Go for Broke!

- Tanaka.

- Ho!

- Fugimoto.

- Yo!

- Iuanaga.

- Here.

- Mosashi.

- Here.

- Okamoto.

- Here.

Kanakas.

The ones from Hawaii.

You know what they call

us mainlanders?

Kotonks.

The way they tell it,

if you rap on our heads,

it's like hitting a coconut.

Hollow heads, you know.

Kotonk, kotonk, kotonk.

Look where you're

going, will ya?

Ninety-day wonder.

Still got the original shine

on those bars.

Lieutenant Grayson

to see the adjutant.

He's not in, sir.

The colonel said

he'd see you himself.

Thank you.

You can go right in, sir.

Thank you.

Lieutenant Grayson

reports for duty, sir.

At ease, lieutenant.

Welcome to Camp Shelby.

Thank you, sir.

This your first assignment since

receiving your commission?

Yes, sir.

Well, lieutenant,

it's a rough one.

The platoon you're taking over

is just ready to start training,

and, as you may have noticed,

our facilities are not

all that they might be.

We're short of officers,

short of equipment,

short of everything

except trainees,

and they're coming in

by the carload.

This is a brand-new outfit.

A new kind of outfit.

No precedent for it

except one battalion

that was activated in Hawaii

and they haven't been

tested yet.

What do you think

of the idea, lieutenant?

Well, sir, I'd like

to make a request.

What is it?

I'd like your permission, sir,

to put in for a transfer

to the 36th Division.

You see, sir, I'm from Texas...

What has that got to do with it?

Nothing, sir,

except that the 36th

is an old Texas

National Guard outfit,

and I've been in it

ever since I got in the Army.

That is,

until they sent me to OCS.

I never would have gone

if I'd thought...

Sir, I just took it for granted

that I'd go back to the 36th.

You're sure that's

the only reason you have

for wanting a transfer?

Yes, sir.

No objection to working

with the kind of troops

we have here?

Because they're Japs?

Oh, no, sir.

Nothing like that at all.

Now, let's get a couple

of things straight, lieutenant.

First, there's not

gonna be any transfer.

You're staying here.

Have you got that?

Yes, sir.

Second, they're not Japs.

They're Japanese Americans.

Nisei or, as they call

themselves, buddhaheads.

All kinds of buddhaheads,

lieutenant.

From Hawaii, Alaska, California,

New York, Colorado.

Yes, and even some from Texas.

They're all American citizens,

and they're all volunteers.

Remember that.

And another thing.

We officers are referred to

as haoles not white men.

Any questions?

No, sir.

Report to your

company commander.

The sergeant major will

show you to his orderly room.

That'll be all, lieutenant.

Sorry to keep you waiting,

lieutenant.

Oh, Captain Solari.

That's right.

That's our regimental slogan.

"Go for broke"?

It's Pidgin English

for shoot the works.

Pull up a chair, lieutenant.

Thanks.

I'll be with you in a minute.

Tell me, sir,

do you use live ammunition

in the rifle range?

A Jap's a Jap, eh?

All I know is they were

put under armed guard

in relocation centers last year.

Maybe the Army just had

some surplus barbed wire

they wanted to use up,

was that it?

The Army was facing an emergency

at the start of the war.

A possible invasion

by Japanese troops.

So all Japanese Americans

were evacuated

from the West Coast.

There was no loyalty check,

no screening, nothing.

If there were

any spies among them,

I can assure you they're

not in the 442.

Every man in this outfit

has been investigated,

reinvestigated

and re-reinvestigated.

Now, I suggest you start

getting acquainted.

Your platoon sergeant's

over in the supply room.

Ohhara.

O'Hara!

That's right. Takashi Ohhara.

Hey, wait a minute.

Come back here.

How long you been

in the Army, soldier?

Let me see now.

Maybe I... I been inside, uh,

two, three months.

How long you been

inside, lieutenant?

Don't you know you're

supposed to hold your salute

till an officer returns it?

Oh, sure. Sometime forget.

"Sometime forget"

to say sir, too, don't ya?

Sometime.

Well, don't forget it anymore.

No, sir.

That's your own uniform?

Sir, that's the smallest size

he got, the supply sergeant.

Sir.

Well, roll those sleeves down.

I hold salute, sir.

Why are you wearing leggings

with a class A uniform?

To keep my pants up, sir.

Long like that.

Well, get 'em cut down.

Oh, yes, sir.

Payday I'll go see

the tailor, sir.

You'd better see somebody today

before I see you again.

All right, men.

All I wanna see

is backbones and elbows.

Come on.

And he made it.

Little Phoebe.

Pretty little Phoebe.

Watch that stuff, huh?

Get your money down, suckers.

It all rides.

Go for broke.

Gee, break 'em up.

Break 'em up.

New lieutenant outside.

Must be the one for us.

Oh, boy.

Eight feet tall

and mean like anything.

Number-one manini kind.

Chicken.

Well, the honeymoon's over.

Mix me up. All Nisei outfit.

How come haole officers?

That's just to make us

a little more miserable.

First, they pick out

the crummiest camp

in the United States.

Why'd you ever enlist?

That's what I wanna know.

Why? Because a wise guy

college man like you

snowed me under

with a lot of fancy talk.

You guys

from relocation centers.

Okay, you probably

got it better here.

But me, I was

on the outside. Iowa.

A free man. Knocking off

500 bucks a month.

Five hundred buck?

No.

Five hundred buck, yeah.

Chick sexing.

I can look

at a day-old chick

and tell you if

it's a he or a she.

Ha, ha. Now, who'd want to know

that except another chick?

You pay for the poultry feed

and you'd wanna know.

A he ain't no good at all

when it grows up.

Only the shes.

How come chicken farmers

no can find out themselves?

Too bashful?

You funny man.

Chick sexing is a science.

It was developed in Japan,

and it's one field

where buddhahead gets a break.

Mean to say

ya never heard of it?

I just got as far

as the birds and the bees.

These college guys are sharp,

you know that?

Four years at USC

and he's a bona fide,

recognized fruit peddler.

Yes, sir.

A fruit peddler with

an architect's degree.

I could have got a job as

an architect if I kept trying.

Well, why didn't you?

It's just my eyes.

Couldn't handle

all that close work.

Yeah, eye trouble,

that's what it was.

All you need

is corrective glasses

to take the slant

out of your eyes.

Hey, kotonk.

Take it easy, huh?

Huh, Chick?

Come on, get it down.

Buck and a half.

One more, one more.

Boy, oh, boy.

You one lucky kotonk.

Wish I got packages like that.

You and me both.

You send package?

Yeah. Hand me those cans,

will you?

Where you gonna send?

Brother in the Army in Pacific?

Uh-uh.

Family in a relocation

camp in Arizona.

Arizona, U.S.A.

You think that chow

here is bad... Brother.

You can even get soap?

Oh, sure.

They've got a canteen

loaded with stuff.

Anything you want,

if you can get there

before they're sold out.

Yes, sir,

all the comforts of home.

And only one block

from the barracks

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