<Begin Segment 7>

MU: But do you recall what your father said about Pearl Harbor and the fact that you're going into the army, U.S. army...

GK: Yes. He said that, "You're American citizen, so your allegiance is to the United States." Of course, I had no question about that. But he said, "I'm a Japanese subject, so I may go into a concentration camp or someplace." And I expected my parents to go into some sort of confinement. So when I left them and went into the service, I wasn't sure what fate waited for them.

MU: So your folks did not have to go into the camps, but...

GK: No, they evacuated before that. But I think they evacuated on the 18th. And I think it was about 27th, they stopped the voluntary evacuation, and then stopped them all and put them in the assembly center, and then to the relocation centers. But they left while it was still possible to evacuate.

MU: Did you... well, I guess you were aware that other Japanese Americans were put into American-style concentration camps.

GK: Yes. There were a lot of Nisei in the same unit with me. And their parents were put into assembly center, and then to concentration camps.

MU: So you were well aware that was happening.

GK: Oh yes, we heard about it all the time. Because in the meantime, we were in the service and after the basic training at Arkansas, we were sent to Camp, Fort Warren, Wyoming. And then I was surprised to find that there were 200 others from Arkansas on the same train sent to Wyoming. So, most of them had their parents in the West Coast and they talked about their parents all the time; wondering what is going to happen to them, and after the evacuation they were wondering, what's going to happen to them?

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.