Special KWVA "W in Your Dream Vacation Fund-Raiser" Information ...

22
By Larry Kinard
One of the great things about our
National Meetings is the opportunity
to meet other Korean veterans who we
might never get to meet otherwise.
At our last meeting in Norfolk, in
October 2008, I met several people with
whom I had talked on the telephone
about their Tell America programs. I am
able to pick up new ideas and sometimes
get material that I can pass along to other
chapters.
During the Tell America discussion at
the membership meeting, we had an
opportunity for 4 different chapter representatives
to tell us about what they are
doing with the schools and programs in
the community. Each one was very
enthusiastic about his chapter’s programs
and wanted to talk about his experiences.
It made me very proud of what
is happening with those chapters who
have Tell America programs, and I truly
believe they are making a difference in
the school systems where they make presentations.
During one of our breaks in the hospitality
room, I had a very interesting conversation
with one of the veterans from
California, who was attending his first
annual KWVA meeting. He impressed
me with his love of our country and his
pride in being a Korean War veteran and
being a member of the Korean War
Veterans Association.
Jim Umeda’s background is somewhat
different than most of ours, because
of his Japanese heritage and his early life
in Hawaii and Japan. But, he is a great
American and made significant contributions
during the war interrogating the
North Korean POWs.
After the war he went to Purdue
University, obtained an Engineering
Meet Jim Umeda
degree, and worked many years as a
Planning Engineer for the City of Los
Angeles. I asked Jim to tell us something
about himself which he did in the following
letter.
The Paths We Took
By James (Jim) Umeda
We are about to come to an end of a long
journey that exposed us to many paths of
colorful mountains of lavender green and
turquoise blue, picturesque valleys with
refreshing waterfalls, and blossoms of various
colored flowers and a brilliant rainbow
that bridged over them.
We were also exposed to the beautiful
starry night and the loving eyes of the
moon, the calm sea of tranquility, the magnificent
red colored morning-sun and the
pink and golden colored sunset, the very
best the paths can offer.
However, the paths we took were not all
the ones that were exposed to
us; some were decided spontaneously
by us. Our paths sometimes
carried us through the
thorny weeded paths. Overall,
they were filled with many happy
and memorable moments.
I, together with my siblings,
was sent to Japan in 1940 for a
Japanese education in order to
prepare me for a permanent life
in Japan when the family moved
there eventually. This was my
mother’s desire, but my father
wanted to make a homestead in
Hawaii. My parents and we siblings
were separated for the
duration of the war.
ABOVE: Jim Umeda in Korea
RIGHT: Mr. & Mrs. Umeda at Norfolk
We, the Nisei—second generation
Japanese born in the US with US citizenship—were
caught in the turmoil of the
war, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We, like all the rest of the Japanese people,
were deprived of food and essentials necessary
to sustain our livelihood. Some of
us were terminated—reluctantly—from
pursuing further education and sent off to
factories that were responsible for the supplying
of weapons, clothing and provisions
for the Japanese military.
Fortunately, we were able to survive the
war and to return to our homes in the USA.
The paths we took were mostly chosen by
us, but we were “side-tracked” unexpectedly,
at the crucial moment, and saw the
cruelty and ugliness of war, which were not
part of our chosen paths. However, this
experience, I’m sure, has given us deep
understanding and valuable lessons in
humanity.
In 1950, when the Korean War started, I
enlisted in the U.S. Army. After taking basic
training at Fort Ord, CA, I enrolled in the
Army Language School (ALS) at the
Presidio of Monterey, CA. Upon graduating
from the ALS, I was sent to Korea and
assigned to the 163rd Military Intelligence
Service (MIS) Group, which was attached
to the 1st Marine Division, for the duty of
translating, interpreting and interrogating
the North Korean Prisoners of War. I was
very happy to be able to utilize my linguistic
knowledge to serve my country.
May – June 2009
The Graybeards