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PW: And then so you continued going to public schools?

RO: Yeah. And after finishing grammar school, we had to go then to a junior high school, and that was a ways away. And so I remember then that still, during grammar school, those were years I can't remember at all who my teachers were and whatever happened and so on. Because it was a very strange period of trying to adjust, and so then when we eventually went to the junior high school, and I remember then being there in the front of the school where all the kids were there, excited about the beginning of a new school year and whatever. I remember the principal coming out and speaking to the group about where you should go, what class, and da-da-da, then the bell rang and everybody rushed off. I was not familiar with the school, so then I eventually found the room that I was supposed to go. And I walked in, and, of course, by then, everybody was seated. And you walk in there, and you're looking around, and you're seeing this classroom of people that were all Caucasians except for one other Japanese American kid. And so I gave the teacher my, I guess that was a registration slip or something, I gave it to her, and there was a seat that was a seat near the back. And so I started to walk over to take a seat in the front, and then I heard this person say, "Hey, come back here." I didn't know who it was, you just see these people, you just see a sea of people. So I happened to make that decision, choice, to walk back there and take a seat back there. And then the other Japanese American kid had taken that other seat in the front. It so happens then, from that point on, I had this association with these kids, all Caucasian kids, that became, we were so tight, and it was just amazing that I had come to understand then that who they were on the campus, they were kind of the big man on the campus. And I don't even remember who we even said, "Hey, come back here." And so from that point on I never had a problem with my identity or with the association with the war. Because I'm sure there were kids that had fights and this and that. So there was this kind of built-in protection that you have, an association that you had with these kids, and that followed all the years through high school and even today then there are a few that I associate with, I mean, through retirement programs and so on.

PW: What were the names of the junior high school and high school you went to?

RO: What was... the grammar school was called Garfield Elementary, and then the junior high school was... what was it called? I know it. I know it, but I can't remember it. I can't remember it (Roosevelt Jr. High).

PW: And the high school was Selma High?

RO: Selma High School. [Laughs]

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.