<Begin Segment 21>

SF: What did the administration communicate to the internees about registering? Did they put out bulletins that, describing what the implications were? Or did they bring in Army teams to explain what the...

FM: Yes. Yes.

SF: 442 was gonna do?

FM: They brought in the army teams... Well, let's take the other side first. The WRA explains this clearance program. There're essentially two programs involved: the clearance program and then the military draft program. The clearance program, the WRA explains as, that, "We want to assist you to move out of the centers as rapidly as possible and that this is the most efficient way of doing this." Now, what the WRA did not adequately anticipate, was the resistance which so many evacuees felt to clearance, to leaving the centers. The attitude in the centers was, "Since you evacuated us, you are responsible for taking care of us, until we are allowed to go back home." And here, the -- therefore, the interpretation is, "Here you're now trying to get rid of us, to relieve yourselves of the responsibility of taking care of us, which you really should, given the kind of action you've taken towards us."

So, now, for many Nisei, like myself and others, why clearance to get out of the centers was exactly what we wanted, and we would have -- you know, we're happy to look forward to that possibility. For many of the Issei, however, the attitude was, "If you drive us off into these communities, what kind of hostility, what kind of segregation, discrimination are we gonna encounter? You give us no guarantee as to our security under these circumstances." So, that attitude is totally different from that which we, the many Nisei, felt, and it was totally different from the kind of interpretation which the WRA gave to the nature of the registration. The assumption there was that people would be glad to be out of the centers, and that was not true at all. Then, of course, the issue of the draft, and the military service, and also the question of the loyalty question that went with it. That was a moot point all around, and a lot of discussion of that. But, for most of us, the feeling was well, there's... you know, "It's not a fair question directed to us, but what can we do? We want to get out of these centers. That's what we'd like to do. And we'll say 'yes-yes.'" I think that was the attitude of many of the people who were at the centers.

SF: In terms of support for the concept of the 442, at that particular point, would you say that the majority of people were, sort of, in favor of -- or, the majority of the people were against the idea of the Niseis volunteering for the 442? Or they were, most people were sort of indifferent, or pulled in two directions, or...?

FM: I, well, from the way things happened at centers generally, I would say yes, most people were not for the idea of volunteering for this 442, or the combat unit. At Tule Lake, it was vociferously against any participation in the draft, or the -- this is not true for all the residents of the -- but the vocal argument was, you know, "Why should we serve in the military, given that we have been deprived of our rights?" This kind of attitude was widely voiced in the community, or at least it became part of the issue as to what should be done with respect to the registration. And part of it, as I say, has to do with the kind of people who were at Tule Lake.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.