Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Shig Yabu Interview
Narrator: Shig Yabu
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Culver City, California
Date: February 23, 2010
Densho ID: denshovh-yshig-01-0007

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TI: So we were talking about after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, so eventually people were rounded up and had to leave San Francisco. Can you talk about that?

SY: Oh, no, before that, I think is very important, because it was December the 7th Pearl Harbor was bombed. After that, it was early part of January, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on both sides, Europe and Pacific, or Japan. Our allies were, of course, Russia, England, France, and United States. So we did not go to assembly camp 'til May of 1942, so I went to school at Fremont Elementary School. And while I was at school we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, we purchased what we could afford to buy U.S. War Savings Bonds, and we took great pride in that. We practiced bombing (drills), going under our little desks, we did have fire drills, going down the stairs and so forth, and all this time we're fearful of war. During the evenings we had air raids. Sirens would go off, we had black curtains, and we would go into one specific room and wait 'til the siren goes on again, and then we could turn on the lights, not only us, but everybody did that. So, but in school, all the kids were very, extremely nice, with the exception of one kid, Walter Mitchell. He was real, a kid that was really chubby, he was a foot taller than I was, but for some reason or another, his behavior, we used to punch him, and we would get in trouble with the principal. And so when we had a farewell party at Fremont Elementary when I vacated, the teacher cried, the students all wished me well and so forth, except Walter Mitchell. He said, "Someday I'm going to get you." And sure enough, when I came back from camp and I was at Marina junior high and they announced my name, "How do you pronounce your name?" and so forth, and, in the middle of the class, here's this six foot two guy, Walter Mitchell says, "I remember you," and he says, "I'm going to pound you after school." And sure enough, he was waiting for me in the backyard in Marina Junior High, and my first instinct was to run, and I took about ten, fifteen steps, and that guy couldn't run, he was so overweight. But I said to myself, you know, I was really mean to that kid, I deserve to get punched out, I deserve to get punished, so I said, I'm going to fight back. I didn't want to fight, but I said to myself, "I did wrong." So I turned around and I hit him with all my might in the stomach, and it felt like my whole arm went through his belly, and he was on the asphalt, sitting down, and he reached his hand and says, "Friends." And I said, "Sure, friends," because I didn't want to really fight. But the minute I hit him, I knew I could beat him, because he was so soft. But, again, I'm not a fighter. So probably the saddest thing was to get rid of my four animals.

TI: But before we go there, I want to go back to the, you said at your school they actually had a farewell party for you. Tell me about that. Whose idea was it to have a party?

SY: The teacher.

TI: And you said people were in tears, they were crying?

SY: The teacher was crying. And the kids all bid me farewell, and I was embarrassed to see the teacher cry. At that time I was a real good student, I took pride in school and everything else, and I was well-liked by the kids.

TI: Did the teacher ever say anything during that time about what she felt or, do you recall her saying anything?

SY: No, she was too embarrassed to talk about it, because of fear of what the other kids might hear. This is my assumption. And the kids in the class were very kind. They knew that I was leaving, they didn't know, I don't know whether they knew why I was leaving, and so basically what happened was they wanted people of the, local Japanese people to go in interior of San Francisco so you don't see the San Francisco Bay, because you could see the ships coming in and out. And the irony of this the MIS school was right near the Golden Gate Bridge almost in Presidio where these Japanese people could see all the ships going in and out, And the other stupidity was, if you look at the paper they'll list all the ships that were on there, and when I told the officer that I work for, Lieutenant Hewitt, he says in that time all the enlisted men had their ship's name on their black hat, and so we laughed about all this. So we knew which ship was there and so forth.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.