Warren Tsuneishi came from a large family that included 10 children. Even though the Japanese-American community in the area was small and isolated and the Tsuneishi family in particular lived farther away in Duarte, he remembers attending many community events and activities that linked them to Japanese traditions and culture, such as judo and <i>kendo</i> tournaments and Japanese language classes. The fact that their mother spoke little English also helped stimulate a Japanese-rich environment at home.
<br><br>Although the Tsuneishis lived alongside Caucasian families, they still faced racial discrimination at schools and other public facilities. Tsuneishi still bears the psychological scars from such experiences.
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In Duarte, there were two schools, one for the whites and the other for the coloreds, Blacks and Hispanics....In California, racial discrimination was a daily encounter. We, along with the Blacks and Hispanics, were denied the public facilities. The swimming pool was closed to us except on a specified day of the week. We grew up with the belief that the designated day was just before the pool was to be drained and replenished. Because the barbershops in the city of Monrovia displayed signs reading "Whites Only," we were forced to go to El Monte for our haircuts where there was a Japanese barbershop. To this day, I avoid barbershops...to this day, I suffer anxiety attempting to erase the image of those outrageous "Whites Only" signs.
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<br><br>Further separating the Caucasians from the Nisei was the fact that while his white friends "played" after school and on weekends, Tsuneishi had to attend Japanese school.
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In a large measure I unconsciously resented the time spent at this school while my <i>hakujin</i> [Caucasian] friends were free as a bird. Was I not an American? I was born on the Fourth of July. I have an Uncle Sam! Why should I be studying this alien language?
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<br><br>Tsuneishi was studying at the University of California at Berkeley when Pearl Harbor was attacked. In May 1942, he was evacuated from school and sent to the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California. Eventually, he would join the rest of his family in Heart Mountain Detention Camp.
<br><br>In January 1943 Tsuneishi received permission to leave the camp to complete studies at Syracuse University. Upon graduating with a bachelor's degree, he volunteered for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and began classes at Camp Savage. All of his siblings were either in MIS or worked as translators during the war. While his brothers joined MIS and served with the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS), at the war crime trials in the Philippines, or in the Occupation of Japan, his two sisters worked as translators for General Headquarters SCAP. Though their mother supported them fully, Tsuneishi recalls her cry of anguish: "How many sons must I sacrifice?"
<br><br>After completing Japanese language training, Tsuneishi became part of the 306th Headquarters Intelligence Detachment, assigned to the newly formed XXIV Corps. Tsuneishi conducted numerous translations of classified materials from the Philippines and Okinawa campaigns. Highlights of his translation work include working all night to translate a field order that had been captured from a Japanese airborne unit and assisting in the translation of a captured artillery map that showed gun emplacements on the Japanese defense line. The latter proved to be extremely valuable and within 72 hours of producing the translation, "Every American artilleryman had one of the thousands of copies made." [<i>Yankee Samurai</i>]
<br><br>During the Occupation years, Tsuneishi served in Korea as an interpreter and translator. He and the other Japanese-speaking members would interpret from English into Japanese, and then their Korean associates would interpret into Korean. Often, Japanese was the only intermediary language required since many Koreans could speak and read Japanese fluently. Also at this time, Tsuneishi had opportunity to visit his sisters in Japan. What he saw in Tokyo and Osaka was unexpectedly disturbing.
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I had observed the devastating effects of naval and aerial bombardment on Okinawa, where the twin cities of Naha and Shuri had been literally leveled, with not a single building standing. I was aware of the enormous civilian casualties suffered by the Okinawans. Even so, I was unprepared for the enormity of the devastation of Osaka and Tokyo, so huge was the scale of destruction and I could only imagine, the sufferings of the Japanese people....
<br><br>Lives were shattered. Many people lived in the streets virtually in rags and yet they were not beggars. I had profound compassion for their plight. They were no longer the impersonal enemy. They had suffered.
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<br><br>Fortunately, he found his sisters doing well and working diligently as translators at Gen. MacArthur's headquarters.
<br><br>Having accumulated enough points for separation, Tsuneishi elected to be discharged from the Army in January 1945. Soon after, he attended graduate school at Columbia University and Yale University, and upon graduating entered the field of library science. Once again using his Japanese language skills, Tsuneishi first became a curator of the Far Eastern collections at Yale University and eventually landed a job as chief of the Asian Division at the Library of Congress.
