* After graduating from college, Arthur Morimitsu was working for the civil service in Sacramento, Calif., when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. War hysteria heightened the racism directed toward people of Japanese ancestry, and he lost his job:
My father got beaten up, you know. So, I thought, when the time came, I wanted to get away from this hate-ridden area, so some people.... I know nowadays young people say, "Why didn't fight against it?" Fight against what? With Army? So my feelings then was that all the people...like the Civil Service people, like us, we lost our jobs. No hearing. Nothing. Just lost our jobs. [Oral History]
I know that we had a brand new refrigerator ... we loaned to a black minister, his family.... My dad had the restaurant and there was a man with German background that delivered coffee; he helped. He helped us a great deal. Very sympathetic. [Oral History]
See, I was a bachelor ... it was something new, you know ... we had people from all over, Marysville, not only that but ... out of state, from Portland, Seattle, Central California.... I was in charge of public relations for the community activities.... So, compared to Sacramento I think I had little more fun there in Tule Lake. [Oral History]
We were to join with the 475th Infantry Regiment and other units to form the Mars Task Force, a commando unit. Mission, to cut off Japanese supplies and reinforcements deep behind enemy lines along the Burma Road. [Autobiography]
At the Military Intelligence School we had been instructed in the 'Order of Battle' procedure for the Japanese armed forces. We knew the identification of major Japanese units in the Burma area-where they originated, size, names of major unit commanders. [Autobiography]
Before the first skirmish with the enemy the Texans wondered what we Nisei were doing in their outfit. After the first initial contact, the entire brass of the regiment, crowded into our makeshift shelter at night to check out diaries and documents brought in by some of the troopers. [Diary]