<Begin Segment 29>

SN: Now, you made a couple references to Tule Lake that maybe it wasn't, I don't know if this is the correct, as harmonious as it was in Minidoka. And you stated a couple of things... that the people who were at Tule Lake came from more different areas than at Minidoka. And also, shortly after the camp was opened at Tule Lake, my understanding is that it became a segregation center. That a lot of people, there was a loyalty questionnaire -- who answered, "No-yes," "yes-no," or "no-no."

SH: If they answered "no-no," for sure they were kept at Tule Lake.

SN: And, do you recall, generally what those questions were? I think they were numbers twenty-seven and twenty-eight.

SH: Twenty-seven and twenty-eight. "Would you be willing to serve in the United States Army, if so asked?" And, "Would you pledge allegiance to the United States of America," those were the last two questions, or the parts of two questions, I can't remember exactly the wording, but it was a loyalty questionnaire. Actually, all the questions before that, I wouldn't say exactly immaterial, but they was not that relevant to whether you were going to be able to, to be allowed to go back or not. The main thing was if you said "no" to one of the other, either question, it showed that you were not going to be too loyal to the government, so they wouldn't let you out.

SN: And how did, you answered those questions...

SH: I answered "yes-yes," my wife answered "yes-yes," with no question, period. So, that was it. That was the deciding two questions to be allowed to go out of camp to resettle, no matter where you want to go. Even just to go from Minidoka to Nampa, which is hundred miles away, for farm work, or fifty miles, 25 miles to go to Twin Falls area farm. If you answered...

SN: So the work leave program?

SH: Yes, work program.

AI: Excuse me. How did you, were you actually told that, or you heard that you would need to answer "yes-yes" in order to get a work leave?

SH: We weren't told. Nobody knew. Nobody knew. And we didn't take the test side-by-side like this. We, each one separately. So we couldn't say, "Hey, what you gonna do? How you gonna answer this?" We didn't know what the question was. You got it all at one time, at least where I was, a whole bunch of us, all the citizens.

SN: Can you describe the atmosphere of Tule Lake, once people who were answering those questions "no-no," "yes-no" came into Tule Lake?

SH: I can't answer that question at Tule Lake, 'cause I answered my question in Minidoka.

SN: Oh, okay.

SH: After I was moved to Minidoka.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.