<Begin Segment 9>

MN: Now, Poston had over a hundred draft resisters. Did you know any of the draft resisters, and what did you think about them at the time?

CO: Well, like I say, because they had that really strong pro-Japan component to the camp, that's not surprising. And like I know I had a couple of cousins who, I think, refused to go. And later on, I heard the name Hideki Takeguma, and he was a kid who was about my age -- no, he must have been older. He had to have been older. But he was also a resister. So it just seemed like that was not an unheard of thing that a lot of... I think there were a lot of people who were resistant to all this, but they just, the idea of having to go to jail and stuff like that was too much for 'em. So even a hundred is pretty, it's a big contingent that took a stand like that. But I don't think they were gone very long, and they were right back because now I know that in Arizona, the judge really let them go with just a one penny fine or something like that, so they were back and they were part, again, of the community. So there wasn't a big thing made of it, at least not in my knowing.

MN: Now, I know you were really young when the "loyalty questionnaire" was passed out. And I guess because of that, you didn't have to fill out, but your parents did. Can you share with us -- I know you've done a lot of research on this. So the questionnaire that your Issei parents filled out, I know how your father answered it.

CO: Uh-huh, yeah. And again, it wasn't during the actual experience because... when did that happen? February of 1943 or something, I think I was still twelve years old when all that was taking place. Anyway, I don't remember the questionnaire. I read my parents' questionnaire after, when I went to the archives and saw the actual, what their questionnaires were, and I had assumed that my father was a "no-no" and my mother also. But at that point, the questionnaire had been altered eliminating, for Issei, eliminating for Issei, 27 and 28 were no longer there. And one question they asked was, "Are you willing to abide by the laws of the United States?" And my father said "yes." My mother said "yes," I guess. So they passed, or whatever you want to characterize that as. But it's ironic. Just because they happened not to be citizens. I don't know what my father would have done with those other two questions. I think he would have been a "no-no."

MN: Well, your father wanted to return to Japan, is that correct?

CO: Yeah, they had decided sometime during that period that they didn't want to stay.

MN: Why didn't your family go to Tule Lake?

CO: I don't know. Other families did. It just... I never asked, because I guess I was glad we didn't go. But anyway, I suspect that Tule Lake was overcrowded already at that point I suspect. And again, maybe they liked my father or something, somebody did, or something. I don't know. I don't know.

MN: Now, how did you feel about your parents wanting to go to Japan?

CO: Oh, well, that was the last thing in the world that I wanted, is to go to Japan. Because you know, I mean, for all this pro-Japan junk going on, within our block particularly, and in our camp, I said, "That's a bunch of stupid old men, and who would want to live with them?" I didn't want to go to a country that was going to be full of people like that. I was quite clear that that's what it would be like, and also that women would have to be subservient, and I didn't want to be having to grow up in that situation. And I was very American. I was the smartest girl in class in American school, and so why would I want to leave when I was treated so well? Besides, I was reading things and stuff, I must have figured out that they're not winning the war, for one thing, and they were stupid to start the war and all these things. I was becoming aware of that kind of thing.

MN: Now, what did you do that got your parents in trouble, that you were trying to stay here?

CO: Oh, yeah, right. I tried to figure out some way of not having to go, and I wrote letters. I just wrote random letters to magazines, things like magazine editors and whatnot. And those people questioned the camp administration that they're getting these letters, or at least one editor did, and asking, "What is going on with this child?" So they brought in my parents and questioned them, and I think they were very embarrassed this rebellious kid was doing these things. You know, though, I have to hand it to, like, my father, who was not punitive. I think maybe he even understood where I was coming from, to use slang, colloquialism. So I didn't get it from any scoldings or whatever. I knew Issei fathers who beat their wives, who hit their kids and were drunks and all sorts of things. My old man was not like that. So I've been pretty fortunate in a lot of ways, but I don't think he condemned me for voicing or expressing myself this way. I don't think so.

MN: Could that have swayed his mind to maybe remain in the United States, what you did?

CO: I don't know, possibly. Possibly. I just don't know. I think that he felt that there were family holdings in Japan, that they would have something to go back to, whereas they didn't in this country. As it turned out, I think all those family holdings were lost in some way or another, that word came that there was nothing left. So I know that was a big factor in his not going back. But on the other hand, too, I think he was Americanized to a certain degree. Anyway, I don't know why we weren't forced to go back to Japan. Again, maybe somebody liked him. That's what... Aiko would say things like that to me, she'd say, "Oh, somebody liked him." Because he escaped a whole lot of these things that happened to other people.

MN: Aiko Yoshinaga-Herzig?

CO: Uh-huh, yeah.

MN: Because your parents signed papers, didn't they?

CO: Yes, repatriation papers.

MN: And they didn't have to go through Wayne Collins?

CO: No, none of that.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.