Densho Digital Archive
National Japanese American Historical Society Collection
Title: Takashi Matsui Interview
Narrator: Takashi Matsui
Interviewer: Marvin Uratsu
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: December 12, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-mtakashi-02-0017

<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.