Densho Digital Archive - Lily Kajiwara Interview (denshovh-klily-01-0016)

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RP: One more question going back to Minidoka, Lily. Do you remember a gentleman, he was, I think Sergeant Ben Kuroki? He was a very special individual, he had never gone to camp before, he was raised in Nebraska. He had these special experiences in a B-24 crew, and he was brought in to Heart Mountain and Minidoka, I think, as kind of an effort to recruit young Niseis into the military service, and there was some controversy about his visits to the camp. Do you remember seeing them or hearing about that?

LK: I do not. I do know that, I've read that he came into Minidoka. I don't remember... I didn't go to see him. I don't remember my brothers who were, they were not military age, but they were young men, I don't think they went to see him. I don't remember anybody talking about it, but I know who you mean, because I've read about it. But I have no idea, I didn't go to see him. Although a lot of military people came to camp. Camp Savage where the young men were training to be interpreters, many of them got their furloughs, they would come to visit their families. Or a lot of the soldiers from Hawaii who were stationed at Camp Savage would come to Minidoka to visit. And so we would see military people in camp, in fact, they used to come to the dances. But I have no recollection of meeting or hearing about Ben Kuroki in camp.

RP: The other question relates the "loyalty questionnaire" which was, in some of the camps, very divisive in dividing families and the whole camp. And so you were about nineteen or twenty when you went to Minidoka, so you had to answer that questionnaire.

LK: We had no discussion in our family about it, we just, automatically just, father, mother, everyone just said "yes." It didn't seem to be a problem in our family.

RP: Do you remember it being a problem for other families?

LK: I do remember that they had meetings in the mess halls. People came around, but my dad never came and said, "Let's talk about it," or anything. It was not discussed in our family that I remember. And it was not... even my brothers, I don't know if they even thought about it. We just answered "yes," I think. [Laughs]