<Begin Segment 15>

RM: So maybe tell me a little bit about why your family moved from Block 16 to Block 23.

GO: Block 16 was a lot of North Hollywood people that was a "no-no," so they all went to Tule Lake.

RM: Oh. How many people in Block 16 said "no" to the loyalty...

GO: Well, I guess there was quite a few, because we moved, who was left was moved to Block 23. So I guess that was, there weren't too many people in 16 so they moved them to 23, and then they made Block 16 into a school.

RM: That's interesting, George. I didn't realize that the reason they selected 16 for the elementary school was because it had emptied out after the "loyalty questionnaire."

GO: Yeah, the "no-nos" moved out.

RM: That's interesting.

GO: "No-no" moved out and then so who was left was moved to 23.

RM: So do you remember, you would have been over seventeen. Do you remember answering the "loyalty questionnaire"?

GO: Geez, I don't know if they... when I turned eighteen I think they called me, or I had to get my card, draft card. Because I was seventeen when I went in, and at the end of the year I got to be eighteen, so I probably got draft notice beginning of the next, following year. I don't know how, but I still got those cards.

RM: Oh, you have your draft card.

GO: Yeah.

RM: Do you remember the army registration that the army asked all of the Nisei men to fill out? Do you remember doing that? It would have been in February of 1943.

GO: I don't remember, maybe I did.

RM: Do you know, your parents, do you remember them talking about the "loyalty questionnaire"?

GO: No, they don't talk about that part too much.

RM: I'm guessing they both answered "yes-yes."

GO: And like my parents going to camp was something like a vacation, because they were working hard before the war, in the farm. And when they went to camp, they didn't have to worry about food for the farm, so they were just relaxed, so they just didn't have to worry about nothing.

RM: Do you think that was the first time in their lives that they'd ever been able to...

GO: Yeah, they didn't have to worry about anything. Because they get fed and they got a place to sleep.

RM: Do you remember the kinds of things that they did in their spare time?

GO: Yeah, they worked in the kitchen.

RM: And did they ever... when they weren't working in the kitchen, do you remember the kinds of things that they did?

GO: No, they just talked with their friends.

RM: What about your siblings? What kind of jobs did they have?

GO: They had a pretty good job, like Grace was a pharmacist, she's still working part-time. Dorothy is, she says, "I'm retired," so she's not working.

RM: Oh, your daughters, yeah. Well, they worked pretty hard during the Manzanar reunion. So I guess does anyone else... oh, I have one more question about camp, and I guess that would be if you remember one of the things that preceded the "loyalty questionnaire" which would have been the Manzanar riot. Do you have a memory of the night of December 6, 1942?

GO: The riot, they claimed that was a riot? I don't think it was a riot. I was there, right there. People were marching around and singing. And next thing I know, they started the tear gas coming, so I ran, that was it. I was running away, and I don't know what happened. But they weren't doing anything, they were just walking around in a circle and singing. I don't know what kind of song they were singing. And then I saw the tear gas coming so I took off, that was it. I don't remember nothing else.

RM: Where was this?

GO: At the front.

RM: And why were you up there?

GO: Well, there was, we knew there was something going on up there, so we went out there to see what was going on. You know, you're young, you go out there, and anything happening, you go out there, you're curious to know what's going on.

RM: Were you with your friends?

GO: Yeah, I think I was with my friend.

RM: Do you remember what happened after the riot? Or I think it's right not to call it a riot. After that event, do you remember what the camp was like?

GO: I didn't think it was anything different. Everything was back to normal.

RM: Did you continue working in the mess hall?

GO: Yeah. Everybody was working just like another day. I don't know actually what's going on at the station, police station.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.