<Begin Segment 20>

SY: And you left camp, so that, did that, did they follow you with a questionnaire? Did you ever have to sign a questionnaire?

HS: I remember, I don't know what time it was, but I remember getting a questionnaire about whether I would... that "no-no" question, I forget when that came up.

SY: Was it when you were in Minnesota?

HS: When I signed up for the draft they asked me if I wanted to go to Fort Snelling, and I told 'em, well, I didn't know any Japanese. So they kind of questioned me, but then, so I was, wasn't asked to volunteer or go to Fort Snelling. That's right next, it's, Snelling's right in between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The only thing divides the two cities is the Mississippi. That's why they call it the Twin Cities. But I wouldn't have made a good soldier anyway. [Laughs]

SY: So you actually never got drafted.

HS: I got drafted in January 3rd of 1946, but the same day that I was, I went to the draft board and then I was inducted. When I went for my physical, right away they said, "Okay, we don't..." I had flat feet and my eyes, so I was 4-C, 4-A, limited service. So I, they didn't need me. But finally in January 3, 1946, when I went for a physical then, they said, "Okay, you're in." Says, "Your liabilities won't affect your service in the army." So I was drafted on January 3, 1946, but that same day my dad went to the hospital. He had pleurisy and then he smoked so much that they found out his lungs were just filled with nicotine, and so he went to Glen Lake Hospital about twenty miles out of time. But then Arky, the flower, one of the partners, when he got the report, he said, "Hy," he says, "Can you take it?" And I says, "Well, tell me what's wrong." He says, "Your dad'll never come out of that hospital alive. His lungs are so full of nicotine." So I just knew it was a matter of time. I think it was about two and a half months he was there.

SY: So he smoked all during...

HS: He smoked all his life, that I can remember.

SY: He was smoking in camp too.

HS: Yeah. I remember when I had to go to the flower market with him we'd have to get up at five o'clock, first thing he did, turn over, light a cigarette and he'd smoke in bed. That's why I've always hated tobacco. I've never smoked a cigarette in my life.

SY: Did he, did he get treated at all during camp, for his, for anything having to do with his lungs?

HS: No. Still smoked, with his money. He was, when he came to Minneapolis and still smoked, but he caught cold and then they said he had pleurisy when they x-rayed his lungs. But then it was so bad that Arky said, "Your dad'll never come out of the hospital alive." So it was about two and a half months later he just slowly passed away.

SY: So how did that affect you, as far as what you were gonna do with your life?

HS: Well, my dad was always one to look -- and he called me, when I was visiting him the last day, he said, he always called me Hayao, he says, "You never had the chance to college, but promise me," he says, "that you'll see that your brother goes through college." And so I supported him from last years in high school through high, through college. So I helped him get started when he, after he worked a while and wanted to open his own practice.

SY: So he was sort of almost like a son in some ways.

HS: [Laughs] Well, I always did everything for him while he was growing up, from high school 'til he finished college.

SY: He was in Minneapolis at the time that your dad died too?

HS: Uh-huh.

SY: And he was in high school then?

HS: Yeah, West High School in Minneapolis.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.