<Begin Segment 25>

AI: Well, so here you are. You're in Chicago, you're working, and then, oh, then did your, was your youngest brother born in Chicago then?

AS: Sister.

AI: I mean, sorry, your youngest sister?

AS: Yes.

AI: Right. And that was Kazuko?

AS: Uh-huh.

AI: And then, weren't, tell me what happened then. You had been living and working in Chicago for a few years, and then what happened next?

AS: In 19-, well, in 1952, (April) of 1952 I got a U.S. army draft notice. And so then, since I was fighting deportation, I was classified as illegal alien, I figured I better go in, just in case. So, I went in the army. And I took basic in Arkansas and then after, after basic, they sent me to Germany.

AI: Well, let me ask you, when you first got the draft notice, what did you think? What was your reaction?

AS: I couldn't believe it because here I am illegal alien. So, but since I was fighting deportation, I thought maybe I better go in the army.

AI: So when you answered the draft notice, when you reported, did it come up that you were an illegal alien?

AS: No. Because they, they can actually draft illegal aliens.

AI: Right, but there wasn't any discussion of that?

AS: No.

AI: They just took you in and processed you like any other...

AS: Right, like any other.

AI: And what was your parents' reaction and your sisters and brothers? Did they --

AS: Well, we were all shocked that the, that the... but the thing is that a real close friend of mine got drafted before me, maybe six months before me. So when I got mine -- and he went in, so when I got mine it was no, no shock.

AI: Because you knew someone else also?

AS: Yeah.

AI: Oh, and so was this other --

AS: In fact, in fact, he was, he was sent to Korea.

AI: And was he Japanese American?

AS: Yes, from Peru.

AI: Also Japanese Peruvian?

AS: Yes, a friend of mine, buddy of mine. In fact, he went, we went to the same school in Peru.

AI: Oh, so because that had happened to him already, you...

AS: Yeah, it was no shock when I got mine.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.