<Begin Segment 4>

LT: You met Gordon Hirabayashi...

ED: What?

LT: You met Gordon Hirabayashi at the University of Washington.

ED: Yes.

LT: Do you recall when you met him and how you met him?

ED: Well, he was living at the YMCA on campus, and participating in their program. And since I was also participating in their program, we met that way. And that was a very busy program, so there was lots going on.

LT: Can you talk about some of the activities that you participated in with Gordon?

ED: Besides going to Seabeck in the summer, I suppose that we had a dinner once in a while at the Y, or there were other things they did, but since I was, I'm talking about a male group now, which the YMCA was, and so what they did was different from what I was involved in, to a degree. We didn't rule each other out entirely. But the boys did boy things. The boys were playing games and things on campus, more than the girls were.

LT: Do you have any recollection of a particular time where you and Gordon were involved in a project or an activity?

ED: At the Y?

LT: Uh-huh.

ED: Probably about 1940.

LT: Your first year at University of Washington?

ED: I think so. I couldn't swear to it, but I think so.

LT: Having gotten to know Gordon, Gordon was a student and also active in the YMCA where he lived. When you think back at Gordon as a student, how would you describe him then?

ED: As a student?

LT: Uh-huh.

ED: Well, as far as I know, he was a good student. I never examined his papers to find out, but he didn't seem to have difficulty in school. And he lived in the YMCA building with several other boys, and they did take advantage of knowing each other and helping each other with their schoolwork. So I'm sure Gordy was part of that group.

LT: And can I ask, were his roommates Japanese American boys?

ED: No, they would be quite a few American boys living at the Y, and so that was where Gordon socialized with them.

LT: If you could use words to describe him --

ED: What?

LT: If you could use words to describe him, what words would you use?

ED: Describing Gordy?

LT: Uh-huh.

ED: Well, he became a little more active and connected with other kids after he got to school. I think he was more quiet before he got into the Y and socialized with the other kids there. And he liked that.

LT: What kinds of things did you do with Gordon?

ED: Not very many. He was busy with what he was doing and I had my schoolwork to do. And the Y, what programs they had were primarily for boys.

LT: In the days after Pearl Harbor was bombed, what do you remember about what people said and thought and did?

ED: Said about the bombing? Not very much. I don't remember very much. I think it's possible that the boys were busy in their own group and were more likely to be discussing it than the girls. And I did not participate in adult discussions about it, so I don't what was going on there. I suspect that there was, like one of the churches might have held a discussion group about it, but I don't remember it.

LT: Gordon obviously was a Japanese American.

ED: What?

LT: Gordon obviously was a Japanese American, and many people's views changed about Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Do you recall people talking, wondering, worrying?

ED: No, I don't. I was just thinking about the occasions where I might have heard discussions in the kids, like at a ice cream shop or something like that. And I don't recall that there was that kind of discussion. Maybe it would have been a little early in the discussions where they weren't quite ready to talk about it. Gordy, I know, talked often with the friends he knew at the Y, and that was, those discussions were quite open, as far as I can recall.

LT: Do you recall what he said after Pearl Harbor was bombed?

ED: What?

LT: Do you recall what he said after Pearl Harbor was bombed? Was he worried?

ED: No, I don't. Sorry.

LT: But you knew he discussed with his friends at the Y.

ED: Uh-huh. I don't think there was discussion with a wider group than that at that time. Certainly they... I think there was discussion with other church groups, that seems to me quite reasonable.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.