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TI: So I'm going to now kind of jump to December 7, 1941.

FM: Okay.

TI: And tell me about that day and what were you doing?

FM: That was a Sunday. And I remember we were (...) out in the cauliflower field cutting cauliflower and packing cauliflower for the market next day. Our farm was generally, it was all vegetables, things like cauliflower, cabbage and carrots and spinach and things like that, but you know, depending on the crop that we were growing, various times of the year. But on that Sunday we were cutting cauliflower and packing and then carrying them out to the edge of the field, so that it could be taken and put on the truck and taken to the farmer's market the next morning for sale. I think we heard about it probably about mid-morning. I don't know who came out to tell us that the attack had occurred in Pearl Harbor, and I think also thinking... of course, I didn't know where Pearl Harbor was. It was in Hawaii, and that was about all I knew. But that was just the complete secession of any harvesting of our land, I mean, of our crops that we had in the field. We didn't have too many crops at that time, but it was probably cauliflower and cabbage. But on that day, that was the end of anything that we would do, Tom.

TI: Now why was that? Because people still need to eat...

FM: I know. I don't know why we stopped doing it. I don't recall hardly doing any work after that. We just didn't... I don't know why. You're right, the crops were in the field, but we didn't do any harvesting. I did go to school the next day. I was by then finishing my sophomore year in high school. I was still fifteen, (...) we were probably the only Asian family that was going to that school. It was a small school district, but I had been in school with many of 'em from the first grade on. So they were all my friends, (...). I recall being talked to kind of seriously with Mr. Berger who was my biology teacher. I didn't talk to any other faculty member, but Mr. Berger did talk to me about being, kind of being Japanese. I think I knew I was Japanese all along, but when (...) I was playing basketball and wrestling at the time. (I was) just one of the gang, essentially.

TI: So what do you think the biology teacher was trying to do?

FM: I think he was, wanted to make sure that I didn't get any harassment from any of my friends, I mean students.

TI: So he wanted to protect you in some ways.

FM: Yeah, essentially.

TI: Or look out for you.

FM: As it turns out, though, I don't think I needed it because the student there, were longtime friends. They (...) didn't give me any problems. Because that was from December, January, February (...). We didn't leave 'til May, and I think I went to school right up to the end, right up to the day, almost to the day we left, I did go to school.

TI: Going back to your friends, what ethnicity were they?

FM: They're all Caucasians.

TI: But from which countries of, were their ancestors from?

FM: I don't know. I guess I never thought about it. I think we had a few friends that were Italian. (...) I don't know what background they were. But other than being Italian, I didn't know of any other, I didn't realize that there were any other ethnicity there.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.