<Begin Segment 7>

JT: Okay, well, I'd like to move on to when you graduated from Porter School. Where did you go?

KT: Well, Alameda High School after that. And then I was a senior when World War II...

JT: Oh, you were in the twelfth grade. Do you remember that day, when Pearl Harbor was bombed? Do you remember December 7th? Where were you?

KT: I was at the church, Sunday, and with Hiromu...

JT: Akagi?

KT: He had a car, and he turned the radio on, we were sitting around chatting. And Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan, the radio says. We said, oh, that must be a hoax. [Laughs] They couldn't do a thing like that.

JT: Right.

KT: And after that we went home to eat our lunch, and it was Sunday, and we used to have basketball practice at Alameda High School. And so we felt if it was true...

JT: Right, right.

KT: But we went to the high school for our practice, and they said we're not going to have practice today.

JT: Oh, they canceled it?

KT: Yeah.

JT: Who said that? The coaches?

KT: No, just the, there was a man there that took care of the gym.

JT: Gym? Oh.

KT: And so we came home and listened to the radio more.

JT: Of course. And who else was there besides Akagi? Who else was in your group?

KT: Oh, I think Dorothy Madokoro.

JT: Was Kaz Date in your group?

KT: Hmm?

JT: Kaz Date?

KT: No.

JT: No, okay. Dorothy Madokoro...

KT: He was older.

JT: Oh, okay. That's right, that's right.

KT: And I guess my brother must have been there.

JT: Uh-huh. Shig?

KT: Shig? No.

JT: Shig is older, too.

KT: Yeah.

JT: So then you had to come home, and then do you remember what exactly happened? How did your parents feel when you told them what happened?

KT: Well, I guess they couldn't believe it too. And then I guess it could have.

JT: Could be. And then it wasn't very long after that, that notice came out about evacuation.

KT: Yeah. I mean, first thing, Alameda was a naval air base.

JT: Yes.

KT: And so they said that aliens couldn't live in Alameda any more. And so my father was closing the shop in San Francisco while Mr. Kako went to Denver. So when they told the, aliens can't stay in Alameda, then our family moved to San Francisco.

JT: Oh, you got out of Alameda?

KT: Yeah.

JT: And it was quick? You had to leave in a couple days or less than a week, I think. And where did you stay in San Francisco?

KT: Oh, it's just a regular home on Pine Street.

JT: Okay. With friends?

KT: No. It wasn't friends, but...

JT: Got out quick, got out of Dodge.

KT: Yeah. And we found a rental, so it's more or less, I guess... I'm not quite sure how we found the house.

JT: But you didn't stay there very long, you couldn't stay there very long.

KT: First, San Francisco had to evacuate.

JT: Right. Then do you remember where you went after? Where did you go?

MT: Wait a minute, Jo. He went, commuted from San Francisco to Alameda High School every day until they were told to evacuate.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.