Densho Digital Archive - Fred Oda Interview (denshovh-ofred

<Begin Segment 20>

TI: After you got to Poston, a few months later, they came out with the "loyalty oath."

FO: Yeah.

TI: Can you talk about that? What did you think when you got this questionnaire?

FO: Yeah, well, that's where I got in trouble. [Laughs] Because they says, "Will you forswear all allegiance to Japan and swear allegiance to America?" And another question was, "Will you bear arms for America?" And I answered "no-no" to both of them. And the sergeant says, "Son, do you know what you're doing?"

TI: Well, before you go there, why did you answer "no-no"? What were you thinking?

FO: Well, I'll tell you why. Because the sergeant said, "Son, do you know what you're doing?" I said, "Look," I says, "when I registered for the draft, I was classified as 1-A. And then you guys turned around and classified me as 4-C, that's 'enemy alien.'" I said, "What the hell is an 'enemy alien' doing in the U.S. Army? And I got no allegiance to Japan, I never been there," so I left it at that. And they said, "All the 'no-nos' we're going to ship into Tule Lake, we're going to ship 'em to Japan." I got nobody in Japan, I'm not going to Japan, so I had to change it, get a lawyer and change it to "yes-yes."

TI: So you were able to get it changed while you were in Poston?

FO: Yeah, yeah. There's a lawyer from Fresno there and...

TI: And so what did you have to do to get it changed? Was it a hard process?

FO: Yeah, you know, paper I had to sign a bunch of thing. But that's all on my record. Because when I was working back east, FBI comes, looked me up, yeah.

TI: Well, you're probably fortunate that you were able to leave Poston for a job. Because oftentimes they would use that against you and keep you in camp. So when you were in Poston, before you left, what kind of jobs did you have in Poston?

FO: Well, we started a chicken farm there, agricultural department, yeah. (Also worked as a lifeguard at the swimming pool.)

TI: And so what was your job? What did you do at the chicken farm?

FO: Bookkeeping more or less, keeping track of how many feed and how much chicken died and this and that, yeah. And there used to be a man from, I forgot which town he was from. He was an agriculture man, poultry man, so he knew all about those things. And one problem we had was there were a lot of mesquite trees. And the chicken eat the mesquite seed, and it's hard, so hard that the gizzard won't chew it up. So we had to personally just squeeze that seed out of them, yeah.

TI: And did you have to do that sometimes?

FO: No, no. [Laughs]

TI: And so how long were you in Poston before you left?

FO: That I can't recall. I must have been in there about a year maybe.

TI: And going back to the, where you said you sort of got in trouble for going "no-no," did that questionnaire, those questions, did that cause a lot of discussion or turmoil at Poston for you and others? I mean, did you guys talk about it very much?

FO: No. Because nobody knew what you answered. [Laughs] But once they start segregating, then you figure, geez.

TI: Well, because you had yours changed, no one really ever knew very much about how you answered.

FO: Yeah. But the one that was segregated, well, they know that they signed "no-no," yeah.

TI: Did you ever talk to your father about how you should answer the questionnaire?

FO: No, no.

TI: Now about your, your younger brothers? Did they, how did they answer the questionnaire?

FO: They weren't that age, I don't think.

TI: Oh, so they were, you're right, they were three years younger, three, four years younger, so they didn't have to do that.

FO: Yeah, one of my brother, he was a (4-F). He wasn't physically fit. And the other one, he was drafted, yeah.

TI: Okay.