Densho Digital Archive - Joe Seto Interview (denshovh-sjoe

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EB: So you went to Tule Lake and you went to harvest sugar beets in Montana.

JS: Yes. And then in January of '43, I finally got my release from the Western Defense Command, and part of the application required that I have a job. And my brother who I mentioned earlier, he went to the University of Michigan but then he couldn't enroll, so then he went to Minneapolis hoping to get into the University of Minnesota and he encountered the same problem. So he got a job as a busboy at a restaurant. So he got me a job as a busboy together with my brother Hugh. So in January of '43, went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and worked as a busboy.

EB: And how long were you in Minneapolis?

JS: I was in Minneapolis until I was drafted into the army in 1945.

EB: Okay. And so what was life like in Minneapolis?

JS: Oh, here I was an eighteen-year-old, never been away from home, I had to support myself completely, and low-paying jobs, as a busboy, I got twelve dollars a week, plus two meals. And I had to pay my room rent and all my expenses. And then I realized I wasn't accomplishing much, so while working as a busboy, I attended Central High School as a special student, and I took academic courses which I should have taken when I was in high school because I was so involved in athletics as a high school student in Tacoma. And so I took math and physics, and I got a better job and I enrolled at Augsburg College, a Lutheran college, because the university would not allow me to enroll. And the church colleges were very receptive and helpful. So then I would participate in sports at the college, and the people were very sympathetic and helpful. And then the University of Minnesota changed their policy whereby I was required to go through an FBI investigation for over two hours in order to qualify to attend the university. So I had this two-hour investigation. And over the years, I've been trying to get my FBI file. And the first was about maybe six or eight years ago when I was back in Washington, D.C., I visited the, I went to the FBI and they told me I had to fill out the paperwork, and they said they can't find it. I don't have an FBI file. And last year I got another letter from them saying that the FBI files are destroyed under chapter so-and-so or statute so-and-so. So I appealed that, and I still haven't had, received an answer.

EB: Wow. So what was that FBI investigation like?

JS: They asked about every detail of my life and my entire family. And they weren't very polite.

EB: Was it just one officer or two?

JS: One FBI officer and a second recorder. In those days they didn't have tape recorders, it was taken by shorthand.

EB: And so did you pass? Or what happened after that?

JS: Well, by that time I was drafted into the army. And then when I got out of the army, by then, the university would accept Japanese.

EB: So when were you drafted?

JS: In 1945, the last year of the war. So then I was required to go to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis and then they sent me to basic training in Camp Fanin, Texas. And before we were able to finish, well into basic training, the war ended. That was August. Then after that they sent all the Japanese to Fort Snelling in Minneapolis to go through the Military Intelligence School, I think, you know, what we refer to as the MIS. But my Japanese was not proficient enough, so I was relegated to an administrative job. I worked as a, I was assigned as a company clerk. So we just ran the office for all of the students who attended classes. And then we moved the camp to Presidio Monterey, California, which is wonderful, Monterey, California.

EB: I happened to be in that area last week. So how did you feel about being drafted while your family was still interned, I guess?

JS: Five of us boys were in the army.

EB: How did you feel about that?

JS: I wanted to be in the army.

EB: You did? Okay.

JS: My oldest brother was one of the first draftees, one or two years before the war started.

EB: So tell me a little bit about your other brothers who you mentioned were drafted. What...

JS: Two of them served as interpreters there in the MIS.

EB: Where were they stationed?

JS: In the Philippines, and one was in India-Burma during the war. Well, he was in earlier, so he, I think then he was discharged from there. My third brother, Matthew, he served in Fukui, Japan, in the occupation forces. And he was able to visit our relatives in Japan while he was in the service. And then my oldest brother, he was the chief accountant at Camp Crowder, so he wasn't sent overseas. And then my youngest brother was, he was also at Fort Snelling, but his Japanese was not proficient enough. I know one of his duties was he was a lifeguard, plus a supply sergeant.

EB: And in the meantime, your parents and sister were still interned.

JS: You're well aware of the segregation of the camps, those who said they were loyal or they're disloyal, and they were, the loyal ones, they were sent to Minidoka. And while they were in Minidoka, my father then got a job at Pacific Fruit in Boise, Idaho. So my mother would visit him and my mother stayed in camp with my sister, and they would, weekends visit my father. And then at the first opportunity to return to Tacoma, my father returned first. And after he was able to reoccupy our family home, then my mother and sister then returned to Tacoma.

EB: From Minidoka?

JS: Yes. He was one of the first to return to Tacoma. And what he did was -- this is something I just found out on July 4th when I was in Seattle. And my older brother, Matthew, he showed me a document saying that my father had opened the hostel at the church, so the people who were returning, they didn't have any place to stay, so they made the best they could and they slept at the church until they could find their permanent residence. So my father did that until he was able to reoccupy the family home.

EB: And when was it that your, they transferred from Tule Lake to Minidoka?

JS: You have to tell me because I don't remember. I was out east when the segregation --

EB: I think the "loyalty questionnaire" came out in '43.

JS: '43?

EB: I'm pretty sure it's '43, yeah. I'll have to look. [Laughs] I have to check on that. I'm just curious.

JS: I think someone of your interviewees should know.

EB: Yeah. I can look it up when I get back to the office, I can figure out after what time they might have arrived. And we have copies of the camp rosters. I know you've been to Manzanar, and we have a copy of the camp roster, and we have, from the National Archives, microfilm copies for the other camps. And probably if I look in there, I'll find a listing for your...

JS: So I don't know if because, from the Japanese National American museum, on their website, had copies of the, our family about camp files they have, very abbreviated form. So in that, maybe.

EB: It probably tells you.

JS: I have copies at home. When I was back in Washington, several trips, I went to the Archives and got those records.

EB: Okay. Let's see... so do you know, you said your parents were loyal, and do you know much about how they answered the "loyalty questionnaire," how they decided to answer?

JS: Well, they, I think it's a "yes-yes," so they were "yes-yes." So basically my parents and my sister spent their entire time in camp, whereas the boys, we all gravitated to Minneapolis.

EB: Okay. So... I'm trying to think where we left off and what we jumped back to.

JS: You were asking about when did my parents go from Tule Lake to Minidoka.

EB: Minidoka, uh-huh.

JS: And then we, prior to that, we mentioned about when our family returned to Tacoma and then also my experience reentering the university and my FBI files and so forth.