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TI: So we're going to start up again, and so you just talked about how you had these informal hearings at the CCC camp, and then you were then released back to Block 42. So let's get you back to Tule Lake. And I'm curious, what was the reaction of people when you returned to Tule Lake?

JT: You know, I had a girlfriend in my block, and eventually we got married. I don't, other than her, I don't remember anybody saying, "What was it like where you were?" "What was it like in jail?" or, "What was it like when you were in CCC camp?" We communicated by letter, that's the only way. We had no telephone, they had no telephone, so the only thing was, way of communication was writing a letter. And this... I don't think hardly anybody... they were sort of nonchalant. I don't think anybody really questioned, "What did you do?" "How did they treat you?" I think within the first five minutes, whatever was asked or answered, was answered, and that was it.

TI: And if people didn't ask, maybe, did anyone treat you differently? It's sort of like you were gone, I mean, was there almost, yeah, was there any difference in how people treated you?

JT: No. But when we came back, we just took off just like we had never left. Yeah. Maybe if they asked, "Were you treated okay? Did they feed you?" and stuff like that, and we says, "You know, the jail routine is they only feed you twice a day." And most people that we know have never experienced jail. So they says, "Oh." But the other stuff was just like what we do in camp. We had certain things, chores to do, or you're assigned a certain thing. You did that, when you finished, that was it. But we never got paid. That was one thing, we never got paid for what we did over there in CCC camp, or in the jail.

TI: So there wasn't any kind of, maybe not, "stigma" is not the right word, but you know how sometimes if someone were sent to prison and came back, people might be a little more careful around them for a while? Was there any of that kind of feeling in terms of people maybe just a little more careful around you and the other men?

JT: Well, like our block, they knew what we did or what we didn't do, we didn't sign. They knew that. They sort of saw it our way, too. And so there was no tension. They just accepted us, that we were back, they were glad to see that we were back. But I don't remember anything special that happened or things that could have happened.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.