<Begin Segment 10>

KL: Do you remember, do you have memories of the so-called "loyalty questionnaire" that was distributed in '43?

SS: No. The only thing that I know is we all say, "Well, let's do what they want us to do." I mean, some of the questions was kind of silly, but...

KL: So you did, people did discuss that with each other, you remember conversations?

SS: Yeah. I think there were a few, there were a couple of boys who said "no-no," but the majority went along with it.

KL: Was it tense between people?

SS: Not among people that I knew. My brother volunteered.

KL: Tell me about that. Were there conversations about that, or was it a decision he made independently?

SS: I think there were people who were against the people who said "no-no," they said they have said "no-no." But maybe they were right to say "no," I don't know. But they knew that there were going to be penalties to saying that.

KL: Yeah, you would think...

SS: Yeah.

KL: But you think many of the people who enlisted thought that was not a good decision?

SS: To say no? Yeah.

KL: Which brother was it who volunteered?

SS: The older brother.

KL: Shigeo?

SS: He had bad eyesight, they said, and they didn't want to take him but he said, "Just let me, just let me go, pass." And he got in even though his eyesight was so bad.

KL: Did he get tested, his eyesight was tested in Minidoka?

SS: Huh?

KL: Was his eyesight tested, did he have a physical?

SS: Yeah, they didn't want to take him, but they took, he begged them to take him, so he got in.

KL: He must have been pretty persuasive.

SS: He must have been. [Laughs] When he went overseas, he can't see to shoot. So he was in the area where they prepare the food for the troops. But when the battle was so bad, all the guys were being killed, they even put him up front.

KL: Put your brother...

SS: Yes. It's too bad he's not around, 'cause he could tell a lot about that. He said he was on the truck with fellow soldiers on each side, and when they got bombed, he said, "I have two lives." All the people beside him got killed, but he didn't get killed. So he survived.

KL: Why do you think it was so important to him to be able to volunteer?

SS: You know, I really don't know. But I think some of the guys who volunteered, it was a way of getting out of camp, I think. Maybe some of them thought they would prove something, their loyalty. But I think a lot of them, this was a way of getting out. It's boring staying in camp. That's why when they wanted people to go out to the farms, to pick potatoes or beets, whatever, I went out, too.

KL: You did?

SS: Yes.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.