Densho Digital Archive - Mitsuye May Yamada - Joe Yasutake - Tosh Yasutake Interview (denshovh-ymitsuye

<Begin Segment 84>

AI: Now, was it about this same time that the friend of the family came through and visited you? Tom Ogawa, was it?

MY: Yeah, that was after Mike left. After Mike left, I was still in Cincinnati, and then this pers-, who was, oh, he was a Canadian Japanese. And at that time, as you know, Canadians -- he was a Canadian citizen, whose citizenship had been taken away.

TY: This is, you're still in Cincinnati?

MY: Yeah, when I was in Cincinnati. It was after you left. Yeah. You came in right before you went overseas, in your uniform.

TY: No, I, I came to visit you. I went to visit you --

MY: I was in --

TY: -- I got two-week leave, after I got inducted.

MY: Oh, okay. You were in --

TY: And then two-week leave, so I went to visit you in Cincinnati.

MY: Yeah. And you were in a uniform, 'cause we have pictures.

TY: Yeah, I still, looked like a --

MY: I was living in a dormitory, at the time.

TY: Yeah, right.

MY: Okay, so I --

TY: -- you and Mike, Mike was still there.

MY: Oh yeah, Mike was still there, okay. So it was after that, 'cause I think I would have probably discussed it with you, and Mike, Mike was gone, and Tosh was --

TY: Yeah, we have pictures of you and Shimoko.

MY: Oh, yeah.

TY: I think Shimoko was Mike's roommate then, right?

MY: Uh-huh. He was kicked out, too.

TY: Huh?

MY: I don't know whether he was kicked out because he was Mike's roommate, or --

TY: Oh, he was kicked out, too?

MY: Yeah.

TY: Where did he go after that?

MY: I don't know.

TY: Oh.

MY: And so after, after they left, this person who's a, who was a Canadian, so he was much younger than my dad, and he was a little bit older than I. I remember when we were in --

TY: He's a Canadian Nisei?

MY: Yeah, he's Tom Ogawa. Do you remember him?

TY: No, I don't.

MY: He had a wife and a couple of kids, I think. So he was a very young Issei person. He spoke fluent English. He, I think he grew up in Canada. But anyway, he was, he was also interned. And he was in Lordsburg. And he came by Cincinnati, I think on his way, I think his family was in New York. And looked me up, and I had dinner with him. And he said, that, "Your dad is in really serious trouble, and he might get killed." And I said, "What are you talking about?" And he said, "Well, I just overheard this sort of conspiracy or conversation going on in camp, and I just thought that, that there's going to be some kind of a uprising on that camp, in that camp. And that your dad may be, his life may be in danger. You should try to get your dad out of there."

TY: This is Lordsburg, right?

MY: Yeah, yeah. And he, so, and then he said, "Well, how am I going to do that?" And he says, well, the prospect of having him released seemed quite remote. He said there's one thing you can do, which I wasn't familiar with. There was a family camp. Because Mom was talking about it one time, there was one in Crys-, in Texas. This family camp. And that, "You should try to get him transferred there." So I said, "Well, should I write a letter?" He said, "No, that's just, it'll be too late. You have to go there right away." So I remember taking a train and, and years later when I told my dad about this, he said, "Well, did you apply to leave Cincinnati?" Because I was still an "enemy alien," and you couldn't, and one of the conditions was that you could not travel without a permit. So he was, he was asking me when we were in Chicago, "Well, did you apply to go to Philadelphia?" And I said, "No, I don't remember." I just think, I just got on a train and went to -- and I said, "Well, I walked into the Department of Justice and talked to those guys in the Department of --" and then I, and then I went -- and Corey, somebody was there in Philadelphia. They met me at the train.

TY: Yeah Corey Wy. Corey Wy.

MY: And I went to Philadelphia because the headquarters of the Immigration and Naturalization was in Philadelphia at that time, I think. So when I went to Washington, the most logical person was to see Edward Ennis, there, in the Department of Justice. And then they told me, well, "You should go see the Immigration and Naturalization and go there." And so then I went to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and I don't know whether I got an answer right away or not, but I had to go back to Cincinnati. It was, I think, during midterms or something. I remember missing some exams. And, and then soon after that you all were -- and I guess it was, well, I had gone to ask that Dad be released. And if not, to have him removed from that camp anyway, to go to (Crystal City). And, I'm kind of surprised, because I was very scared, timid, very timid. Hardly knew how to talk to strangers. And I, and soon after that, and I guess it was a successful trip, because they got out, they went to Crystal City, not long after that. It only took a couple -- I was surprised, surprised at how soon it was. But I told them, "This is very crucial. It's a matter of life or death." I was getting quite dramatic, and told them that they had to do this and so forth. [Laughs] And so I guess I persuaded them to let my dad leave, leave there and join Joe, and have Joe and -- then of course Joe and my mom had to apply to go there, as well. And so they left. And that was -- do you remember what months that was?

JY: You know, I really don't. But it was in time to start school.

MY: 1944 in the fall.

JY: Yeah. It was in 1944.

MY: About September 1944, yeah.

JY: In the fall. Probably like August or September, or something around that time period. Because I think when I started school, all the kids were new, too. It wasn't like I went into an existing classroom or something... there was registration and things like that, that I went, so I must have got there...