<Begin Segment 16>
TI: And so after that, December 7th, pretty soon people found out that they would have to leave the area. What did your dad do with the farm during this time period? Eiko, do you remember what happened? How, what did your father do?
EN: Well, he left it up to this lawyer that was really good to him. And he would rent it out, and he would check if things were doing all right.
TI: So your father had a friend, a lawyer, who when your family had to leave, he would stay, he would be here, and he would watch over the place, and rent it out and check up on the tenants and all that. So what was this lawyer's name?
EN: John McCarthy. And he even came to Arkansas to see my father. And then when he came in the room, he said, "Oh, my, you just have one potbelly stove." [Laughs] But we used to eat in the kitchen, big kitchen, so...
YN: Mess hall.
EN: Mess hall, they called it. So we don't need a stove.
TI: And why do you think, Yoshiko or Eiko, why do you think John McCarthy was so good to your parents in terms of watching over the property, taking care of it, visiting in Arkansas? Why do you think that was so?
YN: I don't think he was prejudiced with our nationality, yeah. Because he wouldn't go as far as coming to see our parents.
EN: Didn't you have other people that talked about him? I think there were some other families that he helped, too.
TI: Yeah, I think he did. He helped a couple other farmers that I've talked with. And so this relationship that your... did your father use him as a lawyer before the war, so they knew each other pretty well?
EN: Well, it's more or less my brother got along with him, too, because he's the one that had to speak English. My father was poor in English then. He learned just by us talking in English.
TI: Okay, no, that makes sense. And in fact, legally, I guess, the farm was under your brother's name, too, at this time. So going back to after Pearl Harbor, so you had this lawyer to watch the property, what did the family do? Where did you go next?
EN: Well, we had to live on the other side of Main Street first. And then my aunt, my mother's sister --
TI: Well, before we go there, so that's right. So you were on the west side of Main Street. And so the families had to move on the east side, or away from the ocean.
EN: Uh-huh.
TI: Where did you go?
EN: We lived on Marchant Street, on the other side, on Union.
TI: And so was there a house there?
EN: There was a big house, two-story house we had to move into.
TI: Okay, so your parents were able to rent this house and move there. Okay.
<End Segment 16> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.