Densho Digital Archive - Joe Seto Interview (denshovh-sjoe

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EB: You mentioned some involvement that you had with the different projects. Did you have any involvement in attaining redress? Like did you attend any rallies or donate money or go to any hearings?

JS: That's the only, I donated money. One of my good friends was the, he was one of the commission members.

EB: And what was his name?

JS: Bill Marutani. Do you know the name?

EB: I've heard the name.

JS: He was in Pinedale, that's where I first met him, and Tule Lake. Then I met him again in Fort Snelling because he became an officer. After his army days he attended the University of Chicago law school, and he was a prominent attorney in Philadelphia, and he was a judge there. He was active in the JACL. So I've seen him, the last time was at my oldest brother's eightieth birthday celebration in New York, and he was there the last time I saw him. One or two years after that, he passed away, unfortunately. So I kept in close contact with the redress movement. But you're doing a fine job in Manzanar.

EB: Thank you. I've got one last question for you. If you were giving advice to young people today, and I know you do through your PowerPoint presentations, what would you tell them about life in general based on your experiences?

JS: One year, one of the high school students asked me what are my thoughts about the atomic bomb, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? And my response was, as an army person during World War II, war is war. So whatever happens, that's the consequence of the war. And the other question that I recall, one student asked how many years was it that I didn't see my parents. Because I left the concentration camp to go do sugar beets, completely on my own, I had to support myself from thereon. And my first visit to see my parents was when I was in the army, I got a furlough in December of 1946. So I didn't see them from 1942 to 1946, never saw my parents. So there are these rather touching questions the students would ask.

EB: It's a really good question. Wish I'd thought of it. [Laughs]

JS: So I think the question that they're most concerned about is how I was able to support myself as an eighteen year old.

EB: Yeah, that took a lot of work.