Densho Digital Archive - Tom I. Mine Interview (denshovh-mtom

<Begin Segment 18>

TI: Okay, good. So explain to me what happens when the, when you had to leave Watsonville. Where were you picked up and what was that like?

TM: Yeah, there was quite a commotion going on. There was people, we had JACL members going over to Idaho, looking around at the ranches there. Whether we go as a group, or didn't want to go with a group, or...

TI: Oh, interesting. So you were, you were considering as a group to go up to --

TM: We had JACL members, they'd go over to certain areas where they can go as a group or want to join 'em or this and that. Some moved, some didn't, and I said, "Well, I think I'm going to sit tight and see what's going to happen," so I just joined the crowd and that's what we did.

TI: For those who were moving, or considering moving as a group, what did you think about that? Did you think that was a good idea?

TM: Well, I never gave it a thought.

TI: You decided to sit tight, you were an experienced, farmer, so why didn't you think that was a good idea?

TM: I said, "Gee, you know, I got property here, and then move, what am I gonna do?" So I said I'll just sit tight for time being and do what the others are gonna do.

TI: So the other Nisei farmers were kind of sitting tight also, the ones who were...

TM: Yeah, they, they made arrangement with the fellows that could take over their property, leases.

TI: And so the groups that were thinking of, of farming in Idaho as a group, who were they? Were they not as experienced?

TM: Well, no, they knew what they were thinking about, trying to help the group, so I was one of them, not one 'em, so I had no plans. I said, "Gee, why worry about some more other stuff?" [Laughs] So I said, "Forget about it," I told myself, "Gee, I don't want to get involved with it anymore." Gee, moving all the way to Idaho, you got to get trucks, you got to get everything, so I said, "Ah." So I don't think it ever happened. Maybe some were, on their own, they finally left. Got a truck and just left California, because we had to leave, we knew we had to leave California, that's for sure. So I said, do what the government is going tell me to do.

TI: And you mentioned, and you said the JACL was helping this group also.

TM: Well, yeah. They were, they were looking into it, they did all they could do, there wasn't too much you could do, there were not too much choices. And there weren't any good things coming out of it.

TI: So let's, okay, also during this time, so you were a high school graduate, you were working on the farm.

TM: Yeah, I was, see, twenty-six years old.

TI: So you were pretty old.

TM: Well, yeah.

TI: Or pretty well-established. How about your other siblings? What were they doing when this happened?

TM: Well, my brother, he got drafted 1940, was it '40? Anyway, yeah, he got drafted, and they picked on me first, they were drafting Niseis already. And they picked on me -- this was in October of 1940. I said, "Well, I'm a farmer so that's okay, I got business to take care of." So then my brother, he just graduated high school...

TI: So that's interesting. So if you were drafted and you were a farmer, you'd get an exemption?

TM: You'd get an exemption, see. So I came in that category.

TI: Okay. But then your brother wasn't.

TM: My brother wasn't. He just got out of high school two years, and then he was helping at the ranch. He was helping me at the ranch, so the draft board asked him, "Well, you report." So he said, "Okay," he went. He went to Camp Roberts in, down south, and then from there he volunteered to go to Military Intelligence, so that was his...

TI: So was he one of the early classes of the Military Intelligence Service?

TM: Yeah, he was the one, they opened that up, so he was one of the early classes.

TI: And so did he train in Minnesota?

TM: Yeah.

TI: And then your sisters, what were they doing?

TM: Well, they were still going to high school yet. So you know, they're just staying with me. I had to take care of 'em because my father was taken away, my mother.

TI: And so you were kind of the head of the household.

TM: Yeah, so there was no other brothers or anybody else. Luckily had my sister and my mother.