'I can't forget': Japanese man who joined US forces in Korean War breaks 70-yr silence
July 3, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
The U.S. military interrogation record that the man signed is seen in this partially modified image. Among its contents, it requires the signatory to confirm they were "informed not to discuss this trip with anyone." (Mainichi/Noriko Tokuno)
KITAKYUSHU -- "That's certainly my handwriting," the 93-year-old man said, staring at a signature on a U.S. military interrogation record at his home in collective housing in east Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture.
The highly classified documents detail how 60 Japanese people, including individuals stationed at U.S. military bases in Japan, went with American forces to the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War (1950-1953), with 18 of them joining the fighting. The man was one of those 18.