<Begin Segment 41>

MY: As a matter of fact, when, on December 7th we had a choir-, we were at church.

TY: You were at church?

MY: Yeah, in the morning when Reverend, the young child, the son of the minister came in and said, "Japan bombed Pearl Harbor," that was on the morning of December 7th. And we were going, "What?" I remember very vividly we were all gathering together. And I think we had, we were having a rehearsal and we were all gathered together in a room when we heard. And then, and then that afternoon, we were going to go to the University of Washington to a concert of some kind. Attend, to attend a concert, a musical or concert of something.

TY: That day?

MY: Yeah.

TY: I don't remember that.

MY: And we were all kind of worried, and then Minnie, I'm going to have to ask Henry and Minnie, because they were there. We, and I remember standing around wondering, "Do you think it'll be safe? Do you think we should go as a group to an event like this?" And then we decided to go anyway, so we did go.

AI: When you say, "We were trying to decide if it would be safe," what was it that was going through your mind?

MY: Well, some of the kids said, maybe people will see us, and do you think that they'll be mad at the Japanese, and maybe we shouldn't go. And some people were afraid to.

TY: Well, I think the main thing was the uncertainty. We just didn't know what's going to happen.

MY: What, they wouldn't know, you didn't know what to expect.

TY: You didn't know what to expect.

MY: And some people like, then cancelled out, because they wanted to go home. And it wasn't required, we all, we were just attending a concert. And I remember Minnie came, and we said, we decided to go anyway, and we went. And we were a little fearful, I think. We went, as we were coming out and there were all the hakujins, people were coming out of the hall -- I forgot which hall, I don't remember --

TY: No, it was in the main, as I recall, it was in the main sanctuary, and the service was just over. And we were gathering in the back, and somebody came in and said, "Pearl Harbor was attacked. Japan, Pearl, attacked Pearl Harbor." And I said, "Pearl Harbor, where's that?" [Laughs]

MY: "Where is that?" [Laughs]

TY: I knew it was in Hawaii, but I had no idea, what, where Pearl Harbor was.

MY: Yeah, I didn't either.

TY: It was, that was a strange feeling. Everybody was just literally stunned, we were just standing there, just milling around, wondering what we should do. Uncertainty was really pretty unnerving.

MY: So do you remember where the concert was on the campus? It was some hall.

TY: Well, it must have been Meany Hall. Because that's where the concert hall is. So my guess is that --

MY: But, I don't, I don't have any recollection of what the concert was about.

TY: My guess, it probably was in Meany Hall.

MY: I know that it was a musical concert, but I don't remember whether it was --

TY: Well, the only hall they had there at that time was Meany Hall. So I think it probably was Meany Hall.

MY: Uh-huh. So that was, and then when we came home, and then that was the, that was right after church. So it must have been --

TY: Yeah, it was about -- it was about noon.

MY: Around noon. Noon, and then we got home about 2 or 3 o'clock when the FBI came.

TY: Pardon?

MY: It was, when they got, came when we got home. So it was that afternoon.

TY: Or shortly after that. My guess is it was closer to 1 or 2 o'clock.

MY: Uh-huh.

TY: The FBI men came.

AI: So you two had gotten home by then, and Mike was home...

MY: He was in bed.

TY: Sick, he was in bed.

AI: Sick.

MY: And my mother was still in church, I remember. Remember she said she had a meeting or something like that?

TY: Yeah.

AI: And Joe, where were you? Were you with your mother?

JY: I don't remember.

TY: He must have come, too. You must have come home with us.

JY: My first recollection was when the FBI came, and I don't remember all that stuff you're talking about.

TY: You, you probably were at church, too.

JY: Probably. If you guys were there, I was probably there.

TY: But one thing I find disturbing is --

MY: And I remember you didn't come to the concert with us.

TY: -- I don't remember how we got from the church home. Because Dad wasn't there, Dad was at a meeting, senryu meeting.

MY: We didn't go home.

TY: Huh?

MY: We went from the church to the concert.

TY: We went to the concert?

MY: Yeah, we went to that concert that day.

TY: We did?

MY: Yeah, and then we all got rides. I don't remember, there were, various people drove in private cars. And then, and then we got home, and -- I guess we must have gotten a ride home.

TY: Well, I'll be darned.

MY: And then Joe wasn't with us. So you must have been with Mom.

TY: Yeah, you weren't with us. I don't remember you in that picture at all. I don't know why, and I do, but I don't remember going to the campus. That I don't remember. But I often wonder how we got from the church home that day. Because Dad wasn't there.

MY: No.

TY: Maybe the Itois took us home, I don't know.

MY: That'd be interesting to ask.

TY: Yeah, we'll have to ask Henry. See if he remembers.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.