<Begin Segment 32>

MN: I want to go back to JACL for a moment, because there's one more question I want to ask you. How did you feel when the JACL passed the resolution to apologize to the draft resisters?

HY: Well, I thought it was coming, you know, yeah. They should, the way they mouthed off and treated the, you know, telling us to join the army and all kind of, you know... like Masaoka telling us to join the army so they can use us, use us as a, you know, what they call this... what did they call this? When, you know, when they use you?

MN: Cannon fodder?

HY: You know, they use you as a "suicide squad," you know, all that. I think if everybody had resisted, I think that would have been better. That's what I think. Because the way they treated us, you know, they didn't treat us like a citizen, see, in the first place. You think these, some Japanese Kibeis, they resisted the draft, too. Some of 'em got about five years, I believe. I know a fellow I know, he got five years for fighting with a captain. Dishonorable discharge.

MN: Was the JACL apology enough? Do they need to do more?

HY: I don't think so. I think they realized the mistake. I think so.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.