Raised in Utah, Henry Kuwabara attended Utah State Agricultural College until economic hardship forced him to leave his studies and find work. Because his family had moved to California prior to Executive Order 9066, he and his family members were sent to the detention camps. According to Kuwabara, because the Issei had been branded "enemy aliens," the relatively young Nisei suddenly found themselves in leadership positions and in charge of overseeing many internment-related matters. For instance, Kuwabara at the age of 23 was given the role of block manager, which entailed full responsibility for 500 internees. 
<br><br>From the camp Kuwabara decided to volunteer for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), and in November 1942, he left for Camp Savage, Minnesota. After graduation, he was assigned to the G-2 Section of Army headquarters in the China-Burma-India Theater. In this assignment, he translated documents and interrogated prisoners captured in Burma. He stayed in the region for two years, serving in various capacities including duty with the Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC), Northern Area Combat Command, Nationalist Chinese 22nd Division, and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). After the war, he joined a team of Nisei attached to the British Headquarters in Singapore and Malaysia. They helped process Japanese units for surrender and demobilization.
<br><br>For his service with the 36th British Division, Kuwabara received a British Empire Medal for "obtaining information that enabled British forces to capture Japanese strongpoints at Hopin and Pinbaw" in Burma. Gathering information from prisoner interrogations, Kuwabara drew a defense map of the town that the Japanese held. Using this map, the Allied Forces were able to determine the strength and positions of the enemy units. He also received the Bronze Star for his service with the division.
<br><br>In November 1946, Kuwabara reported to the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) in Tokyo. He later transferred to Osaka to command the 170th Language Detachment attached to the 25th Infantry Division. He spent a good number of years in Japan, working as a deputy chief for the Central Interrogation Center and later as chief of the Captured Documents Subsection. He received a promotion to the rank of Captain. During the Korean War, he was in charge of a seven-member Nisei intelligence group of the G-2 Section, during which time he witnessed one of the cruelest incidents of the war--the Taejon Massacre in which thousands upon thousands of South Korean civilians were butchered by North Korean soldiers.
<br><br>Later, Kuwabara worked in various high-level assignments in the United States as well as in West Germany. In 1963, Kuwabara retired from active duty with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The next 20 years found him in Japan working in public relations for Japanese companies. He returned to the United States in 1983.
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Perhaps the greatest sense of accomplishment has been the feeling of pride and self-satisfaction that our efforts made a very unique and special contribution to enhancing and speeding the acceptance of persons of Japanese ancestry back into the mainstream of the American life fabric.
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