<Begin Segment 26>

DG: Now, we're going to get into a little bit more high drama in your life and you've kind of philosophically put this behind you, but try to remember as much as you can about how you were feeling and what you did. So you came back to Nahcotta and some people were taken away, but your father was okay.

RM: You mean was interned?

DG: Yeah.

RM: No, he wasn't interned. My brother-in-law was interned, Jerry Fujii.

DG: Had he been living close by?

RM: Yeah. He was living with us, I think, at that time.

DG: So why was he taken?

RM: Well, he was in the exporting business and I guess they figured that he might have -- I don't know. I guess they were hysterical, but anyway he was in the export business, and he's pretty aggressive, you know. I mean he wasn't afraid to say what he felt was right. Yeah.

DG: So was there anything else that -- I guess a thought that occurs to me is that one of things that everybody was worried about was that the Japanese were going to give signals or something and here you guys are out on the ocean.

RM: Yeah, they were afraid that I was going to contact the Japanese submarines. [Laughs]

DG: How come they didn't take you away then?

RM: Well, one guy, he was an army officer, retired army officer, he was trying to get me put away, but other people said, "No, no, he's not that type of a person. He's born here and I know he's a good American." But this one guy sure wanted to see me put away.

DG: Was this connected with your business or...

RM: No, no, he was retired.

DG: Somebody in town?

RM: Somebody living right in Ocean Park, right close to Nahcotta.

DG: How did you know that he wanted you put away?

RM: Well, he come right out and say so, that type of guy.

DG: So did you have people doing that to you in town telling, saying things to you?

RM: No, there was very few of those. Most of the people were real nice. Anyway, when we went to Chicago, people didn't even realize that we were going through all that and...

DG: This was after the war you're talking about now?

RM: No, it was during the war, you know, wartime.

DG: Oh, after you went to camp though.

RM: Yeah.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.