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TI: I have another question since you were at Heart Mountain, at Heart Mountain there were men who, as a group, decided to resist the draft.
JH: There was two, the Fair Play Committee and the "no-nos'" two different categories.
TI: Right two different categories. I want to talk about the Fair Play Committee.
JH: The Fair Play Committee, their request was, "We will join the army, providing our constitutional rights are returned to us, meaning we can go free. Then we'll go in the army."
TI: So what did you think of that?
JH: Well, one of my colleagues in the fire department, he had an older brother in Germany, or in Europe, and a younger brother in Japan, and he figured he might get called. So he said, "John, will you go with me to Frank Emi's barrack and give me moral support?" So I sat there and Frank made his spiel, that we want our constitutional rights and this is why we're campaigning to, shall we say, shout our cause. And that's how it started. And I guess word got around that, all the ten camps, they all contributed to this Fair Play thing, and the three hundred, yeah, three hundred and sixty or something went to prison for it. Well, of course they got pardon and they got their twenty thousand dollars too, but that's different than the "no-nos."
TI: Right. But when you heard Frank Emi talk, what did you think about what he said?
JH: Like I say, I'm different. I didn't panic, I didn't sympathize. I thought, well, he's got a point, but what else can I say?
TI: So what did you tell your friend? So your friend asked you to come to give him support, what did you tell him?
JH: He was quiet, and when Frank said, "We would like financial support," I forgot what he put in, maybe five dollars or something in the coffee can. And he thanked him and then we went back.
TI: And what did your friend do? Did he...
JH: Well, he came home and then he got his draft card, or draft call. And still, his brother in Japan and Europe, maybe were Stateside but still in the army, and when he got his 1-A he got upset. He went in the, went to bed and didn't get up. But as luck would have it, when he got up, whatever President says, no more draft. [Laughs]
TI: I don't follow. When you said he went to bed and didn't get up --
JH: He, "Damn, they're gonna take me in the army." Went to bed and became a hermit.
TI: But then you said they then weren't drafting? I don't get that part.
JH: Well, the president issued a decree, no more draft. I don't think you're old enough to remember that, but he, or whatever Congress decided, the war's over, no more Japan, no more nothing.
TI: Okay, so this happened after the war had been over.
JH: Yeah. I think it was 1946.
TI: So this happened, okay. Alright. Earlier you also said there were two groups, there were the draft resisters, and then there was a group that said no on the loyalty questionnaire, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, "no-no."
JH: "No-no."
TI: And many of them went to Tule Lake. So what did you think about that group?
JH: I went to some of the people that I knew and I says, "You're making a mistake." And they give me a dirty look. "Shut up your face," and this kind of thing. And my dad left everything up to me. He didn't even consult me. He didn't say, "What do you think?" Why, I don't know. Well, for one, after working hours and hours on the farm from sun up to sun down he comes to camp, nice room, comfort, warm, hot water, he has a hobby to pursue, and work in the mess hall, all you can eat. [Laughs] It was a vacation for him, him and my mom. But when we came back, then it was work for everybody, naturally. We started farming. Went into strawberry business and we got into, I got into politics, became a, board of directors of the Naturipe Berry Growers Association.
TI: So you became more active -- but before, I want to ask about that, but before we leave, when you were at Heart Mountain, were you still active with the JACL? Did they still have meetings and do anything?
JH: No. Politically, the executive director probably kept in touch with the national headquarters, being in Salt Lake City or whatever, and the president became the executive of the block managers. And then I think it's about two years later, he voluntarily evacuated back East someplace, Des Moines or somewhere. But here's one story that's interesting. The camp had already been fully occupied when the last train came in and so forth, no fence, no barbed wire fence. Then all of a sudden contractors start putting up posts, so community starts in. "Hey, how come?" So they went to the managers and the managers had a meeting, and there again, see, this Shig Masunaga's thinking was different. He says, "Wait a minute, you guys. Don't panic. Suppose, look, Cody is twelve miles to the south of us and Powell is thirteen miles to the north of us. Suppose a bunch of renegades come running through and raising hell in the camp. If there's no barbed wire to stop them, then what?" "Yeah, sou dana." So the fence went up, no squawk, no squabble or nothing. The same situation with the Fair Play Committee, "If they want to do it, let 'em do it. If they're breaking the federal law, then that's up to (them) not the block managers." That's the way he handled it, and by golly, it came out alright. Now, had we had a different kind of executive manager, who knows? Philosophy was different, then...
TI: Good. Okay.
<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.