<Begin Segment 13>

TI: Well, so you mentioned camp, let's move on to December 7, 1941. And at this point, you were, I think, in eighth grade? Like your last year...

ST: No, I was seventh grade.

TI: Seventh grade, okay, seventh grade.

ST: Well, at that time I was still sixth. I wasn't seventh until the next...

TI: Okay, right, the next month.

ST: '42.

TI: But do you remember that day, December 7th?

ST: You know, I was talking to my sister to see if we could refresh each other's memories on this, and I don't recall. I really don't remember anything special about it because we had a radio. But my father felt radios were frivolous, so he didn't have the radio on all the time. We had the newspaper, but, of course, it wouldn't have come out yet. So I think my sister says that she would have, she would have been in high school at this point, and it probably happened to us in elementary school. I think they called an assembly, or maybe somebody came and told my dad. But I really have no recollection of anybody coming over and saying, you know, anything.

TI: So when did you start noticing changes?

ST: Difference?

TI: Yeah, differences.

ST: Well, I have to tell you that something happened at school that I thought was kind of, I didn't realize it was unusual 'til later. The principal of the school got his staff together, and he wrote a letter, printed a letter up on a small piece of stationery, and it had, it was on the elementary school letterhead, and it had my name on it, and it said that I was a student enrolled at that elementary school and a student in good standing and so forth and so on. And it was a kind of, it was, I think, what he felt was the best he could do for us as identification, to give us something that said our name, the fact that we were a Portland resident, and that we had attended the school, and that we were enrolled there, so that we weren't just somebody from out of town or something. And we were handed that letter in an envelope, everyone who was Japanese descent was handed that letter to carry. And he said, well if would help, but it would at least show identification. And I thought that was something different.

TI: Do you recall when this letter was given to you?

ST: It was almost immediately. It was almost immediately. I think he realized that it could be trouble. So he was, they, the school was very, very interesting.

TI: Yeah, that is... I'd never heard anything like that. That's good.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.