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TI: Well, after, after about six months of being at Topaz, a friend of the family, James Wakasa, was shot and killed by an MP sentry.

TA: Yeah.

TI: So this was about six months in. What was the effect on you and, and your father and the rest of the family?

TA: Well, since we knew him, and it was sort of a personal thing. And as far as my father was concerned, they, they had, in the boiler room they used to drink together, and he went to the University of Wisconsin, he's an educated man, they exchanged ideas, so they were, they knew each other and then, and knew each other's feeling. And so when he got, when he was killed, he took it hard. And, of course, he became one of the committee members to see what they could do about it so that it won't happen again. So... and as a result of that, they changed their policy about having, guards having guns and having only the sidearms and things like that at the guard gate. So he was instrumental in pushing that along. But, yeah, it was, to him, I think, it was a loss.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.