<Begin Segment 12>

KL: Were you still in Manzanar when the so-called "loyalty questionnaire" was distributed?

MT: Yes.

KL: What are your recollections of that time?

MT: I think they expected that you would sign it, loyalty to the United States, and we did check the boxes.

MJT: It was sort of a...

MT: Kind of a strange time.

MJT: ...sort of a stupid questionnaire if you want me to be honest, because you could say yes to anything you wanted to say or no to anything you wanted to say, and that's what they were, yes and no. "Will you be loyal to the U.S.A.?" "Yes." Or you say, "No, no." And it had no relevance at all as to how you really had a feeling about being confronted and talking about what it is they wanted. And there were people angry enough to say no to all those, and they were shipped out, they were taken to Tule Lake. So the questionnaire really, as far as I was concerned or as far as many people, was of really no real value as far as trying to find the truth.

KL: And you said it was a strange time?

MT: It was. People didn't know really the purpose behind whether they were trying to trick us.

MJT: But I guess one would be that there were just enough people on the edge that were mad enough of this whole thing to just check that off, and that was one way of weeding them out. But it did not sound like a very valuable form of information.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.