<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Were there other instances of, that you recalled, difficulties with your family and the Japanese coming back to Seattle, any examples of say discrimination that you can remember?

EBA: Well, if I can back up a little bit, I remember in Idaho my dad was, had two of the Japanese soldiers, 442nd boys with him in the vehicle. And he wanted to, needed some gas for the car. And he pulled into this gas station and he said that the attendant at the station just kind of hemmed and hawed and took his time coming out to pump the gas. And he came out and he looked inside and he said, "Are those Japs?" And he said, "They are Japanese American citizens in the U.S. army, fighting for your, for you." But he still would not pump any gas for my dad. Back to Seattle, I remember signs in different places, restaurants, you know, "No Japs allowed" and so forth. And I forgot, Tom, I'm sorry, I was gonna go somewhere with that. [Laughs]

TI: Well, there's another one that we mentioned, you mentioned earlier about a picnic --

EBA: Oh, I know, I know what it was. Yeah, we, one Sunday, I think it must've been after church or may have been a Saturday, we took a busload of our congregation out to, I think it was Cottage Lake. And at that time there was a private, privately owned resort there. And so we pulled up to the gate there and the man came out and he looked inside and saw all the Japanese citizens in there. And he refused us entry. We could not come in, because, simply because in his eyes, they were Japanese and they were the enemy, even though the war was over. So incidences like that.

TI: Do you recall how you felt when these things happened?

EBA: Well, I was disappointed, first of all because I wanted to go play in the lake. But also, it was, it was hurtful because these people were my friends. And I know who they were and how they are, that it was, there was no reason to refuse entry.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.