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CN: Okay, so now we're getting close to December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Do you remember that day?

PY: Oh, yes, I remember my father was working with a water pump and I heard it on the radio. It was just about 12 o'clock and so I went to my father and I said "Pop, they bombed Pearl Harbor," and the war had begun, and he just dropped the wrench down on the floor and he came up. So sad, and it was hard you know because we had the two, my brother and sister were still over there, you know. And then the relations with the families, their personal families. So it was hard on us at that time.

CN: What about neighbors, Caucasian neighbors, do you remember?

PY: They weren't, we had no problems with them. As a matter of fact, I think they were rying to help us out as much as they could, but my father was disappointed that they really did take advantage of purchasing all our equipment and my father...

CN: They immediately know that you were going, because evacuation started...

PY: Well, we started getting all these notices posted here and there and we had to, we were restricted with curfews, you know, nine o'clock and then they started coming around inspecting to see if we had any guns or all those, radios or whatever. So we knew then. There was a radio tower nearby our farm and they had soldiers protecting that. But we made real good friends with them and eventually they were playing basketball with us and things like that.

CN: You were how old at that time?

PY: I was about sixteen but our neighbors, they had older boys there so we would get acquainted with them, you know. But my father had just purchased a brand new Chrysler and so he was so proud of that. But our lawyer, he purchased it for a minimal fee and so he was really disappointed that he wasn't as trustworthy as we had hoped would be. But our banks and all, we were able to keep our funds there and then by the time we were getting rid of all our things, I think the bank over, county --city hall or banks, I can't remember, but they allowed us to keep a trunk full of things, our personal things. This is why we were able to keep our pictures, films, you know, and a few of our personal items; they were allowing us to store it down there. So I thought that was very nice of them.

CN: Did you continue to attend high school after, for a while...

PY: Yes, you know, I can't remember too much about that but I think we attended as

long as we were able to.

CN: Do you remember how they treated you?

PY: No, they were very friendly as far as I remember. As I say, my girlfriend, she just kept in touch with me all the time.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.