<Begin Segment 18>

TI: But you mentioned when you went to Nebraska, you were met by Niseis?

JI: Yeah.

TI: So were these Niseis, who, before the war, lived in Nebraska?

JI: No, no.

TI: Who were these?

JI: They were, they were evacuees. Nebraska was a... I don't know what other people's... well, I know one person, I'll get to that. But Nebraska was a great place to go because there was a guy named Bob Drew, or Robert Drew, who was minister to Methodist students. And, well, he's a guy from New England. But he was outraged by the whole evacuation process. And how he found out about it on the East Coast I don't know, but he was aware of it. And he did a great job of preparing people, the university, first of all, and people of the town, to accept Nisei. And so I remember walking down the street one time, and there was a little girl who spoke to me -- and I didn't hear her, I guess, I walked by. And she came running after me and grabbed my, says, "I said hello." [Laughs] So I said hello to her and greeted her. I had, my brother had a friend who was in Nebraska, and I saw him a couple of times, opening, he could help me find a job, but he was a truck driver or something. And he couldn't help me find a local job, so I did little odd things, and eventually got a job working for the art department. That's how I got started in art. But...

TI: But going back to this Robert Drew, so he made it a more welcoming environment for the Niseis.

JI: Yeah. He was somewhat suspect in the community because he was a pacifist. But at the same time, I think he was generally respected. And he was a great, a great catalyst for, to make our absorption into the community.

TI: And so at, in Nebraska, or University of Nebraska, are you talking about, like, a couple dozen or...

JI: There were a hundred.

TI: Hundred.

JI: Yeah.

TI: Wow, so significant. From all the --

JI: Yeah, as a matter of fact, they had, they published a booklet which they sent to me -- well, as a matter of fact, they asked me to write something for it, which I did, and, about the relocation. And you probably have it in your library somewhere. I forget what it's called but it's a little pamphlet-sized booklet with a lot of photographs, and I don't know where they got photographs of me, but they had two photographs of me. And people's recollection... and to a person, they remembered Bob Drew. As a matter of fact, his family came back from the east, he had died, but the kids, wife, widow, came back for the occasion. And I guess I was in, in Italy when this happened.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.