<Begin Segment 23>

KL: So then after that event in December of 1942, the government came out with this, what people started calling the "loyalty questionnaire." What do you recall of that, of how people responded to that questionnaire?

HF: Some people said "yes-no," and I said "yes-yes." Because it didn't bother me that... but then my husband said, "yes-no," so then they wouldn't let him, they wouldn't release him. That's why we had to stay in camp so long.

KL: I see.

HF: WE couldn't leave anyway.

KL: Did you and your husband talk to each other about how to answer the questionnaire, or was it an individual decision?

HF: It's an individual decision. I don't know what year that happened.

KL: It was '43.

HF: '43?

KL: Uh-huh, midway through.

HF: Probably before we got married.

KL: Probably, yeah, I think it was in the summer. It could have been right around there.

HF: Yeah, it could have been.

KL: Because you were married in August, early August. What about your parents? What were your parents' reactions to being asked to complete that survey?

HF: They really didn't say too much. I think they figure, well, whatever will be will be type.

KL: Were they able to be in touch with their family in Japan at all while you were in Manzanar?

HF: No.

KL: How did that affect them, or do you know?

HF: They didn't talk about it, so I don't know. I'm sure they talked about it among all the Issei, but they didn't talk to us about it. My mother went back in 1957 after my father passed away. She had remarried, and then she went back, and then she died in Japan.

KL: Back in Manzanar when people were deciding to volunteer or were drafted into the military, did Fred ever have conversation with people who decided to join the military or who joined it? What was his thinking about that?

HF: He must have, but he didn't say anything. He wasn't thinking about volunteering. In fact, most of the people say, "Why should I volunteer? They put in this stinking camp and they want us to volunteer?"

KL: You think that was... that was the predominate attitude?

HF: That's the predominant, uh-huh.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.