<Begin Segment 8>

TI: So when this is all happening... what do you think, because in the, in the months following, President Roosevelt signed an executive order to remove the people from the West Coast, Japanese, people of Japanese ancestry. What was your sense? Did you think that was a, a good call by the, by the Commander in Chief?

DK: Well, I think it was for that area on account of there was the biggest population of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles.

TI: Actually, on the whole West Coast.

DK: Yeah. And I figured it more as a, not that very many of 'em was a danger, but for their own protection. I could see Americans living next door that lost a son in Pearl Harbor, that was going to be kind of looking for something to vent their anger. So I think it was a, on the part of the authorities, I think it was partly to make the West Coast harder to invade, and protection for the Japanese Americans.

TI: Hmm. So you think the... so two reasons. One, in terms of national security, but the other one was really almost protective custody, to, to protect the loyal Japanese Americans who were on the West Coast, from, from possible vigilante type of...

DK: You bet.

TI: Did you get a sense that there, that was a threat? When you, when you hear people talking about the Japanese Americans in the community, do you think they were sort of threatened or at risk during this period?

DK: Well, of course, I should say the mindset had changed from December 7th beyond, that it was hard to assess what might happen. I mean, if the, if the Imperial Japanese wanted to, they could have taken the West Coast pretty easily in the next few days. There would have been so much chaos that it wouldn't have been a very big battle, I don't think. But looking back on it, whether it was a threat, I don't know that much. But I know when people, their mindset changes, and you talk about freedom, that protecting freedom, you, more people are going to get up in arms than any other times that I know of. It's the, it's the... freedom is so precious and so wanted and so needed, that if it's threatened, you're gonna find a, quite an uprising to protect it.

TI: And so you think that was kind of the tenor right then in terms of what people were thinking?

DK: That's right.

TI: Was there much thought or discussion -- you mentioned how you thought the West Coast or the L.A. area was very vulnerable to an attack. I mean, was there kind of a sense that there could be an attack, that people were concerned and worried about that?

DK: Yes. Ordinarily, the, we would have had a few battleships and air carriers close by, but after the, many that got lost at Pearl Harbor, we were in sad, I was reading that just lately from the official records of the army in Washington, D.C. office, we only had very few planes was, was capable of deterring any threat at that time. Like bombers, we only had maybe forty on the West Coast. And had maybe two hundred fighter planes on the West Coast. And in a few days or months, within a month, we had quite a few, 'cause they brought 'em from all over. And I know Marsh Airfield out there was really busy. It was... so like I say, in my view, the difference in the mindset changed everything from that point on.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.