As a 21-year-old college student in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the son of Japanese immigrants knew he wanted to join the U.S. war effort.
"All my ancestors were from Japan, but I didn't think of them as my kin because I was born and raised in Honolulu," he said.
There was a large Japanese population in Hawaii, but the attack instantly severed ties for many of them, said Hashimoto, now 88 and living with his daughter in Yakima.
"Having any sympathy for Japan, that was not discussed at all," he said.
With the rest of his senior year of college canceled, he went to work for the Honolulu police department. The Army didn't draft the American-born children of Japanese immigrants, but a call for volunteers went out across Hawaii in February 1943. Hashimoto joined droves of his fellow Japanese-Americans and signed up only to be turned away.
"They said, 'No. We need you for the effort at home because you're working for the police department,'" Hashimoto said.
Months passed before another call went out, this time from the Army's Military Intelligence Service, which needed Japanese translators. Hashimoto, who had studied Japanese daily throughout his youth, signed up successfully this time. He was inducted into the Army on June 13, 1943, and two days later he was aboard a ship for linguist intelligence training on the Mainland. It was also his commencement day at the University of Hawaii.
"I didn't see my diploma until several years later," Hashimoto said.
In the meantime, he ended up in the Philippines, where his language skills were put to work immediately. But at the outset his efforts were anything but fruitful.
"I'd go out with the troops and tell (the Japanese) to surrender, that we would not harm them," he said. "We would treat their wounded and give them food, 'So come on down and surrender.' But of course Japanese soldiers were told not to surrender."
As the war wore on, however, Japanese soldiers cut off from supplies started accepting the offer. That's when Hashimoto's other purpose, interrogation, came into play.
"As soon as they surrendered, they were very helpful," he said. "They complied with whatever we asked them."
That role continued post-war, as Hashimoto was shifted from the Military Intelligence Service to the peacetime Counter Intelligence Corps.
"I was with the first group of U.S. forces to enter Japan as part of the (post-war) occupation," he said.
Hashimoto stayed in military intelligence another 20 years after World War II. He is proud of that work, although he doesn't talk much about it or see why anyone would be interested in writing his story.
"With Dad, with all the Japanese who fought in the war so bravely -- they're a humble group," explained his daughter, Lumi Loudon of Yakima.
Most of the Niseis, or the American-born children of Japanese immigrants, were confined to the European Theater. But Hashimoto and others played key intelligence roles in the Pacific. They were not compelled to do so, but they saw the United States as their home, Hashimoto said.
"There was no draft for Niseis," he said. "The only way the Niseis could join the Army was to volunteer. And we did."
* Pat Muir can be reached at 577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.
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