, the people were still picking up bones with chopsticks, you know, relatives dying, friends dying. [Uncommon Courage]
When they looked at us [Nisei], I think many of them, many of them probably felt we sort of betrayed them or something, I don't know. But also many of them also were very thankful that we were there to bridge the difference between their culture and the Americans.... so we were there to be the bridge.... I ran into almost no opposition to our being there. [Uncommon Courage]
They were all tired of the war. The whole Japanese population was tired of the war. And they were thankful that the war had ended the way it did. Now they can rebuild and I think they were happy to see us.... I was able to visit the family home. [Uncommon Courage]