Top of page

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: 5307 Composite Unit Provisional (Merrill's Marauders)
  • Location of Service: Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Camp Savage, Minnesota; Bombay, India; China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant

View full service history

"He looked at me in the eye and he said, 'You're a traitor.'" (Video Interview, Part 2, 31:40)

The famed commandos of Merrill's Marauders, a unit of soldiers who slogged their way through the Burmese jungles to overcome the Japanese occupiers, consisted of a number of Japanese American, or Nisei. They served in both intelligence and combat capacities, translating captured documents and fighting where needed. Grant Hirabayashi was among these men, and he had to fend off not only the usual assortment of jungle-bred ailments such as dysentery and malaria, but also an allergy to the preservatives used in K-rations. Hirabayashi would later serve in India and China; in the late days of the war, he interrogated Japanese POWs, one of whom accused him of betraying his people.

Transcript: XML

More Resources

Transcript: XML
View 10 images in sequence.
[ Photo Album ]
View 6 images in sequence.
[ Speech, "Japanese Americans at War in the CBI" ]
View 7 images in sequence.
[ Merril's Marauder's Association Speech ]

About this Item

Title

  • Grant Jiro Hirabayashi Collection

Names

  • Hirabayashi, Grant Jiro
  • Shima, Terry
  • Japanese-American Veterans Association (JAVA)

State of Birth

  • WA

Home State

  • MD

Headings

  • -  Hirabayashi, Grant Jiro
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • Asian

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: 5307 Composite Unit Provisional (Merrill's Marauders)
    • Location of Service: Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Camp Savage, Minnesota; Bombay, India; China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater
    • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
    • Dates of Service: 1941-1945
    • Entrance into Service: Enlisted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Manuscript: Memoirs [2 items] -- Typewritten document (collected unknown)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Typewritten document (collected 6/29/2005)
  • Photograph: Mixed (Multiple types of photographs) [5 items] -- Photograph (collected 1943 - 2005)
  • Video: VHS [2 items] -- Reference copy (collected 3/3/2006)
  • Video: MiniDV [2 items] -- Oral history interview (collected 6/29/2005)
  • Video: Digital Betacam [2 items] -- Digitized Copy (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/28498

Cite as

  • Grant Jiro Hirabayashi Collection (AFC/2001/001/28498), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hirabayashi, Grant Jiro, Terry Shima, and Japanese-American Veterans Association. Grant Jiro Hirabayashi Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.28498/.

APA citation style:

Hirabayashi, G. J., Shima, T. & Japanese-American Veterans Association. (1941) Grant Jiro Hirabayashi Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.28498/.

MLA citation style:

Hirabayashi, Grant Jiro, Terry Shima, and Japanese-American Veterans Association. Grant Jiro Hirabayashi Collection. 1941. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.28498/>.