<Begin Segment 21>

TI: Going back to the hostel, can you tell me how that was organized? Like who would run this hostel, and why were they set up? Can you tell me?

TU: Well, as I understand it, the Quakers headquartered in Philadelphia, they were civic-minded people, I guess, and apparently they heard about the incarceration of the Japanese Americans. And I think in cooperation with the War Relocation Authority, they must have set up some of these co-called "hostels." I don't know exactly what the procedure was, but anyway, they had one in Des Moines, Iowa. And I understand Bill Hosokawa was there for a while before he got a permanent place to stay. And one of my minister friends, this Dr. Lester Suzuki, stayed there for a while. So I wasn't the first Nikkei to go to the hostel, but I was the first to go to high school there. I was the only Japanese, or Asian, I was the only Asian. I don't think there were any other Asians, so I was the first one.

TI: But just more questions about the hostel, I just wanted to make sure I understand. So these hostels were set up and designed specifically for Nikkei, for Japanese Americans leaving the camps as a place for someone to meet them, have a place to stay until they could find more permanent circumstances?

TU: Yeah.

TI: And the Quakers did that?

TU: Yeah. So I have a soft spot in my heart for the Quakers. It wasn't a very popular thing to do, I'm sure, but they did help us. Not only me, but they helped thousands of our guys, I think.

TI: Yeah, because when you first told me about leaving the camp as a high school student, going to a city you knew no one and knew nothing about, I was thinking, who would meet you? How would you figure things out? And so having this gentleman meet you at the train station, having a place for you to stay if you needed it, and actually having the contacts for the job for you was invaluable. That was so important.

TU: Oh, yeah. So when I look back, I think the camp director, the placement officer, must have telegrammed the hostel that such and such a guy is coming on this such and such a train. There must have been some liaison that I didn't know of. They didn't tell me that somebody was going to meet me, so that's when I was wondering what to do.

TI: Now, when you worked with the Allen family, was there anyone in Des Moines, Iowa, that you could check up with if you needed help from someone? Was there someone that checked in, like, "Marvin, how are you doing?" or anything like that?

TU: Nobody.

TI: So you were on your own.

TU: On my own, all by myself. But I think that speaks well for the family. The Allen family was just super. They told me later on that when I first came in to live with them, some of the neighbors were kind of frowning. Here the Allens are harboring a "person of enemy ancestry." But then, when they got to know me, that is the neighbors got to know me, saw me doing the work around the house helping the Allens do this and that, one neighbor started asking me, asked the Allens if they could ask me to do some of their work. So by the time I left, I had created a pretty good atmosphere for the whole neighborhood, I guess. Because after I left, a number of people came back, came in to do the job that I was doing.

TI: Oh, so you, they took multiple people to take your place, you mean? It took more than one person?

TU: Yeah, not at the same time, but one after another.

TI: Oh, I see, right.

TU: My brother stayed there for a while, my brother Rusty.

TI: Okay, so even though he was older, you left the camp before him?

TU: Yeah. [Laughs]

TI: So you were kind of the trailblazer.

TU: Well, in a way, when I look at it now, that pioneer. [Laughs]

TI: Now, what did you do for spending money? Did you get paid for some of these jobs?

TU: Yeah, I forget how much they paid me, fifteen dollars a month or whatever it was, I had some spending money. But they were wonderful people. Mr. Allen was a judge, and municipal court judge, and I remember he used to get some of these free tickets, I guess, for the shows. You know, Des Moines was kind of cultural, relatively well-cultured town. And they used to have these shows come into town, and they were more semi-opera, not the strictly opera style. Semi-opera they brought in, so they're more understandable. Whereas the opera, they sing in Italian, and in those days, they didn't have subheads, subtitles. But because he could get these tickets, he would invite me along. We would walk down the aisles to the front seats, there I am with the Allens. [Laughs] You know, kind of select seats up front.

TI: And when you did that, when you would walk with the Allen family at a place like this, could you feel the eyes on you?

TU: No, I just followed Mr. Allen.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.