<Begin Segment 22>

MN: Okay. Archie, when the so-called "loyalty questionnaire" came out, what were your answers to questions twenty-seven and twenty-eight?

AM: [Laughs] You know, that was very hard for me because I was in Japan and went to school there and, well, the town that I lived in Japan was, lot of military was around and people that, people that rented my grandparents' houses were, some of 'em were soldiers, so when the twenty-seven and twenty-eight question came up I thought, we're at war with Japan and how am I going to point my guns at them, I thought. So I said "no-no."

MN: What was your father's reaction when you told him you answered "no-no"?

AM: Well, he was kind of disappointed in a way because he was very American way of, he was very Americanized and he thought I shouldn't be saying "no-no." And then I thought, well, if I said "no-no" I'll be sent to Tule Lake by myself, so I said, I thought, well, maybe I better say "yes" to one of them, so I changed to, so I won't get separated from my family. Because I know my father wanted to stay in the United States because that, this is where he wanted to do business and he didn't want to go back to Japan anymore, so I changed to, one of the questions to yes. So that's how I was able to stay in United States.

MN: Did you have to undergo any questioning?

AM: I went through quite a few hearings from that point because they asked me why I'd rather say "no-yes" or "yes-no" or whichever, I forgot which it was. So I told 'em, well, I want to stay here because I'd rather live here and be loyal to United States, but I sure don't want to go shoot people or anything like that, so that's why I don't want to do all that, so that's why I said I'll be loyal to United States but I will not shoot people. So that's how I kind of stuck it out.

MN: Now, you answered, originally, "no-no." You changed it, and then, but did you ever think about volunteering for the service?

AM: Well, I thought of that, yes. So when they had this military language thing in Monterey I also thought of maybe I should serve my country that way, because I was kind of bilingual because I learned a lot of my Japanese in Japan. But I just stayed that way, so I didn't go serve, but my brother was drafted into the army. He was sent to Monterey. He was there for a while until he was discharged.

MN: Your brother probably got drafted after the war, is that correct?

AM: Yeah.

MN: He'd be too young in camp.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.