<Begin Segment 7>

DM: So in December of 1941, you were sixteen years old, so do you remember anything about the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed?

AM: Well, I remember I had a toothache, I had an infected molar or something like that, and I was physically miserable but terrified of what was happening. We listened to the radio, and the next day was, for Roman Catholics, December 8th is a day to celebrate the immaculate conception of Mary. So that was the holiday, and that was also an obligatory mass attendance. So I remember walking to mass the next morning, and being terrified of walking on the streets. Because by this time, my mother was nearly hysterical, she said she didn't know what was gonna happen to us because of the war. She thought that we would all be shot or something, I guess that's what she was worried about.

DM: Did people gather to talk about what was happening?

AM: Not that I know of, but I know that my father disappeared, and he went with his friends, I think.

DM: Did you notice any difference in the way that people treated you or your family at school or in town?

AM: Well, at school it was pretty normal, except that the nun, who was at that point my favorite nun, was very sympathetic, and came and put her arm around me and said she was, "So sorry to hear what has happened to you, to your family." But the thing is, that I remember is that they, she just made the assumption that we were Japanese and that we were not Americans. She just assumed that we were Japanese, meaning the fact that we were all citizens did not make a difference. She thought of us collectively as Japanese, as well as the rest of the community.

DM: And how did she show that?

AM: By telling me how sorry she was that war took place, that war happened. She didn't say any more than that, but I remember seeing her saying to me, with her arm around my neck, my shoulders, she was so sorry that we're at war with Japan, was the way she phrased it. Which implied to me that she thought that the war included me, too, and sort of denied me sort of by the fact that I was born in this country. And she didn't, it wasn't so much that she said it explicitly so much as implied it.

DM: Now, you had mentioned that at the Maryknoll school there were Chinese and Filipino students. And Japan was then at war with China and the Philippines as well, so did you notice any tension with the Chinese or Filipino Americans?

AM: No, except I remember, one thing that I do remember, the Chinese wore "I am a Chinese American" buttons that suddenly appeared. And so most of the Chinese wore these buttons so they would not be mistaken for being Japanese. Most people couldn't tell the difference between Filipino, Chinese and Japanese, obviously.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright ©2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.