<Begin Segment 23>

MN: So you renounced. How did you get your U.S. citizenship back?

TH: Through the work of Mr. Wayne M. Collins.

MN: How did you meet him?

TH: I didn't meet him.

MN: What was the process?

TH: It was through the group, how do you say it?

MN: What group are you talking about?

TH: Oh, that group that, five thousand of us, all of us Mr. Collins represented.

MN: Now, his assistant was Mr. Tetsujiro Tex Nakamura. Did you have any contact with him?

TH: No.

MN: Did you have contact with the Tule Lake Defense Committee?

TH: No, I don't think so.

MN: Did you give an affidavit?

TH: Yes, I remember writing something.

MN: Who did you give that affidavit to?

TH: Gee, I don't remember.

MN: You must have given it to Mr. Nakamura, 'cause he was collecting the affidavits. When did you write your affidavit?

TH: That I don't remember either.

MN: How long did it take for you to get your citizenship back?

TH: I got my citizenship back in early part of 1959.

MN: So let's see. '45 you renounced, or was it '46 that you renounced? Was it 1945?

TH: Yeah, 1945.

MN: And then 1959 is when you got your citizenship back, so eleven years. Did you have to pay an attorney fee?

TH: Yeah, I remember paying something, I don't remember what it is, four hundred dollars or whatever, I don't even remember.

MN: How did you learn that you got your citizenship back?

TH: I received a letter.

MN: From Mr. Collins?

TH: Yeah.

MN: How did you feel when you got this letter?

TH: Oh, "Finally." At that time I didn't know too much about Wayne Collins. It's only later that I learned how hard he worked for all of us.

MN: Now you said earlier your parents wanted to return to Japan. Why did they not return to Japan?

TH: I don't know what happened to them, because I didn't return. I changed my mind.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.