<Begin Segment 28>

TI: Did you have, were you apprehensive about returning to Los Angeles? Did you have a sense of what was gonna be there when you got there?

TH: Not really, but I had heard from other prisoners and (...) they talked about the smog that had transformed Los Angeles. So I was curious and maybe a little apprehensive about that. But the other thing is that, as you know, they were now testing the A-bomb. We got to Portland, got off the train and visited some of the people (...), went to a (Buddhist) temple (...). Maybe I got a little confused in my mind, but we did get off in Portland and spent a little time there. The next train to Los Angeles was several hours (after) we got off the train. So walking down the street, saw a movie theater (...) showing the newsreel at those times, the A-bomb tests in, I think it was probably Bikini. So I went in there and I watched that. And then I thought, well... I guess I was always interested in science, so I had a pretty good understanding of what was going on. (...) Got back on the train, and got to L.A. and stepped off the train (...) and see the smog. And my dad and my (youngest) sister greeted me and so we went home, with the smog overhead.

TI: And what was the, kind of the reaction from your family, when you finally got home? Any discussions with your father, mother? Anything you can remember?

TH: No, I guess my youngest sister, I remember, was glad to see me, and got home (...). They (had) the house back, so by the time I was there they were already in the house for over a year. And yeah, so (...) sort of settled back in.

TI: The fact that you were in prison, was that something that was discussed directly, or was that something just not really discussed?

TH: No. (...) It wasn't talked about. Okay, I'm home, (...) I guess, really fit back into the family and start work, helping out at the nursery that they had opened. And then (...) find out that my (sister Yoko had) enrolled at City College (...). By the end of the summer I then (...) enrolled at Los Angeles City College.

JG: Did you register, kind of coming out and returning to your family, did you register any changes that had occurred, I guess in your parents or in your siblings, I mean, as a result of camp, or just even your being away?

TH: Well, the thing was is my youngest sister came out to greet me, and suddenly to note that in the two years that she had grown up quite a bit. So that (...) was really the only impression that I remember, but other than that, no. I guess also the yard was sort of a mess because it wasn't taken care of, and even the house itself was, again, not in good shape. So that was about the only thing. But I guess, I don't know, maybe I was just thinking more of getting back into society. I guess still feeling, there might've been feeling a little strange that you're now, you got a whole different environment from a prison environment, so you're out.

TI: Now, did, were there ever any encounters or, or did anyone confront you because you were one of the Heart Mountain resisters?

TH: No. (...) I didn't speak about it or push that part, and I guess all those (following) years never really came in the forefront until I began to apply for jobs (...). Then I had to explain that yes, I was, (...) convicted, then I had to sit down and write a paragraph or so of what happened. But that was about the only exposure.

TI: Yeah, did, did the fact that you had to reveal this information, did that ever have a negative impact on you not getting a job or something, or you not maybe even applying for a certain job because you knew that might be a problem? Was that ever --

TH: (Yes), it did because I was always, before I was interested in engineering, but there was another factor there 'cause I enrolled in City College, I think there was something like eight thousand students with the GIs back and six thousand of 'em were (engineering students), so I looked at that and I says oh my god, you know. [Laughs] And at that time I still did not know about -- or maybe the pardon wasn't there yet, yeah. And so I thought, well, we know with my background trying to get a job in engineering would be kind of difficult, plus all the other students. So (by) then my dad had started up (the) nursery, so I said (to myself), okay, maybe switch over and so I went into botany. So that's where the change came, but (...) as I slowly went through my education I kept drifting back towards the engineering side.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.