<Begin Segment 20>

KL: You said you had heroes come into school. Can you tell us some more about who those people were and what kind of reception they got from the kids or the adults, if you know?

IT: Well, they came to our school, we took a picture with them. It, that was it. We figured we were supposed to say, "Yay!" or whatever, and it just seemed funny because here we were in camp, and then it was a Japanese soldier, I mean American, Japanese American, that came in. and I also remember somebody on the radio -- at that time I think maybe we were able to use the radio, I'm not sure -- and about getting shot. He was in the hospital talking over the radio or the something, and he happened to be related to, by marriage, to one of my cousins. I never met him, but it just seemed kind of, a funny thing to do, or a strange thing to do after they put us in the camps.

KL: Do you remember the guy's name who came to your school? It was just one, one man by himself?

IT: One man, I think, earlier, and I don't, I had his name in my mind, but I'm losing it all.

KL: And he was a, he was in planes? You said he shot down, he was involved in shooting down planes.

IT: So many planes in the war, during the war. But they didn't keep too many Japanese Americans in the military.

KL: Yeah, there was a guy named Ben Kuroki --

IT: I think that's it. No... Kuroki...

KL: He was from Nebraska. He's very unusual.

IT: That name, I think that's the one.

KL: And he did go visit the camps, and I don't know if he was in Minidoka or not, but that'd be interesting to look into.

IT: He's, I don't think he was, he was put in there.

KL: Ben Kuroki was from Nebraska.

IT: Yeah, Nebraska they could stay there, because --

KL: He enlisted. He was never in a camp.

IT: It's inland, so they could stay there. But I think that's the name.

KL: Do you have the picture still?

IT: No. Well, did you know that we weren't supposed to have cameras? As little kids, we see, we might see a radio in the house or camera, and then you get scolded because you might be talking about it just without thinking, and we didn't know it was banned. But cameras were banned for a while, I think.

KL: But you saw people who had them?

IT: Yeah. I don't remember -- well, we were so poor, anyway, that we didn't have much of anything. But that's the reason why my mom refused to go back to Seattle. We're used to this life, we'll stay here. I remember she saying that to me, but she must've said it to them, too, and that's why they came after her. But, to me it was without warning, but she must've gotten warning. I don't know. But they took my dad without warning, and threw him in a cell. That's when my mom asked for the writ of habeas corpus, and I said, "How'd you know to ask for that? How do you know?" I don't, she never, I don't remember her answer. But of course, they just threw her in, they cared less. Then my dad, too, they came after him.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.