<Begin Segment 6>

TI: So I'm going to move on now to December 7, 1941. And wanted to ask you, what are some of your memories of that day?

SM: Well, that Sunday morning, I remember getting up. And in those days, news were very slow. Everybody had radios, but, you now, it wasn't like what it is right now. And in the morning we were hanging around, and then people said Pearl Harbor was bombed or something. But we didn't even know where Pearl Harbor was. And pretty soon, said Japan attacked the United States. But we didn't think nothing of it. But that Sunday afternoon, we said, "Let's go to the movies," and we went across the channel to San Pedro. And then when we got out, they just had the, they had soldiers there, and they had us all go into these, this fenced-off area. And they kept us there for a couple of hours, then they told us to go back home, so we came back home.

TI: So describe when you, so you went across the channel and the soldiers were there. What was the, kind of, feelings of the soldiers? Were they, I guess were they, like, professional? Were they angry? Do have a sense? Can you remember what they were like?

SM: It's hard to say. But, you know, we were just herded into this fenced-off area.

TI: Or let me ask you this question. What was your reaction when you were herded to this other place? What were you thinking, what were you...

SM: That's when we realized this must be really serious or whatever. Because until then, we just didn't think too much about it.

TI: And so after this incident, so they sent you back. What did you do next?

SM: Well, then they came out with a, they said when you go to school, you had to take a certain route to school so that... whether it was for our protection or whatever, whatever it was, we had to take a certain route to school.

TI: And when you took that certain route to school, did you have to go past, like, army soldiers or anything like that? Was there any checkpoint?

SM: Well, I think it was patrolled with regular police, I think it was.

TI: But when you did that, did you ever have to, like check in with anyone when you left the island or anything like that?

SM: No, there was no anything like that.

TI: But they wanted you to just go a certain...

SM: But I guess there were some, in school, things weren't, things were a little bit different from an ordinary time.

TI: So describe that. When you say it's a little bit different in school, what were some of...

SM: God, it's hard to explain.

TI: Was it, when you were in school, you mentioned Terminal Island where the elementary school was almost all Japanese. In high school, what was that like? Was it mostly Japanese or was there a mixture?

SM: No, they're all mixed. In one class, there would be maybe thirty or forty Japanese in the whole class of maybe, the winter class was much smaller, about 150 to 200. And in the summer class, it ran from 250 to 350 students. And of that, I would say maybe ten percent was Japanese.

TI: So there was a substantial number, but again, you were a minority, about ten, fifteen percent. So after December 7th when you're in school, were there ever any tension with the other non-Japanese about Pearl Harbor?

SM: Well, there must have been. But I didn't, I don't remember hardly any that I considered mean.

TI: Do you recall any conversations with your buddies or your friends about what had happened and what might happen to you?

SM: Well, at that time, I don't think we talked too much about that, what happened. Until they got us, they evacuated Terminal Island.

TI: Did you ever get a chance to talk to your mother or father about what had just happened at Pearl Harbor and what that might mean to the community?

SM: Well, we probably did, but I don't remember too much.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.