<Begin Segment 41>

AI: Well, now, you were telling before the break, you were taking about how difficult it was for some people like yourself, who had relationships, working relationships and close ties to either the administration staff or other, the Caucasian staffpeople, that you were sometimes accused of being inu, dogs, informers, or you were being suspected of being, I guess, anti-Japanese in a way. And that, that led to harassment. Did you feel yourself that you, you were harassed?

EH: Well, I could hear Issei bachelors as they sat around, and once in a while I would hear, "Inu da." But other than that, (...) friends of mine would keep telling me, "Don't go down to the administration." And I was, I've, I guess I've always an optimistic person, and I really didn't feel that -- I, I was just (going to) go until the Jacobys stopped me. Then, then I did stop.

AI: Did you, did know of anybody who was severely harassed, or even beaten?

EH: Well, I, I can't remember. I think Walter Tsukamoto was probably one of the early lawyers, and he ultimately went to, into the military, I think. But I think he was beaten. There were a half a dozen people that were being -- the JACL crowd, as they would be identified, I think were really threatened. But Tule Lake is a pretty widespread, and we didn't venture into dangerous areas, that's for sure. Though my friend Wendy's mother, May Omura, I guess I don't remember getting together with her, but I knew I was a little bit worried about what was happening to the Omuras. And May later told me that they really got harassed. And I think they were maybe feeling threatened. And I don't know how early, May eventually, probably shortly after I left camp, she finished her nursing education in medical -- not medical corps, but the army nursing corps. Army nurses corps. And, and she had, her younger brother went into the military. But you wonder, even in those areas, you knew there were military, people who got drafted. And you couldn't choose whether to go or not. You had to go if you were drafted. So it must have been tough for those families.

AI: Well, let me ask you, also, kind of the other side of it, which is after people answered the questionnaire, did you know families or people who answered "no-no," and, and how were they treated? Was, was there some negative behavior or negative attitudes toward people who became known as "no-no"?

EH: (Yes), I think those of us that were prone to say "yes-yes" or be determined that we're (going to) stay loyal, or we're (going to) do what the government wants us to do, I think frowned on people who were "no-no." If I have discussions with my sister (now), who's a pro-"no-no," I mean, we really get into argumentative form. But thank heaven we don't discuss this, or we don't talk that often. But she still -- and the, and the issue with people that age, and I think I've even said it to, to Chizu Omori, who I happened to meet at a party... and I, I frankly, said to Chizu, "I want to get this discussion off, with you. We need to have a cup of coffee." And we've never gotten around to doing that, but I had said -- and I wasn't thinking so much about Chiz, but I was talking about this sister who was aggravating me, and I worried about the fact that she's, teaching about evacuation, and she was only fourteen.

AI: Your sister?

EH: (Yes). You don't know what the adult psychology is, and, and for instance, I often wonder, did she know what Mom was going through? Because my mother was determined, I think not to go to Japan, but she also wanted a safe haven for my sisters and she wasn't going to do anything to endanger them. And we never, we really never got a chance to sit down and, and analyze that evening, or that situation, though I think we were aware that people were getting hurt, or beaten. And I don't know what happened after that questionnaire got, got corrected. Whether that ever really came back to Tule Lake, and we did things over, I don't, I don't remember doing that, but I don't know whether my mother, for instance... I don't think that she would have... it's kind of astounding that all the Isseis who were able to leave camp, or go to other camps, Minidoka to, did they all end up saying "yes-yes"? That, that's a question that we ought to ask, even to this day, the few that are left. And some about, unlike me, most people probably would know how their parents answered it, even if they're gone.

AI: Well, let me ask you also, that you had just, you were saying that, that for yourself, you were determined that you, you were going to answer "yes-yes." And I'm wondering --

EH: I think out of helplessness, you did that.

AI: Tell me more about that, your feeling of helplessness.

EH: Well, what else could you do, is the situation. Certainly I would give up all allegiance to any other country or emperor, but my, my big burning question was, what about our parents, who only have that one country to be a citizen of? And somehow, I, I just never got around to asking all my friends, because -- and most of my friends did leave camp. Like Chiz was stuck, because her mother was ill, but everybody else eventually did leave camp. Though Tule Lake, I think, became a camp of about 18,000 and when people came in from the other camps. My friend who stayed there said it was really rough, 'cause you really had to conform. Early in the morning exercises, and your hair cut just so, and that kind of thing.

AI: Let me ask you, after this, after you did the questionnaire, and after that period, then when did you start getting notice that you were, had the choice to move to another camp? Did you start hearing about that?

EH: Oh. No, that didn't occur until after I left, because my sister and I both... well, I left in June, because I was going to a school in... YM/YW conference, and then I went to Des Plaines, Illinois.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.