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TI: So when you were thirteen, the war started, so December 7, 1941. Why don't you tell me what happened on that day for you.

RH: Well, we went to movie, my brother and I, we went to a movie and when we came out -- no, during the movie a guy shut the movie off, somebody got up there and announced that, "All military personnel go back to your posts right now." So a lot of guys left and then they went back to the movie and after the movie we didn't think too much of it but people were outside buzzing around about a war and the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. Wow, I don't know, so we went home and then we found out more about it.

TI: And when you found out more about it, I mean, did your father or mother say anything to you about what was going on?

RH: No, we didn't know what to make of it. Even they didn't know what to do, so we just went on with life as normal. But it wasn't normal after that.

TI: Before we talk about your father, let's talk about you the next day going to school. What was that like?

RH: Well, the kids didn't talk to me much. They just... like an outcast, didn't talk to me. But after a while we started talking a little bit but not normal like it used to be. Lot of the kids wouldn't talk to me.

TI: So let's talk about your father. So what happened to your father after Pearl Harbor?

RH: Well, on Monday they came around and talked to him, the FBI came and then they took him into the station to talk, a couple hours later he came home. And then did work as normal and I think it was two days later, they came back again, picked him up, and he didn't come back 'til about eight or nine o'clock that night. And then when he came back he just said goodbye, he's leaving for a while, and we didn't know what to make of it. So he just shook our hands, all of us, and the FBI guys followed him out. And as they were leaving, one of the guys went by my bed and you could hear a clunk, and it was like something heavy in the pocket so we knew he was carrying a weapon. But we didn't know who they were, so we didn't see him for two and half years after that.

TI: And when you father came back the first time, so he was on Monday questioned and then he came back, did he seem concerned at all could you tell?

RH: No, he was as stern as usual. So we had supper and went to bed. I think it was the next day or the day after, it was longer than a day after, but they came back.

TI: So why do you think the FBI picked up your father?

RH: Well, he was a chairman of committee in Modesto, so all the older guys, they got together and they had meetings every once in a while, I don't know what it was all about. But they had meetings and I didn't even know he was the chairman of the group, but that's the reason why they picked him up. They picked up the heads of everybody, there was a lot more in the bigger towns and they picked up more people. So when my dad talked about one of the camps that he was in, there was Germans, Italians and some of the Germans' and Italians' families were there. And there was about a total of about 50,000 he said in the camp, so it was a big camp.

TI: Do you know, recall, or know which camp he was at?

RH: Probably at that time it was either Crystal City or Lordsburg.

TI: So Crystal City was more of a family camp so families might be in Crystal City. Interesting. So when they took your father away the second time and when he said goodbye, what were you thinking? You're the oldest son and what was going through your mind?

RH: You know. I had no idea why this was happening and I didn't know that he was... I thought he was going to go for the night actually or a few days maybe. But I never thought that it'd be that long. So after that, things really fell apart because we didn't have anybody telling us what to do. My mom didn't know what to do with the laundry so I guess he wrote a letter or something and then when they found out that there's going to be an evacuation, he says, "Get rid of everything you can, everything." He gave certain machinery more... "Get rid of this one more than this one," and so forth. And she didn't do it, she didn't know what to do with it, didn't know how much to ask for and stuff like that. So these guys came in and I remember buying tools and things of that sort, motors, especially motors, a guy says, "Oh, that one has too many leads, it's not very good but I'll give you so much for it." She says, okay, so she gave it away. And she called my uncle up who lived in Livingston and he came out and helped her out a little bit but still they took advantage of us.

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