With Hawaii's Aja Boys at Camp Shelby Mississippi

              is coaching the boxing team. Some
of the boxers are Kenji Nobori
and Henry Oshiro of Honolulu,
Wallace Nagao of Kauai and R.
Chinen of Hilo, all former title-
holders in the islands.
nun
A few minutes from the hutment
area by jeep brought us to an area
where men of the 232nd engineering
company were working on a camouflage net. In the group were Richard Matsumoto of 508 Kaiwiula St.,
Honolulu, squad leader and formerly a draftsman with C. W. Dickey;
Private Hitoshi Inouye, Honolulu;
Private Mike Otake, also of Honolulu; Private Toshimi Kato of Wai-
luku, Maui, and Private Kosuke
Yamashiro of College Walk, Honolulu, bugler.
Mike Otake is married and has a
son whom he has not seen. Mike
volunteered for combat duty shortly
before the birth of his boy.
# * #
Capt. Pershing Nakada, a mainland AJA, is the commanding officer of the 232nd engineers.
"I've got a smart lot of men in
my company," he said. "They're
right on their toes."
tt tt tt
Nearby were more men from the
islands, under command of Lt. Walter Matsumoto of 838 Lukepane St.,
Honolulu. He commands the first
platoon of the engineering company,
and is company transportation
officer.
Walter, a graduate of the University of Hawaii, won his commission in 1936, while in the university.  Prior to the war, he was
an   engineer   in   the   city-county
bureau   of   plans,   under   Walter
Mowrey.
Back in Honolulu Walter has  a
wife and a son, age 16 months. They
will be interested to know that he
looks    perfectly    fit,    thinks    his
platoon is the best in the army, and
shares the high spirits of his men.
We piled back into our jeep. The
driver was Private Archie Murakami of Honomu plantation. He is
a graduate of Hilo high school.
Nearby  we  found  a  group  of
men    receiving    instruction    in
stringing barbed wire. They were
working   under   the   eyes   of  Lt.
Gregory Ikeda of 1040 Kinau St.,
Honolulu.   Gregory was commissioned as a second lieutenant in
1939 when he was with the ROTC
unit at the University of Hawaii.
He  has  come  a  long  way  from
Honolulu, both in miles and in his
activities.   Not so long ago he was
in  clerical  work.   Now  he  is  the
confident   commanding   officer   of
the ammunition and pioneer platoon
of the 2nd  battalion of the 442nd
infantry regiment.
"One thing about my platoon," he
said. "They are very willing. They
learn fast. The heat bothers them
some. But their morale is high.
They are a fine bunch of men."
tt tt tt
Back at combat team headquarters a familiar figure came out from
one of the buildings.
"Remember me?" he asked, grinning.
It  was   Earl  Kubo,  formerly   of
the Honolulu police department.
"He scored 25 consecutive bulls-
eyes at 200 yards on the range,"
Murakami said.  "That's the best
anybody in the 442nd has done."
Kubo is attached to the service
company at regimental headquarters.   He says he likes army life.
Almost    without    exception,   the
war and army life has given Hawaii's   AJA's   their   first   sight   of
territory outside the islands.   Earl
is one of the exceptions.   In 1938,
while on the Honolulu police force,
he   brought   two  prisoners   to   the
mainland.
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