<Begin Segment 20>

TI: Okay, so we're going to get going and start the, the third hour.

HS: Okay, third hour.

TI: And so Henry, so we covered a lot of your activities prewar. I could probably do another two hours just on prewar, but I'm going to move forward and get to the outbreak of the war. So, so think back to Sunday, December 7, 1941, and tell me how you heard about the war.

HS: Well, December the 7th, 1941, I, I was then... let's see, I was, I just turned thirteen, 'cause I had, my birthday's on the end of November. Well, I heard about the war, mainly that day, in fact, that evening, because of, like I say, we always had supper together. And of course, that's when they told us that Japan was at war with the United States. And in fact, within a very short time, we heard that the government of Canada in the parliament, which was in session at the time, they immediately declared war on Japan. In actual fact, it turned out that Canada had declared war quicker than the United States, because the United States had yet to make the formal declaration. It had to, I don't know what the process is, but Canada had, already had been at war for, since 1939, so to include Japan into that, into that war, against what they called the Axis was not a big jump. It was just adding another name. And for, as far as they were concerned, they had no idea about what was going on in Japan in Canada.

TI: But going back to that, that supper, so you came home and you were sitting around the table, so how did you hear about it?

HS: I think, I think my parents talked about it, my mother, and said that war has begun, that was it.

TI: So do you recall what she said, how she said it?

HS: I can't remember how they said it. And, you know, the thing is, it might have been one of our older girls who heard about it first and told us. Because we, we were listening, after that, we were listening to the radio, and of course, more stuff came up as, as we listened to the radio. Because it wasn't immediate, a lot of the stuff that was coming up that they knew what the situation, what it meant. The fact that the Pearl Harbor had been attacked didn't translate directly into a war. Next day, the parliament in Ottawa had declared war, and it could be done. Canada had this, what they called War Measures Act, where they could take emergency action immediately, and that was, that War Measures Act was something that was there, present in Canada at that time, and it was used in times of emergency. And it was already in effect, because Canada had already been in war with Germany and Italy at that time, and this was just, like I say, adding another name to it and saying, "Yes, we're going to go to war against those people because they have attacked our allies."

TI: So Canada was able to --

HS: 'Cause it attacked Hong Kong at the same time as, as Pearl Harbor. Within, within a day, they were attacking Hong Kong.

TI: Right. So, but going back to kind of -- I realize you were young, you were thirteen, but what was your reaction? What were you thinking when you heard...

HS: I didn't think anything of it myself at the time. It didn't, it didn't mean... immediately, it did not register in me that there was that big a change. I mean, we had been at war already, it was, maybe the war had extended but it didn't, I knew that it would mean it was... my brother -- not my brother, but my uncle in Japan was a soldier. He was an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army at that time, and I knew about him being there, so I knew that that would mean he was going to be fighting against the allies, which included Canada and now the United States was joining the allies. It wasn't like it was, like immediately I knew all what it meant. I didn't know all, in all the little bits and pieces of what was happening. I didn't even know what effect it would have on me at that time. I knew it was a, I think --

TI: How about the older people? Did they, did you see a reaction from them? Did they...

HS: Well, they didn't, well, they probably did, but you know, they didn't talk about it in front of us, about what was, what this all meant. My father kept, didn't even tell me that immediately after that, he obviously thought this is going to be problems for the Japanese community, and he actually put the restaurant up for sale in the newspaper, and it wasn't 'til about two or three weeks later that somebody said to me, "Oh, you're selling your restaurant?" I said, "What do you mean we're selling the restaurant?" This is around Christmastime. And I said, "Why would we? We wouldn't sell our restaurant." And they said, "Oh, yeah, you're selling your restaurant."

TI: This is interesting. So your father anticipated something was going to happen, so...

HS: When it happened, yeah. When that happened, he immediately thought, well, he's gotta do something about this.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.