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TI: Okay, so now that you've decided to volunteer, what was the next step? What happened next?
JS: Well, I went out to Salt Lake City, that's where we were gonna, have to report anyway, and I worked in a garage. When I say "garage," it was a parking garage, so I helped park cars there. And I worked there maybe a couple of weeks, just to get some extra money before I went into the service, and I was inducted there at Fort Douglas, Utah.
TI: And then what happened after that?
JS: Well, we were inducted, and... oh, there is an interesting story about a personal friend of mine, his name was Kaz Hirabayashi. He was a small -- and even shorter than I was. And he wanted -- and this kid, Kaz, we called him "Sweet Pea." He was an outstanding athlete; ping pong, basketball, baseball, football. And the reason I bring out his -- incidentally, he's since passed away, but this guy, as small as he was, in "Camp Harmony" when we were there, some of the football players like Pete Fujino, they were punting the football because they were bigger, this Sweet Pea could out-punt any of 'em. He could punt it 60 yards.
TI: How large was Sweet Pea?
JS: Sweet Pea, well, I'm now less than 5'2", but at that time, Sweet Pea, I was 5'4" and Sweet Pea must have been 5'2". But that guy had the athletic gift. But the reason I bring up his name is he volunteered as well, and he, ever since childhood, he wore glasses. And he knew he had bad eyesight, and so he volunteered, and he knew that he was gonna have to take an eye test. So he memorized the chart, but the examining doctor thought that, you know, there's something not right. So he said to Sweet Pea, "Let's go into this room here." It was a room and there was a projection, you know, on the whole wall. He says, "What is that?" He says, "That's an 'A'." And he said, "Well, get a little closer." It was a sailboat. [Laughs] So they said, "Thank you, but we can't accept you." And Sweet Pea never joined the army, but he did volunteer, and he was not accepted. But he, that kid was good. Whether it was pool or ping pong or basketball or football, he just had the coordination.
TI: Oh, that's a good story.
<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.