<Begin Segment 17>

MN: So about a week after you left Heart Mountain, and then you went back east with your friend?

HY: Yeah. These friends of mine went to Chicago.

MN: And what did you do in Chicago?

HY: I worked in a Ford agency over there, Litsinger Ford.

MN: And then in Chicago, you got your induction notice.

HY: Yeah. Worked there for about six months, I believe, in Chicago. And here, this induction notice comes. "Report for the physical." So...

MN: So on the day of your physical, what happened?

HY: Well, I got drunk before that night with my friend, you know. And supposed to be there at eight o'clock, I went there at nine, and the sergeant was standing there with a gun and all that, you know, all attention. And he says, "You're late." And he chewed me from top to bottom. Said, "You're in the army now." I'm not in the army, heck. Anyway, he's starting to yak off and all. He says, "Come on, I'm going to take you to the captain." So he took me to the captain's office, and the captain said, "Have a seat." And the captain, he's looking out the window like this, you know, I guess looking at the sergeant or somebody. And about five minutes, he said, "Go in line." [Laughs] Just like that. He didn't say a word. [Laughs]

MN: So you got in line.

HY: And I got in line, I took my physical, he said I passed, you know, and you report to Minnesota or somewhere. I think it was camp... what's that language school up there? Anyway, I didn't even know what that... you know. He was going to send me to this language school in Minnesota or something like that. "Report to that," he said. "Go get something to eat." Oh, yeah, I'm hungry, I could eat half a horse, you know, I'm so hungry. And I ate and went home, and that night I got, with my buddy, I said, "I'm going home," and I took off to Denver.

MN: So you had no intentions of joining the army.

HY: No way.

MN: Why not?

HY: No.

MN: Why?

HY: The way they treated me? Well, you know, I can't even live my own home. And you know, all the inconvenience and what it did to my family? Hardship with my family, everything, I couldn't go, no. So I told, I told this, told the judge, says, "If you could give me back what I had before the evacuation, I'd go in. Not when they kick me out of my own home. I can't bear arms." "Well," says, "on top of that, you give me 4-C. I'm an 'enemy alien.'" "Well, 'enemy alien,' we can take 'enemy aliens.' There's a war on, we could take 'enemy aliens,' too." Not this "enemy alien."

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.