<Begin Segment 17>

TI: And then, so that's your dad's business, so he was able to close it up, and then have it taken care of. What did you do during those two or three months while, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and before you left Salinas, were there any...

FO: There was a curfew during those days, yeah. We had to be in before sundown, I guess it was, and people from, living on the west side of Main Street, going toward the ocean, it's five miles, yeah. Those people had to leave their home and move on the west, east side of town, yeah.

TI: And the reason, I understand, is that, so Main Street became kind of this boundary.

FO: Yeah, boundary.

TI: That on the ocean side of, or the west side of Main Street was a restricted area for, especially the Isseis. The Isseis couldn't go on that, in particular.

FO: I think that went with German, Italian, too, probably, yeah. First generation.

TI: And during this time, did you have any incidences or events that affected you personally, like a, was anyone, say anything to you that was derogatory or anything like that? Or were there any acts of kindness that you could remember?

FO: Well, there was, when we had to get ready for evacuation, one Italian guy, he loaned me his truck so I could haul things and stuff like that. Then there were just a lot of other people that helped out. I guess if you read the history of the Japanese deal, that Mrs. Marshall, Dr. Marshall, they really helped lot of the Japanese people. And the son was killed in the Pacific, South Pacific.

TI: That makes it even more extraordinary that people could be so, so generous.

FO: So, let's see, few years ago, they had a reenactment of the evacuation, and they mentioned all the name of the people that, Caucasian that were pro-Japanese here in Watsonville.

TI: And, well, going back to that Italian man who lent you his truck, did he ever say anything to you when he let you use the truck?

FO: Yeah, yeah. He offered it, yeah.

TI: But did he talk about why he was doing it or anything, or what was happening to you? Did he talk about that?

FO: Well, I guess he knows our position because he was a second-generation Italian, so he knows what they're going through. Lot of things you don't say, but you observe and you know, kind of know what's happening.

TI: And how did that make you feel when he let you use the truck?

FO: Well, you realize that there's a lot of good people around yet.

TI: That's good.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.