<Begin Segment 10>

SY: So let's back up, I'm sorry. So when you first heard about the war, about Pearl Harbor, where were you?

CI: Junior high school.

SY: Junior high school, and you were in Boyle Heights.

CI: In Boyle Heights, yes, at Stevenson.

SY: And do you remember what exactly you were doing when you heard the news?

CI: I was at a park with my Aunt Eleanor and her boyfriend, who happened to be a GI. We were at the park, it was on a Sunday.

SY: And her boyfriend was Japanese, a Japanese American GI? So did you understand what it meant when Pearl Harbor was bombed?

CI: It really didn't. One, we didn't know where Pearl Harbor was. Never heard about Pearl Harbor. And I know that there was a lot of discussion among the older people, and when they spoke, you just sat there and listened.

SY: So when you got home, when you left the park, did you leave the park right away?

CI: Yeah, well, I was with them. So we came home.

SY: You came home. And you...

CI: Yeah, listened to the radio.

SY: So do you remember what the older people were talking about?

CI: No, I don't know.

SY: But you remember there was a lot of discussion.

CI: Oh, there was a lot of discussion.

SY: And so did it, were you afraid? Did you know what was going to happen to you at the time?

CI: No, no.

SY: And it didn't bother you?

CI: I was only about thirteen or fourteen, so...

SY: It didn't have an impact.

CI: No, it really didn't.

SY: And so when you went to school the next day, I assume you went back to school the next day?

CI: The next day. It was almost as if nothing had happened. Because Dora was there at the place where we always met. But you could tell that there was some tension and everybody was kind of scared. I'm not sure whether the principal made an announcement. I think that one of my friends that also went to Stevenson said that the principal got on the loudspeaker or whatever and said what had happened and that, "We have our Japanese friends here who had nothing to do with what has happened." But I don't recall that, but someone told me that, "Yeah, our principal said that." But I do know that most of the teachers were very protective and very kind.

SY: So there was never any, like, bad... anything anybody said that made you feel uncomfortable during that?

CI: No. I would say no.

SY: And how about your best friend? Did she say anything?

CI: No, she didn't.

SY: Never talked about it.

CI: No. I think it's because we were only fourteen, thirteen, fourteen, things like war, it just didn't make an impact. Or the consequences and the fact that it was Japanese.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.