<Begin Segment 17>
MU: Well, now, you visited your auntie and uncle at Minidoka, and then you went back to Camp Savage, did you?
TM: Yes.
MU: And why was that?
TM: Well, after about, about ten days, I believe I went back and reported in, and they told me I was to stay as an instructor, so immediately they gave us a promotion.
MU: What were you promoted to?
TM: I believe I was promoted to staff sergeant.
MU: Big deal. [Laughs]
TM: From twenty-one dollars to, I believe ninety-six dollars.
MU: That's a pretty big jump.
TM: So that was all right.
MU: Now, when you got back there, there must have been others that took furloughs also, and they must have visited relatives in incarceration. Did you get a chance to exchange notes?
TM: We talked about it, and we thought how lucky we were, not in there, not in one of those camps, although we were in the service, and... I don't know. It was a mixed feeling. We weren't exactly happy for being in the service and seeing a lot of Japanese in the camps. We weren't exactly happy, but compared with them, we thought we were lucky, if you call it that. And we had freedom, and so I believe I felt I was lucky.
MU: Was that the prevailing thought of the people when they all got back together?
TM: I think so. Yes, I think so.
MU: Okay.
<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.