#niseivets

[thegoforbrokespirit-blog]

The Pearl Harbor attack marked the official entry of the USA into World War II and shortly afterward Roy was incarcerated at the Jerome Relocation Center, the concentration camp near Denson, Arkansas. Being denied his rights as a U.S. citizen because of his Japanese heritage made Roy really angry, but he volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1942. Because of his knowledge of Japanese he was recruited by the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage, Minnesota. A graduate of the school’s second class (the first was at the Presidio, California), he was sent to the China-Burma-India Theater where he volunteered to serve as a Japanese-language intelligence specialist with a new unit being trained for long range strikes and jungle warfare in Burma. Roy Matsumoto would eventually earn the Legion of Merit and six Bronze Stars, one with a ”V” for valor was presented by the Sec. of the Army. He was also inducted into both the Ranger Hall of Fame and Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame.

Roy Hiroshi Matsumoto Military Intelligence Service, U.S. Army Photographed for the book, The Go For Broke Spirit by Shane Sato.

[thegoforbrokespirit-blog]

I was fortunate to meet Goro Sumida a number of times on my visits to Hawaii. He definitely had a fighting spirit, Ohana (love of family), and as my friend would say, he was "Kolohe” or a rascal. He did not have a college education, but he did make it up in street smarts. He was already in the Army when Pearl Harbor got bombed. He said he could see the planes flying around. Later that evening, a Sergeant put a 45 pistol to his belly and told him, “Turn in your weapon.”Luckily for the Army and America, he got his rifle back. During combat they had to maneuver past mines and booby-traps in the rivers. Trip wires and “shoe mines” that were made of wood so it could not be detected. Another mine, affectionately called the “castrator,” had a 30-caliber shell that shot up and disabled you in an unfortunate area. Their solution was to place toilet paper over the mines so others knew where not to step. He used an army issued Thompson sub machine gun or “Tommy Gun” and he called it “junk” as it was not accurate. He would saw off the wooden stock so he could place it against his side and use it more like a pistol. He demonstrated this to me moving side to side so he could “shoot ‘ em” using small bursts at short range. He remembered a round from a German Panzer tank exploded near his buddy, completely burying his friend. He ran over, frantically digging him out with his hands. He was able to pull him out. While unconscious, his friend was still alive, and is still alive today. Leighton “Goro” Sumida 100th Battalion Separate (Original member), U.S. Army

Photographed for The Go For Broke Spirit by Shane Sato

[thegoforbrokespirit-blog]

Tosh Yasutake was a Pre-Med freshman at the University of Washington when Pearl Harbor was attacked. His father “Jack” Kaichiro Yasutake was an interpreter who worked for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for the past twenty years. Despite his loyal service, the FBI immediately arrested him. When Executive Order 9066 (Feb. 19, 1942) established the west coast states as a military security zone, the rest of the Yasutake family were incarcerated in the Puyallup Assembly Center in Washington and then transferred to the War Relocation Authority camp known as Minidoka in Idaho When military recruiters came to Minidoka, Tosh was reluctant to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team because it was a segregated Japanese American unit, but in the hopes that joining the army would make it possible for his father to be reunited with the family he volunteered. This decision shocked his mother, but she understood his reasoning. Tosh went to Camp Shelby, Mississippi to join the 442nd for basic training and was assigned to the Medical Company, where he became a medic. "My first time on the battlefield was almost like a dream.” Tosh continued, “Then you realize the horror of it when people start getting wounded and they start yelling, ‘Medic!’” The noise of firearms and impact of artillery explosions showered dirt and shrapnel could be heard and felt vividly, but that all faded into the background as he responded to the calls for aid. Tosh focused on assessing the wounds and tried to stop the bleeding. It was only afterwards while sitting in a foxhole that he started to shake as he recalled the intensity of the experience.

William Toshio "Tosh" Yasutake Medical Company, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, US Army

Photographed for The Go For Broke Spirit by Shane Sato

[thegoforbrokespirit-blog]

In 1999 I have been working as a freelance photographer in my Los Angeles Arts District studio. Christine Yamazaki and Diane Tanaka saw my large portraits of ladies in a retirement home. They liked how I was able to show strength and dignity as well as personality in the confinements of a nursing home. It struck a cord with them and Christine asked if I wanted to do a series of the veterans. I had been working with the vets for a few years already so I thought it was it was a great idea. They wanted to keep the unity of the "Go For Broke" Foundation in which they were all going to wear their white 442 club shirts. I decided on a black and white series in which the subject would stand out from what basically was white on white background. 

What came next was a yearlong project of shooting veterans from Los Angeles, Hawaii, and Seattle. I used a Pentax 6x7 medium format camera and Tri-X 400 film. I was trying to keep the images to one roll per veteran, or 10 pictures each. Some I shot maybe a roll and a half if I wanted something extra or I felt I did not get it. I tried to bring out a little personality with each subject. Some were serious, some were playful, others somber and stoic.

This was the beginning of my journey...