<Begin Segment 29>

MN: -- school in 1948, and at your fiftieth year Redlands High School reunion you were asked to be a speaker. What did you share in that speech?

RW: I just told 'em about some incidents that happened to me in Redlands, because these are all Redlands people, and I told 'em about the fact that an older man had sort of threatened me right after World War II started, the fact that he said, "You little Jap, I'm gonna cut your head off," and I took off from my Sunday school picnic. And I related that to them and told them that when I first joined the Marines and went to boot camp I saw this sergeant with all these ribbons from the South Pacific, I thought it was gonna be total hell for me. It's the same thing when I came to Redlands High School, "I just want to let you all know that I thought I was gonna be shunned by all you people, that I wouldn't have any friends, that I'd have to probably fight somebody all the time. This was just gonna be pure hell for me enrolling here as a Japanese American. But," I said, "I had no problems. You all just treated me as one of you, and it was such a great experience. I had a really good, good time. I just felt like these guys would really give me a hard time, but it really was the best years of my life at this high school because you guys treated me as one of you and certainly dispelled a lot of fears that I had when I first enrolled as a sophomore here at Redlands."

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.