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MN: Now, how long were you in Rohwer before you got a leave clearance to go to Kalamazoo?

CH: Oh, see, you know, okay. You know the "no-no" question? That question, okay. "No-no" people, they couldn't get out from the camp because "no-no." But they let me out of the camp because I signed "yes-yes." You know why I signed "yes-yes"? There's a reason. 4-F is something wrong, you can't go, physically unfit. But I'm physically fit, I could go. But since I put "yes-yes," they let me out. Because I put "yes-yes," I was a 4-C, like I say, I'm a 4-C. 4-C means "enemy alien," the draft board. That's why I put "yes-yes," I know they're not gonna draft me. So they let me out right away. Let me out to... you know, in camp, them days, you had all kind of hundreds and hundreds of jobs. You could pick any one.

TI: Now, to get your leave clearance, did it ever come up that you were a Japanese, you were born in Japan? Did they ever, was that part of any consideration?

CH: My draft board, I got it already. Draft board. Desha County, Arkansas, draft board, "enemy alien," 4-C. That's why they never came after me. But I know a few people, my friends, they're out of camp but, you know, they ran away from the draft board. Everybody come, they change address. I was just talking to, last week, one guy. I found out he was a "no-no" boy. He drafted, one of my good friends from Sacramento guy, he ran all over, he got away. But when the 442 came over here, over here, and they did a real heroic job over there, he got released from the army. Yeah, he was lucky, that guy. He didn't get penalized, he didn't go to the, Fort Leavenworth, Arkansas, that guy.

MN: So how long were you in Rohwer?

CH: I was in there not too long. When I went there? September. October, November, December, January, February, March, April I think I went out, seven months.

MN: And then you went to Kalamazoo, Michigan, and where did you work there?

CH: See, them days, there was always a man shortage, so there was a lot of job from all different kind of state. Mostly farm work. From all different camp now, I'm not just saying Rohwer, now. From Colorado, the Amache camp, and the Heart Mountain camp and Minidoka. They're all farm workers. Some came to Manzanar, even Poston, too, the work came. But I picked the best job over there. It was a country club job, and I was gonna be a bartender and a parking lot attendant and dishwasher and waiter and everything. There's no men, only women working there. I said, "Oh, boy, good chance." [Laughs] All hakujin, there's no Japanese, the whole town. The town of about 75,000 people, the town. So I stayed at YMCA, and room and board, I mean, board is, it was free, I worked there. But hey, I was getting fifteen dollars something a month, they didn't have an income tax them days. You know that? Or social security, they didn't have it. Fifteen dollars, too cheap. So I went to get a job and I quit, I went... and job was too cheap. And then I got to pay for food and room and board, so I came back and said, "Give me the job." "Okay, any time." And when I was working there, we're all, nothing to do, so my girlfriend and I was walking down the street, and this guy, he saw me, you know, come and said, you know what he told me? "What camp you from?" He knew about the Japanese, you know. I told him I come from Rohwer, "Where you come from?" "Poston." Poston. Hey, since I was the only Japanese, he want to talk Japanese, he invited me to the house for dinner. I went one time and that was it. He never invited me. Of course, that was one of the zoot suit guys. Wearing that kind of, he had the... and then I was working, two months later, when I was working at that -- I forgot the name of that country club -- here come an old man. One woman came, dishwasher. I told him, she said I didn't talk Japanese, I kind of stumbled and mumbled and stumbled, you know, then I finally came up with, "Where you from?" Poston he came from. I told him, "What you doing out here?" "There was a job opening, I came here." I told him, "Hey, okusan, you shimbo over here. There's only three Japanese in the whole town," I told that guy. But when I left, he was still working there, though.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.