Ben Sanaye Honda grew up in Fresno, Calif., where his parents struggled to make a living. For most of his youth, he worked with his father driving trucks for a farm and barely had time for any other activities. The only extra-curricular activity allowed was Japanese school and he appreciated it because he could play and eat lunch.
After graduating high school, he continued to work until the Pacific War began. After Executive Order 9066, the Army sent him and his family to Jerome Detention Camp in Arizona. They lost their land. His mother did not want to stay in America, and his father asked him not to join the all-Nisei combat unit. However, when the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Language School recruited him, Honda decided to go against his parents' wishes and left his family behind. He entered the school in September 1945. By then, the war had ended and the school had moved to Monterey, Calif. All of the language school's students studied to work as part of the Occupation.
In the spring of 1946 he shipped out with 1,200 other linguists to Tokyo and then immediately left for Hokkaido:

> My work was to instruct the Japanese mechanics how we want this work done, how to do it, and so forth. I think the Japanese people appreciated it. As a matter of fact, I was the first Nisei to go to Hokkaido. [Oral History]
> At first when I went to Sapporo ... they instructed me at night, don't go out by yourself. There was a bunch of diehards up there in Sapporo that we had to, we weren't allowed to go, especially to me, to keep out of sight. [Oral History]

For seven months he worked with both the American and Japanese mechanics to make sure they worked together harmoniously.
While he worked in the Occupation, Honda learned that his mother's family had all been killed by the atomic blast in Hiroshima. On his father's side, his grandfather had moved 20 miles out of town, and luckily, only witnessed the devastation. During the Occupation, Honda met his grandfather for the first time.
Upon returning to civilian life, Honda used the G.I. Bill to continue learning about car maintenance. He returned to Fresno and opened his own shop, working 15 or 16 hours a day.