<Begin Segment 8>

MU: Now, that was the time when they were asked to serve in the U.S. army and maybe even give up their lives, and then, on the other hand, the government puts them into American-style concentration camp. It was quite a turmoil there.

GK: There was. But, of course, most of the Nisei that I ran into were already in the service. They volunteered in the meantime, some of them with their parents in the concentration camp. One, one person said that he volunteered, and the following day, FBI came in and arrested his father. At that stage he didn't know where father was. Apparently he was sent to Santa Fe and then to Missouri -- Missoula.

MU: Missoula, yeah.

GK: Uh-huh. And so at that time he was just cussing up and down. And at Arkansas -- no, was it at Fort Bliss? I ran into a Nisei soldier. He was completely drunk and he was cussing Roosevelt up and down with the most vile language I ever heard. And then a friend of his came over and asked me, "Are you going back to the camp?" So I said, "Yes." He said, "Can you take him back with you? Because he's... I don't know what's going to happen to him the way he talks." So I took him on the bus and we went back to camp. By that time he fell asleep and quieted down. But he was really cussing Roosevelt. I never heard anyone cuss so much. So that was the general feeling of Nisei whose parents... I heard that his parents, his father was arrested the following day after he volunteered, and the mother subsequently went into somewhere, assembly center, and from there to a relocation center somewhere.

MU: Oh, the family was split there then.

GK: They were split.

MU: Now, how could, how could somebody like that be able to fight for our government?

GK: Of course, this particular person, I don't think he pledged one way or the other, he was already in the service.

MU: Oh, he had no choice.

GK: But then he stayed in. And I think that primarily, that we all felt that we were American citizens and our first duty was to serve the country, regardless of what happened to our family. And I was kind of optimistic that eventually they will be freed.

MU: You saw a silver lining there, huh?

GK: Yes, uh-huh. And then since the impact wasn't as great for me because I was in Colorado, none of my friends were interned, and my parents came back from San Jose and they were at large in Denver. So I didn't feel the impact of the concentration camp.

MU: Well, yeah. But you, talking to the other Niseis...

GK: Yes, all my friends were, had their parents -- who were scattered here and there -- most of them were in relocation centers.

MU: You could understand their agony.

GK: Yes, I could understand. I shared their anger, too. For Issei, they're Japanese subject, that's understandable. But then for Nisei, how can they do that? And then, on top of that they're drafting Nisei at that time.

MU: Drafting, and then even asking for volunteers.

GK: That's right, uh-huh.

MU: So, we've kind of covered that but, is that the way you reconciled your anger or tried to help the other guys kind of reconcile their anger...

GK: Not too much reconciling. Just trying to convince myself that we were American citizens and our duty, first duty is to the country. And by doing so it might help Issei who were in the camps. And then I was... because of their past record, there was no sabotage, no un-American activities by Issei or any persons of Japanese ancestry, so eventually they would be released. Maybe not to the West Coast, but like many of them came to Colorado. And I thought most of the people will go to the inside United States.

MU: Do you think that maybe your legal background helped you to reason that way, that eventually...

GK: Maybe, maybe so. I don't know. I didn't think about the legal reasoning, or ordinary common sense. But I thought that after initial excitement was over, they will be released. I was counting on the Nisei reputation, or Nikkei reputation: that there was no sabotage, un-American activities, nothing to suspect Nikkei people.

MU: Yeah.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.