<Begin Segment 10>

TI: So after they take your father, what did your mother and you and the rest of the siblings do?

MH: My mother called her uncle, but of course he was gone too, and they didn't know anything more either. So we, my mother was very angry that they took our birth certificates because my oldest brother, in order to run the grocery store would need his birth certificate to prove he was a citizen, so my brother had to go down every day to try to get another copy of his birth certificate. I think he eventually was able to get it.

TI: That is unusual, or interesting that they would take --

MH: All of our birth certificates.

TI: But of the children.

MH: Yeah.

TI: Do you recall any conversations between you and your siblings or your mother about what had just happened and what you needed to do next?

MH: My mother wrote an autobiography that my niece asked her to write, and since it would've been difficult for her to write it in English my niece says, well, write it in Japanese and I have a friend who will translate it into English. So in that report she does say that she wasn't able to see my father until the day before he was supposed to go to Fort Missoula, and at that time she was talking to my father and my father happened to mention green stamps, that -- those are the stamps that people use who are on relief -- and that the green stamps would be important because it meant money for the store. And then the FBI agent listening in on the conversation thought they said blue stamps, or better yet, blueprints, so then the next day my mother gets a call saying to stay home because the FBI was gonna come and question her.

TI: And so the conversation about the green stamps happened when she was visiting?

MH: Yeah, before he, that's the only chance she had to see him before he was sent away to Missoula.

TI: So the FBI was listening in on --

MH: Listening in on their conversation. And they were told to speak only English, and of course their English would be broken. And so she said they did come to question her, and she finally convinced them that they were talking about green stamps, that they were for people on relief, and she was so nervous and upset that, afterwards, that she said she couldn't even stand up.

TI: You mean so upset from the questioning by the FBI?

MH: The questioning by, yeah, by the FBI.

TI: And trying to convince them that...

MH: Yeah, that it was relief stamps.

TI: Now, your father was running the Holland Hotel. He was picked up and left.

MH: No, he was, well, he was working, by then he was, my grandfather had died, so he was working for some hakujin who later leased the hotel from my dad.

TI: Oh, I see, so when your grandfather died, new owners took over.

MH: Yeah.

TI: Okay. But your father was still working there.

MH: They, that was, they brought him on the condition that my father would work there so they could maintain the Japan trade.

TI: Okay. So your father's taken away, they are still questioning your mom at some point, what's, what happens to the store? You have the store and the apartment.

MH: They were able to sell it after a while, for a little bit of money.

TI: So they had to sell all the things inside the store?

MH: Yeah, the inventory and the fixtures.

TI: And how did they do that? Do you know who they sold it to?

MH: No, I don't.

TI: And who was taking care of that, your older brother?

MH: Yeah, my brother.

TI: And that was Roy?

MH: Roy, yeah.

TI: And how much older was Roy? Do you know about how old Roy was?

MH: He was about twenty-one then.

TI: Okay, so still quite young, only twenty-one. During this time, because of your father's closeness to Japanese dignitaries and naval officers, did the family come under any pressure or scrutiny by the community? Did you guys ever, were, did people ever talk about your family?

MH: No. I don't think so. I don't think they, the people in the community knew anything.

TI: Yeah. No, I was just curious because they knew that your father was picked up -- well, they probably knew your father worked at the Holland Hotel and that's where the dignitaries came, and I'm just wondering if there were rumors within the community.

MH: Oh, you mean within the Japanese community?

TI: Yeah.

MH: I suppose, because he was so active in all the, in kendo and in Japanese Grocers Association, chamber of commerce. He was active in many organizations.

TI: Had you heard that very many of your father's friends were also being picked up?

MH: Yeah. I think so.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.