Terry T. Shima was born in January 1923 outside of Hilo, Hawaii. He grew up on a sugar plantation. His parents both emigrated from Japan. His father worked on the plantation, and also grew his own crop. He attended a local high school and lived a normal life in the country. In 1940, he graduated high school. On the morning of 7 December 1941, Shima and some friends decided to go to the beach and spearfish. On their way, they were stopped by the police. They could tell there was some sort of animosity towards them. The officer then told Shima he could not got to the beach because "you people" attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. He then heard a live broadcast of the attack on the radio. The group went back home. Shima's island [Annotator’s Note: Island of Hawaii] was only hit by one submarine shell. He was unable to see any planes in the air or the ships at sea. Following the attack, martial law was imposed. There were nightly blackouts and driving at night was difficult because the headlights had to be covered. There was a curfew and rationing on all the islands. Shima wanted to attend college. The police in the town were not of Japanese descent, and there was initially some animosity. That soon cleared up and Shima volunteered for guard duty. On the sugar plantation, worked continued as usual.

Terry Shima's older brother had been drafted before the war and served in the 100th Infantry Battalion [Annotator's Note: an all Japanese-American unit]. In October 1944, Shima enlisted in the Army and trained at Camp Blanding, Florida. In the spring of 1945, Shima was shipped to Naples, Italy. All of the Japanese-Americans wanted to be in the 442nd [Annotator's Note: 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all Japanese-American unit]. Shima regrets not seeing combat, but feels like he contributes to the unit by working with veterans. He heard a lot of rumors in the military. When he arrived in Italy, he heard that the war had ended. Instead, he went to the replacement depot for the 442. Soon, Shima was asked to join the public relations office by Mike Masaoka. He joined the group and was trained in public relations. Mike Masaoka was an advocate for the creation of the unit and was the Executive Secretary for the Japanese American Citizens League. When the 442nd formed, Masaoka was among the first to join the unit. One of his brothers died in the Vogues Mountains [Annotator's Note: in Southern France]. Shima was taught how to write proper English and succeeded Mike in rank and position when he was sent home. In July 1946, Shima returned with the regiment.

Terry Shima's family was not interned during the war. There was not a mass internment in Hawaii. When President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] issued Executive Order 9066 [Annotator's Note: the order that lead to the internment of Japanese-Americans], two military zones were created, the West Coast and the Territory of Hawaii, each with a military governor. On the West Coast, Lieutenant General John DeWitt decided to intern 120,000 people. Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons was sent to Hawaii to do the same thing. However, after being briefed on the situation there, he decided not to intern the population. He continued to ignore the order for two years until the threat was over. Shima feels indebted to Emmons for that decision. When Lieutenant General DeWitt first went to the West Coast, there were 5,000 Japanese-Americans in the Army. He had them discharged and sent to the internment camps as well. Several thousand Japanese-American soldiers were shipped from Hawaii to the mainland and designated the 100th Infantry Battalion and served in Italy.

The performance of the 100th Infantry Battalion [Annotator's Note: an all Japanese-American unit from Hawaii] helped in the creation of the 442nd [Annotator's Note: 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all Japanese-American unit]. After a petition went around to allow Nisei [Annotator's Note: second generation Japanese-Americans] to fight, Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.] decided to form the 442. The regiment trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. In 1944, the 442 went to Italy and merged with the 100th Infantry Battalion. Terry Shima discusses the Vogues Mountain operation. The 442nd was deployed to Southern France and fought with the 36th Infantry Division. They fought near the German border in the Vogues Mountains. The Germans could see all of their movement. After ten days of combat, the 442 received one night of rest before being sent to rescues a Texas unit trapped by the Germans. German prisoners captured by the unit told them that Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] ordered there to be no prisoners taken. The 442nd fought for four days in intense conditions. Suffering large amounts of casualties, the unit saved the Texas unit and cleared the Vogues. The 442nd honored the Army dictum not to leave a man behind. The unit lost two or three times the amount of men actually saved. That battle is among the fiercest fought in Army history. The unit was then pulled back to the Maritime Alps near Monaco [Annotator's Note: Monaco, France]. The soldiers were given leave and had plenty of entertainment. The unit was again sent to Italy, this time to fight along the Gothic Line in northern Italy. The Allies were having a difficult time breaching the line. Mark Clark [Annotator's Note: US Army General Mark Clark] asked Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] for the 442nd for use in the campaign against the Gothic Line. The unit was attached to the segregated African-American unit, the 92nd Infantry Division. The 442nd was assigned to capture a steep mountain. Italian partisans helped guide them up the mountain. No one made a noise. Early that morning the Americans reached the crest and attacked the surprised Germans. The action helped crack the Gothic Line. Shima did research and found out that General Marshall [Annotator's Note: US Chief of Staff and General of the Army George C. Marshall] had been following the units progress in Italy. Shima believes Marshall had a good vision.

When the war started, there was mass hysteria against anything Japanese. Terry Shima and others were treated like collaborators and saboteurs. The Japanese-Americans wanted to prove their loyalty. By the end of the war, 13,000 men served in the 442nd [Annotator's Note: 442nd Regimental Combat Team]. At the same, time 3,000 Japanese-Americans served in the Pacific as interrogators, translators, and interceptors of Japanese communications. After the war, the country had to decide how to handle the Japanese-Americans. The 442nd returned to the United States to a big reception in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York]. After, the 442nd visited Washington D.C. and was reviewed by the President [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States]. Shima was with the unit as a public relations worker. It was the first time a President had reviewed a unit smaller than a division. President Truman affirmed the loyalty of the Japanese-American. Washington [Annotator's Note: Washington, D.C.; the United States Government] then reformed the armed forces. Shima believes that the combat performance of units like the 442nd and the Tuskegee Airmen [Annotator's Note: the all African-American 332nd Fighter Group and 477th Bombardment Group] helped convince Washington of the need to reform the military. By the time of the Vietnam War, Japanese-Americans were in every military branch, performing a variety of jobs, with some reaching the rank of colonel. Eventually 43 became generals and admirals. In 1952, immigrant Japanese were allowed to become citizens. In 1980, Congress decided that the internment of Japanese-Americans was not necessary. Later that decade, President Ronald Reagan and Congress offered a formal apology for internment. Senator Daniel Inouye was selected to become the President Tempore of the Senate, making him third in line for the presidency. There is now a monument to Japanese-Americans. Shima believes that this speaks to the greatness of America and believes it is a great country.

Terry Shima believes that Senator Daniel Inouye is an American hero. Daniel Inouye meant a lot to Shima and his organization [Annotator's Note: Japanese-American Veterans Association]. Inouye was always there to help the organization when asked. Inouye helped a lot of veteran families and veteran associations. Shima felt close to Inouye. Shima was awarded the Foreign Ministers Award by the Japanese embassy and Inouye attended the ceremony. When Shima retired from his organization, Inouye attended that ceremony as well. Shima believes that Americans will benefit from Inouye's legacy.

Terry Shima is grateful to be interviewed by the National Military Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] and feels like Stephen Ambrose [Annotator’s Note: American author and historian Stephen E. Ambrose] is his hero. Grant Ichikawa [Annotator's Note: Grant Ichikawa's oral history interview is also availabe on this Digital Collections website] served in the liberation of the Philippines. When the Emperor [Annotator's Note: Emperor Hirohito] announced Japans surrender, Ichikawa's commanding officer sent him into the hills to make the armed Japanese surrender. An unarmed Lieutenant Ichikawa managed to talk the Japanese into surrendering. He took 250 armed Japanese prisoner. He then fed the prisoners and got them to processing centers. While in Indonesia, Ichikawa was stationed in Surabaya. President Sukarno [Annotator's Note: President Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia] did not always like the United States. During a demonstration, some Indonesian youths started taking down the United States Flag. Either Grant or his wife told them they could not do that, and the youths listened. Shima thinks the kids had the backing of the government. He was also sent to Saigon. When Saigon fell [Annotator's Note: to the North Vietnamese in 1975], Ichikawa was one of the last people to get on the helicopter. Shima believes Ichikawa is a legend.

Terry Shima and other Japanese-Americans in Hawaii had a different experience than those on the West Coast [Annotator's Note: the west coast of the United States]. Japanese-Americans were recruited for the Military Intelligence Service. The Military Intelligence Service took risks finding people that could understand the Japanese language because those people generally spent long amounts of time in Japan. Leaders in the Army had faith in the Japanese-Americans. The Nisei [Annotator's Note: first generation Japanese-Americans] and Kibei [Annotator's Notes: kibei kibei is a term used to describe Japanese-Americans born in the United States who were educated in Japan then returned to the United States] were among those who were chosen. Three-thousand of these people were trained and served in the Pacific theater. They landed on the beaches with the infantry so they could interrogate prisoners or translate documents. Shima believes that these men saved thousands of American lives. Japanese-Americans served with other Allied countries as well as in the Manhattan Project [Annotator's Note: code name for the American-led effort to develop an atomic bomb]. Japanese-Americans served on Eisenhower's [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] staff. These men read communications of visiting Japanese military leaders who visited the front lines in Europe. The Japanese sent detailed reports that were translated by the Americans. Japanese-Americans served in the OSS [Annotator's Note: Office of Strategic Services, pre-runner of the Central Intelligence Agency] and with Merrill's Marauders [Annotator's Note: 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional)], as well as with the Chinese Communists. Mao Zedong [Annotator's Note: leader of the Chinese Communists] arrived in the camp on occasion. In Burma, Japanese-Americans helped capture the Burma Road [Annotator's Note: a man made road used to supply China] and an airfield. One night, a Japanese-American was able to get intelligence about an upcoming attack and warn his commander in time to fend off the attack.

Terry Shima believes it is important to learn about World War 2. Shima's organization, JAVA [Annotator's Note: Japanese-American Veteran's Association], has made education its top priority. His organization travels the country talking to schools and anywhere else it is invited. He believes his organization's mission compliments The National WWII Museum's [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] mission. Shima believes the war completely changed him. He has a long work day, lives in a nice place, does not have any worries, and is able to do things that spread the word of the Japanese-American's experience in World War 2. Shima's organization is the only one that is trying to find, an go through, all material relating to wartime Japanese-Americans' experiences in the National Archives [Annotator's Note: National Archives and Records Administration in Washington D.C.]. They are currently working on the Military Intelligence Service material. Shima hopes that people will be able to access this information online. His organization also works with the National Parks Service to distribute material. He finds his mission very rewarding. Shima believes the primary reasons he goes to schools is to make sure the internment of Americans will never happen again. He sees some kids understand the message, which gives Shima satisfaction. He is grateful to the schools for allowing him to speak to their students. There are many people in his organization that help him with his work and thinks it is a great team.