<Begin Segment 22>

RP: Victor, you were sharing some of your recollections about December 7th, and the changes in your life that occurred as a result of it. You mentioned about the curfew and there were prohibited areas that you were not allowed to go. What was your overall feeling about --

VI: And one of the things that I recall was, you know, Monday, we went to school, and all of a sudden it's a very strange feeling, that people you knew or people around you, we never used to think about it, but now, all of a sudden, you're feeling as if things are a little different, and they were, you know. So it was kind of a funny feeling, going back to school and talking about it, or reading about what was happening.

RP: Were there any students that came up to you and offered, or voiced their support?

VI: Yeah, some of them, they came. Mostly, mostly when they found out that we were gonna be evacuated, you know, they couldn't understand why, since they remember growing up with us or going to school with us.

RP: Why you?

VI: Yeah, uh-huh.

RP: Did your teachers discuss the situation?

VI: No, the teachers, my teachers, were very noncommittal about talking about it. And of course, when you're at a, a high school where, say, thirty percent are Japanese ancestries, it's, it's a little odd, you know. I could imagine how odd it was when we got evacuated, when a third of the -- one day, they're gone. You look around, and there's four, four of you left in the class, the rest are gone, type of a thing. I can imagine Bailey Gatzert, you know.

RP: It's interesting you bring that up because I recall seeing a picture yesterday of a classroom at the school after, after...

VI: Kids left?

RP: ...evacuated. It was just almost deserted, I think there was four or five students in the class. 'Cause you mentioned it was almost, what, eighty percent...

VI: Right, uh-huh.

RP: So it had a huge impact on, you know, a number of institutions, particularly in schools.

VI: And the thing that I think bothered me was some of the Chinese -- I don't blame 'em -- started wearing pins around saying, "I'm Chinese."

RP: Chinese students as well?

VI: Well, not as much students, but I used to see sign, the pins on them, you know.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2007 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.