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TI: Now, do you recall, this would be 1943, when the government came out with the leave clearance, the "loyalty questionnaire." Do you remember that time period and families and individuals going through and answering that?

FS: You know, I don't have much recollection about that, except I know there was some ruckus going on in the camp about people answering those questions. And the issue of their loyalty, I remember, you know, when my brother Bob answered the draft, there were some people that not only verbally but physically threatened him. I remember that, which I thought, wow, why? And I distinctly remembered that, but I don't know too much about some of the other things. The only reason why I remember that was because of my brother Bob.

TI: And was he volunteering, or was he just responding to a draft order?

FS: Responding to a draft order. He was being drafted as an eighteen-year-old. And the interesting thing on that is, earlier than that when they opened up the services, my brother John volunteered. He was one of the original volunteers for the 442. And I don't remember any ruckus at all at that time.

TI: Yeah, because I would have expected more of a ruckus around that, where people were volunteering and perhaps maybe disagreeing with that. But if you were drafted, unless you chose to defy the government and resist the draft, you didn't have much choice.

FS: No, but apparently some people felt that they should defy the draft. You know, I don't know, I wasn't old enough to really understand everything that was going on then.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2017 Densho. All Rights Reserved.