<Begin Segment 20>

AI: Well, and that was, that was in 1943 when the government decided to allow Japanese Americans to volunteer.

MN: Uh-huh. So he had volunteered. So he entered, I read where he entered in 1943, and since... I don't know what his background was, why he knew any Japanese, but he went to (...) in Minnesota.

AI: The MIS?

MN: Uh-huh.

AI: Military Intelligence Service. Lots of people were talking about going out of camp at that point, in 1943. What were you thinking about it?

MN: Well, my sister had already, she first went... she was younger than I, but she went out sugar-beeting, and then soon after that she went to Salt Lake City. But I was still in camp, and then soon after that, I left for Spokane, Washington.

AI: How did you manage that, how did that happen?

MN: I don't know how it happened. I guess I had a, you had to have a sponsor to get you over there, so my girlfriend was there, so she sponsored me, and I worked in a home as a housegirl. And I hated the job, 'cause she treated me like a maid, and she was out every single night 'cause her husband was in the service, and I had the sole care of the little child. Put her to bed, fed her and everything else, 'cause she slept 'til noon every day. And then one day, I decided, "Well, this is no fun. I'm not going to stay in this position all the rest of my life," and so I decided, "Well, maybe I'll go to school." So I had applied for a part-time position in another home. Well, the woman called this woman -- the woman I was working for, for referral on me. Well, I hadn't talked to the woman that I was gonna leave. She was so upset she called me in, and I had to leave right then and there. [Laughs] She says, "You don't know what you're doing to me." She says, "Here I, here it is wartime, my husband's overseas," but she's having a good time, she was out every single night, and it was such a sacrifice on her part. And so she told me to leave, so I left.

AI: So then what, after you left that position?

MN: I stayed with my girlfriend for a few, a week or two, then I went back to camp, because that was my only home. I didn't know any other, where else to go, so I went back into camp again.

AI: Tell me about that trip, returning from Spokane back to Minidoka.

MN: Norio Wakamatsu was going back, and there were a couple other people going back into camp. I don't know whether it was for a visit or just... but I was going back for good. And so we drove from Spokane to Idaho, and in one of the restaurants, I can't remember whether it was in Washington or Idaho, we sat there and they gave us a menu and the water, and we waited and waited. And Norio says, "I don't think they're gonna serve us." And I'm so innocent, I go, "Well, how do you know?" And he says, "Look around you, May." He says, "Everybody that came after us is eating already, and here we are sitting, and they haven't even come after our order." And I go, "Oh." So we left the restaurant, because Norio says, "They're not gonna serve us."

AI: So this whole time that you had been out to Spokane, had there been any other incidents of that sort?

MN: Yes, I was in downtown Spokane, and it was right in the middle of town, and at an intersection, and when we started to cross the, 'cause the light was green, there was an old lady that was coming toward us, and she spit at me and said, "Dirty old Jap." And I was flabbergasted, 'cause I have never come across anything like that before. I thought it was a very hurtful feeling, action on her part. How did she know we were Japanese or Chinese?

AI: Well, 'course, Spokane had a small Japanese American community from before World War II, but then they were not forced into camp, because they were east of the dividing line.

MN: Yeah, they were east of the mountains. So I don't have very many good feelings about Spokane.

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