<Begin Segment 9>

TI: Okay. So after the war, pretty soon, the orders start coming out that families are going to have to leave Los Angeles, so what was happening with your family?

KK: Well, first they came after my father. He was not taken up right away, I think, in fact, it was February, I think, when he was taken. [Coughs] Excuse me. And they just came and took him, and we didn't see him after that. Then the family found out he was at Griffith Park, and so they drove down to Griffith Park, and they called out and, and he was there and so they threw him, over the fence, they threw him articles that he needed, like toothbrush. And then they found out that they were going to move that group of men from Glendale, and so they drove to Glendale and they saw him get on the train there, and that was the last they saw him.

TI: And so they picked him up in, when we say "they" did, I'm guessing the FBI --

KK: FBI.

TI: So when they picked him up in February, do you know why they picked him up?

KK: No.

TI: Do you have suspicions of why?

KK: I think, yeah, because my brother was in Japan and writing pro-Japanese articles. He was not a leader in, he didn't fit any of the criteria, and so we were surprised. But then we realized that, because of Buddy, my father was probably taken in, and sure enough...

TI: And so did anyone ever do any research, look at the file or anything, to see?

KK: Yeah.

TI: And was that the reason given?

KK: The main reason, uh-huh.

TI: So it sounds like you saw that file.

KK: Yeah, I have it.

TI: Was there anything that surprised you, in terms of what they wrote about, say, Buddy or your father in that file, or the family?

KK: No. Well, there were things that I knew about, but then, of course, I said, oh, yeah, here it is. My brothers Howard and Stanley both wrote letters to the government against my father, yeah.

TI: Say that one more time, against your father?

KK: Yes.

TI: So, saying that your father was...

KK: Because they, they, my father wanted to go back to Japan. They were in the army, both of them, you know. And so they had written that they did not believe what my father believed and that he was real pro-Japan and they were not.

TI: I would imagine that would cause some friction in the family.

KK: Oh, yeah.

TI: Because both Howard and Stanley were serving in the MIS, and for them to have written that, would have caused some internal friction. Can you, can you talk about that a little bit, was it...

KK: Well, see, I didn't know all of that, 'cause I was too young, they didn't talk around me about any of that. It wasn't until I, not until lately that I read all of this, so I didn't really realize.

TI: So I'm trying to understand why they would want, why would they do that? Because they were already --

KK: To save them.

TI: But they were already in the MIS, they were already U.S., they're U.S. citizens, they're in the U.S. Army.

KK: But they didn't want to be associated with my father any longer.

TI: Even though your father was, at that point, in an internment camp.

KK: Right, and he was wanting to go back to Japan, yeah.

TI: And so, after the war, did that cause difficulties between your father and Howard and Stanley?

KK: No. I think after the war, then they realized what all was happening. But my father... when we went to Crystal City to join my father, he was still saying he wanted to go to Japan. But then after we got there, and Edison and Bob and I said we didn't want to go to Japan, he changed his mind, and he said he didn't want it, and he took his, asked to have his name taken off the list.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.