<Begin Segment 9>

AI: Now, in, in November of 1941, you would have been eighteen. You turned eighteen in November.

FY: Yes.

AI: And you were a senior at Queen Anne High School?

FY: Yes.

AI: Is that right?

FY: I had my picture taken at the -- it was already, annual book, graduation book was already out. Everything was all right except they spelled my name wrong. So my name was "Yamaski." [Laughs]

AI: And what were -- excuse me. What were your older brothers doing at that time? You were a senior in high school, and your two --

FY: My oldest brother was in California. My --

AI: What was he doing there?

FY: I'm not sure.

AI: Possibly working or...

FY: Yes. It's strange how our association was almost nil. He was -- from the time he was a teenager, he was staying in town with friends, and so there wasn't that much of a relationship. I'd seen him, actually, more when he was, became ill and during that period before he died. I saw him more during those period than most of my life. My other brother was going to... in the summertime, he would be going to the cannery. And then in the fall, he'd be going to the university because he was going to the University of Washington. On December 7th, I think I mentioned before, Sunday, and we were volunteering. I helped -- we were wheelbarrowing sawdust into the gymnasium, and -- for what reason, I'm not sure to this day. But when I came home, and a neighbor told me there's war. I couldn't believe it. It was, it's just as shocking as the twin tower explosion.

AI: So you really didn't have a sense -- here you were a senior in high school, but you really didn't expect something like Japan and the U.S. actually going to war.

FY: No, no, no. That, in fact, when they were mentioning Pearl Harbor, we, Ted and I, we were all sitting there, "Where's Pearl Harbor?" We had no idea. Never heard of the name Pearl Harbor. The -- I think the, the news of what happened there would be equivalent to the terrorists' attack on the twin towers. The first, time has changed where we can, we saw the disaster on television almost immediately. Well, before, only time we see in motion would be at the theater when you see the newsreel. But it's the kind of feeling that you think, "Is it real?" Or is it some -- something like what Orson Welles did in radio days with the Mars? There is a moment of un-, you just can't imagine that it's true or can't imagine what it is.

AI: And then the following day was Monday, and you went back to school.

FY: Back to school. And the media didn't start in with the, the media was... contributed a lot to this fear of the Japanese.

AI: In what way? Can you tell about the -- what came out?

FY: This is very similar to what's going on today, and it's very sad that this kind of thing is happening.

AI: Now, today you're speaking of the --

FY: I'm talk --

AI: Septem --

FY: Yes, of the Muslim, the Arab people. I'm sure they must be under tremendous fear. At the same time in driving around, I don't see many Muslim walking the street -- that is, Muslim in their traditional clothing with turbans.

AI: Since September 11th.

FY: Yes. I read in the paper the kind of harassment that they are encountering.

AI: And when you read these things, what do you think --

FY: Yes, it brings back memory about what happened to us. And...

[Interruption]

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2001 Densho. All Rights Reserved.