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FA: Michi, tell me about registration.

MW: Registration. That is a generic term we used to explain that forced act on the part of the government which made young men -- well, actually, the adults who were seventeen years and older -- declare their loyalty, their unqualified loyalty to the United States.

FA: What was, what was the leave clearance questionnaire?

MW: Leave clearance questionnaire... well, here we had an insistence of the WRA wanting to use this army drive to get volunteers for, to enlist in the army. And the WRA decided, "Well, we'd like to be able to expedite the release of those who we feel are loyal so that they could help in the war effort in industry or on the farm, on the railroads, etcetera." And that is the reason the WRA questionnaire was entitled "Leave clearance," which gave -- at that particular point in history considering that the army was there to try to get volunteers, the fact that the WRA was getting people to sign all these answers to a very long questionnaire. And the heading implied that the intention in part was to get the internees to leave camp, was very intimidating. Because they had just gotten settled in camp. For instance, at Manzanar they had that terrible riot. It was far too soon after that riot, for instance. And the same thing happened in Poston where they had a near riot. It lasted for a couple of weeks and the army was nearly called in. And so it was timed very badly because the people misunderstood this heading: "leave clearance," as meaning, "Now we are getting ready to have you go out into the community." And they weren't ready. It was a very hostile, hostile outside. And they had no desire, being penniless, to want to...

FA: How many, just, can you just describe for me the questionnaire for leave clearance? How many questions were there on the questionnaire?

MW: Oh, I just know that there... was it twenty-seven, twenty-eight, maybe it ended at thirty. I cannot guarantee you that, but yes.

FA: There were certainly two key questions. What was question twenty-seven?

MW: Twenty-seven asked whether you were willing to fight for the United States wherever ordered.

FA: What was question, what was question twenty-eight?

MW: Twenty-eight asked whether you forswear any allegiance to the emperor of Japan and you will swear, and that you do swear unqualified allegiance to the United States.

FA: What was the dilemma posed by these two questions to the, for the, to the Issei?

FA: Well, to the Issei it was clear-cut because they said, "This is ridiculous. They deny us U.S. citizenship and at the same time they are asking us to renounce our allegiance to the emperor." That meant that should the war be successfully won by the Japanese, these people would be people without a country because of the fact that they had renounced the emperor at one point. So it was terrifying for them to have to put down in writing that, "We do forswear allegiance to the emperor." And they had no other citizenship.

FA: Could you tell me -- I dropped my notepad -- tell me, what was the dilemma for the Issei on giving this question twenty-seven and twenty-eight?

MW: Twenty-seven and twenty-eight. Well...

FA: What was the dilemma for the Issei?

MW: For the Issei actually it was simpler than for the Nisei. It was clear-cut because they were confronted with this question: "Do you forswear allegiance to the Japanese emperor, and swear unqualified allegiance to the U.S.?" What a stupid question. Because they were denied U.S. citizenship and how can they forswear allegiance to the emperor, when that, the possibility of let's say at that point, many Issei were rooting for their country and there was a possibility that Japan might win the war and it would be catastrophic if they would sign a paper saying that, "We forswear allegiance to the Japanese emperor." Their country, their leader.

FA: So what was the dilemma that these two questions posed for the Nisei?

MW: Well, for the Nisei, the two questions posed many, many questions. One, well, the Kibei were very quick to see through that same question which troubled the Issei because they said, "This is tricky." It's as though, let's say a German American were asked, "Do you forswear allegiance to Hitler and swear unqualified allegiance to the United States?" It implied that you indeed had a prior allegiance to Hitler. That puts a person in a ridiculous situation. And to tell you the truth -- oh, let me first answer your question fully in which you asked how did the two questions bring conflict to the Nisei. The Nisei were not in any mood at that point, in a concentration camp, to volunteer their services to go and fight their brothers or possibly their cousins in Japan. So they qualified their answers saying that, "We're very happy to fight but we would prefer to fight in Europe, not in Japan. Not wherever we are sent."

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1998, 2005 Frank Abe and Densho. All Rights Reserved.