<Begin Segment 8>

MN: Now, while you were at UCLA, Pearl Harbor got bombed.

MS: Yeah.

MN: What do you remember of that Sunday?

MS: I remember listening to the radio, and couldn't believe that a small country like Japan would attack United States, and I thought, "Well, there goes the whole future." But it wasn't long after my father got picked up, and the rumors of evacuation started out, so we didn't know what to expect.

MN: Where you home when your father got picked up?

MS: No, I don't think so.

MN: Did you know where they took your father?

MS: Not at the time, but we, later we found out he was taken to the county jail, then when he was put in Fort Missoula, Montana several weeks later.

MN: Was your father and Cedric's father picked up at the same time?

MS: I don't think so, but I think Cedric's father got picked up because of the kendo teaching, early. My father was just a businessman, but I guess they considered him one of the Issei leaders in Japanese town.

MN: Now, I know you talked about this a little earlier, but I'm gonna ask you again, after your father got picked up, what did your mother do with the store?

MS: The store, we couldn't, people couldn't, weren't buying sewing machines, and so they, they decided early to close it, so she decided to prepare to close it by return inventory that was, that could, was returnable. But fortunately, most of the things were sold before the evacuation came, so that way we lucked out, but they lost everything.

MN: Now, in February 1942, when the government kicked off the Terminal Islanders, did you see a lot of them come to Boyle Heights?

MS: Yeah, quite a few came.

MN: Did the Golden Bears have any interaction with them?

MS: Well, we had parties and socials and invited them, and so we tried to make them feel welcome. The first girlfriend I had was a Terminal Island girl. But anyways, she married Isao Kikuchi, Dr. Kikuchi's son.

MN: Where were a lot of the Terminal Islanders staying?

MS: I don't know, but they'd find friends, relatives, and so forth, and if they could find a home to rent, I guess they rented that. I don't know.

MN: Now, you were having, the Golden Bears were having dances for the Terminal Islanders?

MS: Yeah, well, we would invite them.

MN: Before the war, did you go to a lot of the dances?

MS: Yeah. I was going to UCLA, so...

MN: What kind, were you really good with the jitterbug?

MS: What?

MN: Were you good jitterbugging?

MS: [Laughs] I don't know whether I was good, but we were able to jitterbug in halftime, but we had a lot of fun. I don't, I don't know whether I would consider myself good at it.

MN: You're from Boyle Heights, where a lot of the zoot suits and the duck tail haircut was popular. Did you dress up in a zoot suit?

MS: No. No, we couldn't afford to have that.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.