* 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:

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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]
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When the family packed up to go to the first assembly center, they had to find a place to store the things they couldn't take:

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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]
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Lucky to have friends in a position to help them, Moromitsu's family did not lose everything when the Army forced them to leave their homes. For a young man who had already completed his education, the whole experience was filled with adventure:

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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]
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Involved in camp social life, Morimitsu met his future wife at Tule Lake Detention Camp. At age 30 he decided to join the Army and left for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Language School at Camp Savage, Minn., in late 1943.

In June 1944, Morimitsu graduated from the language school and joined Texans from the 124th Cavalry Regiment. He shipped out to the China-India-Burma Theater where the soldiers met other units at a prized airstrip at Myitkyina, Burma. The coalition of forces formed Mars Task Force:

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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]
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Their mules hauled their dictionaries and other language tools, and they marched up and down mountains, through cold weather and tropical rainstorms, and looked for airdropped food that appeared every three days, if they were lucky:

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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]
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The Mars Task Force suffered some of the heaviest casualties in the CBI Theater. His unit received Combat Infantry Badges and Bronze Star Medals for their work.

After their mission ended, Morimitsu worked in the Office of Strategic Services and interrogated prisoners in India and China. The war ended and he took the opportunity to visit Japan for the first time in his life. In January 1946, the Army discharged him and he returned to Chicago.

