Mr. Finch? He was called the ‘Godfather of the 442.’ Well, he said, “Look, would you go to Minnesota and see if the Japanese there need anything.” This Mr. Finch was certainly a godfather.
He got so attached to the Japanese American soldiers, he did everything. Anything the boys wanted that they couldn’t get, he would go to, I don’t know where, some other state, like Japanese from Hawaii like abalone. And, I don’t know where you get abalone, but he would get abalone for them. He would get Japanese food and bring it back to Mississippi. And every time a Japanese soldier, whether, you know, in training or what, was injured, he would go visit them at whatever hospital they were sent to. He would…anything the Japanese soldiers needed or even if the parents needed… “Is there anything your mother or father need? How old are they?” and stuff like that. Mr. Finch was an unusual person, and it seems like, in this whole world…always someone like that will show up.
Date: June 16, 2003
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Karen Ishizuka, Akira Boch
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.
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