Densho Digital Archive - Tak Yamashita Interview (denshovh-ytak-01-0029)

<Begin Segment 29>

MN: So when you were out in Colorado what year did you receive the "loyalty questionnaire"?

TY: Let's see, that was, we were there, I think the second year, '41, '42, so the second year. I forgot year it was, '42 or '43.

MN: '43.

TY: Yeah. I think so, yeah.

MN: Did you have any problems answering the two controversial questions?

TY: No. People were talking about it. I guess some people, they got it through alphabetical order, I guess, and then we were the last ones to get it 'cause Yamashita, so then they were talking about it and we used to, they used to say, "Answer 'no-no,' answer 'no-no.' And I'd say, "What's 'no-no,' whether you are loyal or not?" And I said, what country could I be loyal to, you know? And the only country that I could be loyal to is where I am right now, USA. I'm born here. According the government statistics and the teaching of the history is that if you're born in the U.S. you're a U.S. citizen, right? Well then I used to tell the guys, "Why you guys vote 'no-no' for? You got to fight for your own country." And then these Japanese Issei, they say, "No, answer 'no-no.' 'No-no,' 'no-no.'" So even like my wife, parents told her to answer "no-no," well she did answer "no-no," so she really didn't know the reason why, but the parents pushed. So that was my idea. My idea was to fight for my country, which is natural, right?

MN: So your parents had no problems with you answering "yes-yes."

TY: Yeah. They didn't say nothing. "Up to you."

MN: Now what year did you get your draft notice?

TY: I got my draft notice... I got my draft notice before I evacuated, I think. Yeah, I think before I evacuated, the draft notice. Then I sent them a letter saying that I am farming, growing crops with my father and helping on the farm, this and that, they gave me a 3-A classification. So then I had 3-A classification until I went to Colorado. I got my 3-A classification, then I went to the physical at the Fort MacArthur, and then I passed it, then they gave me a 3-A classification after that. So then I went along.

MN: Fort MacArthur in San Pedro is where you got your, you passed the physical?

TY: Yeah.

MN: Now, did your younger brothers receive their draft notices and did they receive a 3-A classification?

TY: No. Let's see, my brothers, I think my second brother, he received it. And then he went to physical and he went to the, he was drafted so he went to the army. And time went by, my third brother got it in Colorado, I think. My fourth brother got it in Colorado and my fifth brother got it in Colorado, so they all went, passed the physical, went to the occupation in Japan, and I was the only one that was left home.

MN: How did your parents feel about having so many sons in the military?

TY: Well, you mean how they felt when their sons went to military?

MN: Were they worried that they may lose their sons?

TY: I don't think so. They used to say that, fortunes of war, so you know. I think that's how they used to put it. They knew. It was funny that they knew that. How, how would I explain it? They says, "Wakare ga warui toki ni doko na koto wa nai." And "Wakare ga wakattara," they would come home. That's what their idea was, and being in Japan, I guess, that's the way it is in Japan. You know what wakare means, right?

MN: Depart.

TY: Depart, yeah. "If departing is bad it's not gonna be good, and if departing is good, nothing's gonna happen," is the way they put it. So ours, all the departing was good, I guess, so they all came back home.