<Begin Segment 17>
SY: So how, what was the reaction -- this was semi close to the war, it was soon after the war -- do you remember any positive, negative reaction to you being Japanese?
AM: No. The only one that comes to mind is either when I was going back to school for the next season and I stopped to eat, and somebody came up to me and said, "Hey, we got a bet in the back." Says, "Are you Chinese or Japanese?" And that wasn't discrimination, but in a way it was. I never... no, I stopped to eat, had to go to the bathroom -- and this was in the South -- and I was, it said, I think it said "white" and "colored," and I was headed for the "colored." And there was a black man sitting there saying [points]. [Laughs] No, no, when I was in the service, with my uniform on, I was in Seattle, Washington, in a theater, and I had to go to the bathroom, went to the bathroom, and a man came to a stall a few feet away and he said, "Jap." And I was young then and tough, you might say, I felt like jumping him. But I remembered what the sergeant or whoever that gave us a pass said, that don't touch a civilian or you're in real trouble, so I let him go. But that's the only outright one I remember.
SY: During that whole period from camp to getting out of camp, how did that affect you? Do you remember during that period if you were, if you...
AM: Well, people who lived near 395 -- and I did --
SY: Which is right near Manzanar.
AM: In the morning when you open your door, if there are traffic they're going north and south like this, so every morning I'm reminded of where I am. Why can't I be in one of those cars going north or south?
SY: This is at Manzanar? Manzanar is, the 395 is the road that goes right past Manzanar.
AM: Uh-huh. And I very much disliked the fact that we had to carry cards that said we were "enemy aliens," 4-C. To this day, I never got over that, being called an alien. And I don't know if it was the "yes" and "no" or what it was about, but my father and I, I remember we were arguing about something for a couple of weeks and by the time it ended I don't know what I was, a "yes" or a "no." But I remember him saying, "Well, you, you do what you want to do. Only if you're not with us, you're on your own." Waah. [Laughs]
SY: That, but you don't remember who was on what side?
AM: No. I'm sure I was not a "no-no" 'cause I didn't even know, I'd never been to Japan. I didn't know what changed his mind, but... when we were, when I was at MIS going to school, I had to report to the administration. On the way there I was saying, "I wonder what this is about. Maybe they caught up with me about "no-no" or "yes-yes" or whatever." All they wanted to do was, they had given me, I can't even think of the number, a GI's number, service number, as a draftee. They had to change it to a volunteer number.
SY: But you were worried that --
AM: The numbers are different. I found out recently that the volunteers, they have a one in front of the number, and the draftees had a three.
SY: But you, and you, so you would've, would you have joined the army out of camp? Would you have, when that draft notice, or when the "loyalty questionnaire" or the...
AM: You know, I was so wrapped up in working at the hospital I didn't even know that we were, we could go out of camp. I can't remember that. And I don't know, I know that several of my classmates, they had to go in right away, and in fact, some of them probably left from camp. I saw four, four names of my classmates who went to Washington for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
SY: They were in the 442, then.
AM: My, the best man at my wedding, he was younger than me, he was very smart, and he had received some kind of offer in the service. They had some kind of a test or program. And I noticed he had a one beside his name on the list, so he volunteered.
SY: But if you didn't volunteer there was still the chance that you would get drafted in camp.
AM: Yeah, because they, there were some.
SY: But you were never called.
AM: No, not until '46.
SY: So you probably answered "yes-yes" but still didn't get called.
AM: That, I don't know if that has any, because that was a... whoever started that, they had to modify that.
SY: Modify the loyalty --
AM: The questions. That was a bad, that was a bad mistake.
SY: I think, didn't they give it to the young men? Wasn't there a draft questionnaire and then a loyalty questionnaire, there were two different ones, that you remember?
AM: No.
SY: Because your parents, they filled out the same?
AM: Well, I got the impression that, depending on how you answered, you can go out or not.
SY: I see.
AM: Because some people left very early to go to work that they found outside or school.
SY: Yeah. I think, well, I'm not sure about that, but I know that the people who went to Tule Lake were the ones who did not, who...
AM: Yeah, that was a bad problem too because if you're, if you were young you had to go with your parents.
SY: Right. But your parents, what did, so did your, I'm still not clear, your parents argued with you, or your father argued with you that he did not want to sign "yes-yes"?
AM: Yeah, I remember him saying, "After all they did to me and took my..." You know, we were, he was just getting successful in the nursery business and they, all this happened to him, and you still feel whatever. And I probably argued against that, I don't know.
SY: So he was angry about the --
AM: He was very angry. But like I said, I don't know at what point he changed his mind, or what he had, what he had answered. Because I've read where people would write "yes-yes" and their parents would go to the office and say, "Change that to 'no-no,'" kind of thing like that. I, even if they, somebody would give me a million dollars, I couldn't tell you what I did. [Laughs]
SY: Your brother, did he ever, your brother, was he, how old was he during --
AM: He was a baby.
SY: So he wasn't even...
AM: No.
SY: He probably remembers... but he has done some research about your family? Has he, has he looked into the history? No? Okay. 'Cause I know you can look up your family's records.
AM: Even that?
SY: Records, you can get copies.
AM: "Yes-yes" and "no-no" thing?
SY: "Loyalty questionnaire," yeah.
AM: I didn't know that.
SY: You have to ask your brother. Maybe he's done that. But yeah, that's interesting because your father really was... and your mother, do you remember her reaction?
AM: No.
SY: So you all ended up, though, leaving camp at the same, at the same time?
AM: No, my father, my father left in October to retrieve his truck and made trips helping people move back. And then we moved back in November.
SY: I see. And do you remember where you lived when you moved back to Los Angeles?
AM: Remember what?
SY: Where you lived.
AM: We may have gone, we did go back to the Japanese school, hostel, and then we, I don't know how long we stayed there. We went to some place in Ocean Park, and then we bought a home in Sawtelle.
SY: So there was still that community to return to? People that you knew went, came back to Los Angeles and resettled in that area. And then was it hard getting into UCLA?
AM: No. I didn't understand that. I mean, we never, I never, I never doubted it, I guess. [Laughs] Except I flunked my Subject A.
SY: But you still got to go there for a year. And then once you, so we're skipping ahead now because after you did the -- how long did you do the chick sexing?
AM: Seven or eight years, I think.
SY: Seven or eight years. And the money that you made, you helped your dad and then saved? Did you save money?
AM: Not much. 'Cause my wife said, "You're the poorest chick sexor I've ever known," or something like that. [Laughs]
<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.