<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So let's go to the date, December 7, 1941, and do you remember that day?

MH: Oh yes.

TI: So let's, let's talk about, go ahead and describe that day from the moment you heard about the bombing and what happened.

MH: I think around 11:30 in the morning we heard reports of a bombing on Pearl Harbor, and my mother was at church, so my older brother went and picked her up and got her home. I think my father was working at the Holland Hotel. But by about 6:30 that evening FBI agents came to our store, and they handcuffed my father and made him sit down at a table and made my mother sit down and told them not to talk to each other. And then they, our apartment was upstairs in the back of the store, so one of the agents started to go up the stairs, and my brother Bill, who was seventeen at the time, tried to stop him. But my brother says he remembered the agent, that he had curly hair and what his name was, and then he decided to cooperate and let him upstairs, but told him not to break anything, that he would open anything they wanted to look at. So they went through all our drawers and cabinets and took anything that had my father's name on it or which they thought might be suspicious.

TI: And how many agents were there?

MH: I know at one place my mother said there was two and another place she said there were three, so I'm not, two or three.

TI: So two or three.

MH: Yeah.

TI: Now, were you present when this happened?

MH: Yes, I was home. Yeah.

TI: And can you tell me what your feeling was when you, when you had --

MH: Yes, I felt that they were invading my private drawer, looking through it.

TI: And so were you frightened or angry, or what was your feelings when this was happening?

MH: I was upset. I guess I was angry that they were going through our things, when they took...

TI: And what, what was it like when you saw them handcuff your father?

MH: Oh, that's frightening to see that. And of course they carry guns.

TI: And what was their demeanor? Was it, like were they courteous, or were they --

MH: Yeah, well, my brother said that the one agent that stood watching my mother and father was stone faced and solemn, whereas the agent that came upstairs into our apartment was apologetic and he was very nice and courteous.

TI: But he was going through and identifying things of your father and then taking them.

MH: Yeah, they took, took things, took 'em away. I suppose we must've had a camera or a radio or something.

TI: Now, do you recall whether or not they had any kind of warrant or piece of paper as they went to your house?

MH: I don't, I don't remember, and I don't remember seeing anything in the FBI report that mentioned a warrant.

TI: So they handcuffed your father and they searched the house -- [coughs] excuse me. And then what happened?

MH: Then they took him away, but we didn't know where they took him. But I see later that they, from the FBI report that they took him to the U.S. Marshal's office, and later to the Immigration and Naturalization office.

TI: Yeah, the building there.

MH: Yeah.

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