<Begin Segment 16>

KL: What happened after the... well, I guess first of all, in school and in the community among other people, did treatment of you or your family change after the attack?

AO: Remember I said Squeaky was my best friend? She turned on me. I mean, she just didn't know me. That hurt, and... but Catherine Caillau was my partner in chemistry to do a project. She was right there for me, and wrote to me in camp.

KL: Did you have conversations with her about the attack or about what was going on with your family?

AO: Well, we were, I was flabbergasted as they were, so we were all together and surprised. But Catherine finished our project, and we got an A due to her work.

KL: Did Squeaky say anything to you?

AO: Well, since the war, I've seen her. We had our class reunion, and I went, and you'd think nothing had happened.

KL: She never acknowledged it?

AO: No.

KL: At the time, did she say anything to you or did she just start ignoring you?

AO: She just... yeah, she just ignored me; she turned her back. Well, I didn't push her, say anything to her about it because the anti-Japanese feeling was quite rampant among a lot of people. But our immediate neighbor, the Riandas, were very kind.

KL: What do you think was -- oh, do we need to stop?

AL: No, I just wanted to ask a quick question. Could you spell Catherine's last name and then the name of the neighbors that you just said?

KL: I thought you were going to ask me and I can't remember. I think it's --

AL: Or just pronounce it again?

AO: It's French, so C-A-I-L-L-A-U, I think it was.

AL: Okay. It that Catherine with a K or a C?

AO: C.

AL: C, okay. And the neighbors you were just talking about?

AO: The Riandas, R-I-A-N-D-A.

AL: Thank you.

AO: Leland Rianda was the same years as I, and we compared grades always. "Did you get a hundred on that test?" "Yes, I did." [Laughs]

KL: What do you think was responsible for the differences in people's reactions?

AO: Probably however way their parents thought of the situation, or whoever had any influence, or some people deliberately, who probably didn't care for the Japanese.

KL: Had you been to Squeaky's home? Did you know her parents?

AO: No, I did not. That was a Portuguese family, and so I don't know if, you know, some nations more than others were probably...

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.