<Begin Segment 41>

AH: What was the position that the other of the thirty people who were up for trial from Minidoka took?

JA: I can't speak for them. I don't know why they want to resist. See, I don't know... we never met, we never did anything together.

AH: You saw 'em in prison later on, didn't you?

JA: Once we went to county jail, yes. And I was quite surprised, oh, you're here, you're here, oh, you're here, because I didn't have any contacts with them. Before I could say anything, they had to get me out of camp before I talked too much. Because otherwise, if I had talked to people saying that we don't have any military obligations, hey, there'd be hundreds of 'em that would not answer the call, because they didn't have to.

AH: But did these people who resisted, and they resisted it, I guess...

JA: You mean the other...

AH: The twenty-nine others aside from you, did they later on become friends of yours in jail or in prison?

JA: Well, I wouldn't say friend. Friend is a friend, but they were associates or whatever you want to call -- one of the guys.

AH: But you didn't hear any of them say that they shared your philosophical position?

JA: No, I don't think so.

AH: And none of them repatriated?

JA: I don't think so.

AH: Okay. So their situation... the end result was that they were in jail, but their situation for getting in jail was somewhat different from yours?

JA: Yes, that I don't know. Each, to me, I say each individual had their thought and that's why they fought...

AH: And your brother is taking the same position you are.

JA: Yes.

AH: So there's two of you actually out of the...

JA: Yes.

AH: And did you talk to your brother about it, or was this just big brother did this and so I'm doing it.

JA: No, we talked to each other.

AH: Because he ended up spending time in jail, too, right?

JA: Right.

AH: The same amount of time as you did?

JA: Maybe less.

AH: A little bit less?

JA: Could have been little less. But anyway, what I wanted to do was to take the physical. Like Heart Mountain, they said, "Don't take physical, don't, nothing." So they got hit pretty fast and hard. Like me, I did take the physical, because I had the right to appeal and they have to respond to my appeal. And the response they gave me -- it's on one of the sheets -- three to zero. That means there's no way that I could go further, that was it, three zero, there's no way that I could appeal further. Only way was to talk to the president. And to that, that was just not in the books.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.