Date: May 2, 2010
Location: Westminster, California
Videographer: Tani Ikeda
Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-279
02:17:06
26 segments
Kibei-Nisei male. Born January 20, 1916, in Alameda, California. At the age of five, family returned to live in Japan. Attended school in Japan before returning to the U.S. in 1937. Drafted into the U.S. Army, and was in training when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Resisted military orders while in basic training, and was court martialed and imprisoned in the stockade at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Along with other Japanese Americans in the same situation, the group later came to be known as the ""Fort McClellan Disciplinary Barrack Boys,"" or ""DB Boys."" Sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and served at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. In the 1980s, a legal team headed by Mr. Nomiyama's son-in-law mounted a legal effort to clear the DB Boys' names. They succeeded in having the army grant honorable discharges, but were unable to get the court martials ultimately overturned. Mr. Nomiyama passed away on December 10, 2012.
This interview is part of the Densho Visual History Collection. Visit Densho for more information.