<Begin Segment 13>

LH: One of the things that was brought up in one of the breakout sessions is that -- and it appeared actually in the Rafu Shimpo a few weeks ago -- was that a lot of the younger generation of Japanese Americans were saying that the war was not an issue, that they were actually even tired of hearing the war. Do you think that that sort of indicates that they are taking a lot of the things that the Issei and the Nisei went through for granted?

FH: You know, they should never get tired of what our fellows did in World War II, fighting in Europe and in the Pacific, never, because they're the most important item in our being able to come back. Because, when we came -- before evacuation, you used to take a lot of crap from the public in little things, but after I came back, I didn't feel I had to take crap from anybody. I remember, a guy could be six feet tall and I would go up there and say, "What did you say?" You know, 'cause I hear him make some kind of disparaging -- I would never have done that before the war. I wouldn't have had the courage. But I've never taken any crap from anybody on account of my being Japanese since, without making some kind of protest.

CK: And you think it's because of the record of the servicemen?

FH: Oh, I think so. I think that was the most important thing.

CK: That you have that to back you up in saying, "Look what our boys did?"

FH: Yeah, yeah. Nothing but great admiration, I have friends in the service. I never went into the service because in 1942, I was thirty-four years old. I had a wife, three kids, little kids and I was taking care of my father and mother and, you know, they classified all of us 4-C at one time, aliens or non-eligible for service. And I wrote to my draft board in Fresno, local board 124, I told them, "Look, I'm an American citizen, I want my 4-C classification changed." So they sent me a lot of papers and I sent them back then they gave me a (2-C), which is a sort of a occupational or dependency deferment. 'Cause I told my wife, "If I'm drafted, I'll go but I won't volunteer because I have to take care of you guys."

LH: Is that a 2-C?

FH: 2-C or 2-A or something. Occupational, but see, if I went, why, who was going to take care of my wife and my parents and my little kids? No matter what you say, I think in anybody's concern, his first concern is for his family, the kids that he brought into the world. That's always been my first concern even beyond country.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.