<Begin Segment 8>

SY: So, okay, so by the time, then, do you have vivid memories of Pearl Harbor, when that happened?

FO: Well, we were, we were in church. We were just about finished with the service, and this guy came up to us, this Fumi Miyamoto, he said, "Pearl Harbor was bombed."

SY: You remember the name of person who told you?

FO: Yeah. So we said, "What are you talking about? Pearl Harbor, where's that?" We didn't know. "Yeah," he said, "it was bombed." It just came over the radio, 'cause he was a neighborhood kid, and we were all in church, when we came out, we were trying to figure out where Pearl Harbor was. So then we found out and then things started to, we start worrying about our future.

SY: Right. So you were, were you with your family, your whole family was in church when you heard?

FO: Well, the boys, were in the English service, and I guess our parents were there in the Japanese service or something, I don't know. Then we all got together at home and discussed all this.

SY: So your family, your parents, you remember talking about it with them?

FO: Yeah.

SY: And what did they, do you remember what they said?

FO: My dad said, "Japan, baka no koto shita." He says, "They can't beat the U.S. They don't know the power of the U.S. They have resources and manufacturing, and Japan has nothing except their pride." He didn't say it, but he says, "Japan has no chance to win the war."

SY: And was he, did he express concern about what was gonna happen to you as a family?

FO: No. Well, we didn't know at that time whether we were gonna be evacuated or not until we got this order.

SY: It was a few months later.

FO: Yeah. The thing is, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, we were told to stay indoors at night, and they really had the warden out patrolling and stuff like that, so we had to darken our shades, and we couldn't show any light or anything.

SY: Now, was that true just for Japanese families?

FO: No, everybody.

SY: Everybody. So everybody was in the same, same boat. So do you remember going to school the next day?

FO: Yeah.

SY: And what happened at school?

FO: Well, I went to school the next day, and I was in L.A. High and I played baseball, so the baseball team was waiting for me, and they said, "Hey, we got our first war prisoner."

SY: Joking.

FO: Joking. So just then the bell rang, so we dispersed. But they were waiting for me after school during baseball practice. And we used to laugh, and I got to know some pretty good boys.

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