<Begin Segment 4>

DH: And so then they were given, so then, the Japanese on Bainbridge Island were the first to be evacuated... they were the first group to be evacuated.

WW: That is correct.

DH: And so... the soldiers came and posted this, and they had eight days. And so you had, for eight days you covered islander citizens getting ready to be moved. Do you remember what that was like?

WW: Well, sure. They didn't know... oh, dear...

MW: They only had a short time to do a lot of stuff.

WW: That's right.

DH: There is an article where you went down and talked to John Nakata, Johnny Nakata, at the market.

WW: Yes.

DH: And you were helping, he was telling you what it was like to get ready, to have only those eight days.

WW: And... what?

MW: He was telling you what it was like to only have eight days.

WW: That's right.

MW: Yeah.

WW: That was not good.

DH: And you had written an editorial that appeared on the front page of The Review and it said "Not Enough Time."

WW: That's right.

DH: You didn't think that they were given enough time, to be moved.

WW: Oh heck, no. No. No. Yes, we decided that belonged on page one.

DH: That's a difficult decision. And because of that, then you started getting letters to the editor back... and some people calling you "Jap lovers"...

WW: That's right.

DH: And some people canceling their subscriptions.

WW: That's right.

DH: That must have been hard to face.

WW: Umm, yeah, well... sure, it was.

DH: But then, you were telling me a story about where... even though people were canceling their subscriptions, the orders for the newspaper at the drug store, increased...? Can you tell me about that? How did that go?

WW: That's just exactly how it went. We, we had subscription cancellations... and very shortly the owner of the drug store... called up and said, "Woody, I don't know what the hell is going on... but you know, you leave ten copies a week and we're supposed to sell them over the counter. We don't understand why...?"

MW: They needed more papers?

WW: Yes, yes, yes. "Send us more. In other words, maybe we're having ten copies sent to the drug store every week, let's have twenty copies."

MW: [Laughs]

DH: So even though people were canceling their subscriptions, they still needed the paper to find out what was going on on the island.

WW: Well, yes. Uh-huh.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.