Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Bob Fuchigami Interview
Narrator: Bob Fuchigami
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Denver, Colorado
Date: May 14, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-fbob-01-0012

<Begin Segment 12>

RP: Let's, let's talk about the, the coming of war between Japan and the United States.

BF: War between the U.S?

RP: Yes. And particularly, do you recall December 7, 1941?

BF: Yeah. I think I was probably the first to, to hear that on the radio. We'd... on Saturday or Sunday -- was it Sunday? We were listening to... I was listening to cartoons, I think, on the radio. And this sort of bulletin came along saying something about the attack on Pearl Harbor or something. I didn't know whether they were talking about... I didn't know where Pearl Harbor was or anything like that. And, but it was, it was important enough to, to tell my, I think, my brother or something that, there was a bombing at Pearl Harbor or something. And he, I think, informed my parents. And that's the first we knew of that. The... and then we, we... there were, there were some things that happened at the, at the school where friends, people who you thought were friends, that they picked it up from their parents I'm sure. Something about "Japs." So, that's when you first became aware of sort of a divide between yourself and, and others. And I don't remember a whole lot between that time and the time we were, we were evacuated. I'm sure my, my brothers and parents probably read the newspapers and could see the handwriting on the wall. But, living out on the farm, you keep, you don't, you don't see a lot of that. There's farms, there's farm things to take care of and you did that. It's only when you started getting out into the larger community that you started running into little incidents.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.