<Begin Segment 8>

SF: How did your family answer the, the so-called "loyalty questionnaire" during registration?

GH: I don't think we had a problem with that at all.

SF: So you guys were "yes-yes"?

GH: Yes, because the three of us, the three boys in the family, they're all, served time in the service, and so we didn't have any problem with that.

SF: Did, did your family, like your dad, ever think of returning to Japan or answering "no" on a questionnaire? I mean, it was always understood that you guys would be, answer "yes-yes," and your future was in America, always, huh?

GH: Yeah. I don't think he had any thoughts of going back to Japan and taking the family with him or go by himself. I know he wouldn't have gone by himself, but, and since we had all "yes-yessed" on that questionnaire, I'm sure that he had no problems at all with that.

SF: So later at Heart Mountain, they had the organized draft resistance movement there, right? In, I think, '44. What did you think of the draft resisters, resisters at that time?

GH: I don't know. I think that, that everybody was entitled to their opinions, or whatever thoughts they had, and I'm, I respect them for that. Even at that time, I thought that they were... at least you have to give 'em credit for being... well, they're, they had, they had certain thoughts that they had that involved the problems that we were in, and I don't think that... [pauses]. Well, a few of my friends did sign a "no-no," and, and they were still my friends.

SF: So in general, was there much hostility towards either the "yes-yes" people from the "no-no" people, or from the "yes-yes" people to the "no-no" people in Heart Mountain at that time? Or even the resisters?

GH: I don't, I don't remember anything like that. I mean, I think that everybody, nobody bothered anybody about that part of it. I think any problems that arose from that "no-no" question, I think, was later.

SF: What do you mean, "later"?

GH: Say after the service. They didn't go into the service, or, the guys that came back or the guys that lived in the community, they said, "Well, you should have went," or, but then, I think that was an after, hindsight.

SF: Okay.

GH: Because I think a lot of people would have signed the "no-no" had they, had they had any bad experiences or felt themselves that they were unjustly persecuted or anything.

SF: So did you know some of your friends who went to Tule Lake after segregation? Did some of your friends go to Tule?

GH: Yeah, uh-huh. Quite a few people went to Tule Lake on the "no-no," and then it was... I think, I'm not sure, but I think that there were some families that went that were going to be, go back to Japan or be exchanged to, to Japan. And then, of course, some of the "no-nos" went to, if they were draft age, of course, they went to, they had the trial and they went to prison.

SF: So this is jumping ahead a little bit, but did the "yes-yes" people and "no-no" people sort of get together after the war, or were there still a lot of bad, hard feelings between people so that they didn't, their friendships kind of broke up and they went their separate ways?

GH: No, I don't think so. I don't think that they, they... I don't think that they felt like... I really don't know. I don't think that it was that bad. I think it's more of a, was kind of played up, you know?

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.