<Begin Segment 10>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So you talked about the unit, you mentioned your brother eventually left. Let's talk about that right now, where did he go?

SA: Well, he went on sugar beeting before he left, though, too, we all went out and helped with the harvest. And then he left to go to Pullman (to WSU), and of course he (got drafted and), he went with the Military Intelligence, MIS, to Fort Snelling. Because, I guess, he volunteered, too. I think a lot of (others went) to Shelby, (Mississippi).

TI: And how did your mother feel about that, about your brother going into the U.S. Army?

SA: Well, I think she actually never was as upset as most of the other mothers. Because some of the (boys) who volunteered, they were hiding in the coal bins, they were afraid to go home because they knew that their parents would practically disown 'em for doing that. And as you know, the COs had a hard time, too...

TI: The conscientious objectors?

SA: Yes. And I don't know if you had talked to (Gene) Akutsu, but his mother, later, after the war, (...) committed suicide.

TI: Right. But going back to your mother, so her reaction, she didn't have that strong of a reaction.

SA: No, and actually, it was a good thing. We had block managers, but my mother, actually, because she could do more English than most of 'em, she felt, she was used a lot as (a translator). But it was good for her because (now), for the first time, (she as an) Issei had some leisure time, and I think they really welcomed it. And of course, the husbands were taken, so the women had their knitting and their social (group) things came up, which they never had time for before. So, (besides that), there was an English class, and it's an interesting thing, that my mother wrote a letter to, I think it was to Eleanor Roosevelt in that English class. But her penmanship was better (than most) so they let her write it. And after the war, the Todo family, Daisy Todo thought her mother had written it, so she asked if I had that (letter). She sent me a copy of the letter, and it had everybody's signature (in the English class) on it, and then she found out later it was my mother that had written the letter and not her mother. But it was kind (...) of her to acknowledge that, and I have that letter.

TI: Oh, I'd love to see a copy of that letter. Do you recall what was written in that letter?

SA: Well, mainly that they were loyal, and they couldn't see their sons, I think, going into the army but it was mainly to (...) Eleanor (Roosevelt), but I do have that letter with those signatures (from the Japanese Issei ladies, and the answer from the White House).

TI: Did they send it to...

SA: They did send it.

TI: Did they ever get a response?

SA: (Yes, I have it).

TI: I'd love to see that letter.

SA: I thought by now you might have collected all these things. [Laughs]

TI: Not that letter. I'll have to make a note of that one.

SA: Daisy has it, too, 'cause she mailed (it) to me.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.