<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So when you say they came and got your Dad, so describe it a little bit more. So this is December 7th, the day of the bombing. Who got your father?

MY: Well, he was already in bed, seven-thirty, like he always did. And then, so the irony of it all was that the... of course, I guess it was that way, must have been that way with all the towns. But the mayor of Kent... there wasn't a mayor, it was a town council or something. But he and a guy from the FBI came and picked my dad up, you know. (Narr. note: An FBI agent and Mr. Wooden (judge) came and got Dad out of bed.)

TI: So the man from the town council, he was there to show the FBI where your father lived, to help direct them?

MY: Uh-huh.

TI: Now, your father was such a well-known figure in the community. Did the town councilperson tell the FBI person that? That your father...

MY: I don't know, I wasn't there. I was still across the street looking out the window.

TI: Oh, okay. So you didn't even know this was happening.

MY: No, I didn't know what happened 'til I went home about nine o'clock, I think. And I was gonna lock the front door, and she said, "Don't lock the door." And I said, "Why?" She said, "Well, the FBI men and (Mr. Wooden)..." Became, eventually became the first mayor. But she said, "Mr...." oh, whatever his name was, "and an FBI man came and took Dad and took him out, he had to get out of bed and they took him. And so I'm thinking maybe he'll be back tonight," so she said, "Don't lock the door." But then I had my doubts. For them to come and pick him up out of bed, then take him in. And then I didn't know how many days it was after that.

TI: Well, going back to that, when your mother told you this, what was, was she worried or concerned, or how would you describe her?

MY: Yeah. She was concerned, but you'd never know that it was that big a deal. She had a way of taking care of those emergencies, I guess. (Narr. note: I'm sure she was worried but she didn't fuss or carry on in front of us. Thank goodness for Mom!)

TI: And what was your feeling when your mother told you this?

MY: Well, I couldn't believe it, you know. I don't know that I said anything, I just went to bed wondering what Mom's logic was that Dad would be back.

TI: And so when this was happening, none of your older brothers were there or anything like that.

MY: No. So then it went on, the boys played poker all night. They didn't play 'til midnight, they played all night. And sometimes they played Saturday and run into Sunday, you know. And so then whoever won had to buy breakfast, so somebody had to go to the grocery store and get sausage or bacon or whatever and cook breakfast. Then they'd stay the rest of the day again. There was no place to go, nothing to do. At least they weren't gonna go anyplace to create any problems or anything.

TI: Oh, so on December 7th, the day after, people were just hanging out, kind of, around the house?

MY: Uh-huh.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.