Lawrence Azuma talks about being drafted into the US Army prior to World War II and working in the combat engineering corps in Hawaii prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He recalls being removed from his unit along with other Japanese soldiers after World War II began, and then sent for infantry training and military intelligence training in the United States. He speaks about his experiences as an interpreter in the code breaking unit at Vint Hills Farm Station in Virginia. He remembers the morning of the Pearl Harbor bombing, when he was stationed at Schofield, fifteen miles away. He recalls the USS Arizona and other ships that went down during the attack. He talks about the factors that led to the United States’ lack of preparedness for the attack on Pearl Harbor. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
