<Begin Segment 17>

RP: Now, after Tule Lake was converted into a segregation center, your, rest of your family was...

TK: Well, my mom's sister that used to live in Fresno, she was in Jerome, and she wanted to go back to Japan. So she came to Tule Lake. My mom says, "Don't go back to Japan, don't." No, she won't listen. So anyway, she got to see her a few days. Then my mom left Tule Lake to go to Jerome, and here they came from Jerome to Tule Lake. And they went, too.

RP: Did they go back to Japan?

TK: Yeah. But the oldest two brothers, they're my age. Oldest one says... I think, I don't know whether he was drafted or not, but he's not gonna go back to Japan. So him and the second one, they stayed in America. They served in the army. All the rest had to go back to Japan 'cause they were minors.

RP: Were you drafted during this time?

TK: [Laughs] They missed me completely.

RP: Yeah, you escaped the radar. Tell us how that happened.

TK: That, I don't know. 'Cause every time I'd follow the orders or whatever, every time I moved, said, "I'll be in Seabrook Farms," "I'll be in camp," from so and so. I'd notify the draft board every place I went. And I don't hear from 'em. Pretty soon, I think the war ended or something. By that time I was married. Then finally, they sent me a 1-A card. Finally they sent me a 1-A card. So I said, "Well, okay." Then right after that, they stopped the draft, they stopped the draft. I said, "Well, okay." Then the Korean War started, so I had to register again. But by that time I was twenty-five, I was married, and they sent me a card, "You're too old." So they missed me completely. I didn't even get a physical, I didn't get... I said, "Oh, well."

KP: Tommy, were you in camp when the "loyalty questionnaire" came around?

TK: Oh, yeah, that was bad. You read it, and you don't know what it says. 'Cause, "Do I vote 'yes-yes,' 'no-no'?" The wording on it is weird. And so one of 'em I put "no," and one of 'em I put "yes." [Laughs] And they let me out of camp. But when I was in Chicago, they called me in the WRA office, said, "Well, we noticed you put 'no-yes.' You want to change it to 'yes-yes'?" And I said, "Yeah, I don't care, just change it." [Laughs] I said, "I didn't know what I was signing.

KP: Was there any discussion in your family or with your friends?

TK: It's up to me, you know. I mean, I'm the one that's getting drafted. But lot of our block, there was a lot of folks, especially the old folks...

RP: "No-no"?

TK: Yeah. Said, man, boy, I don't how they... I went to sign up already, 'cause I didn't want to be bothered. They knew that I already signed up. One of 'em says, "Hey, how come you signed up?" I said, "Well, the government says sign up, and so I signed up." They said, they didn't like it. But we had a meeting every night. Then finally, one guy got up, the younger guys got up and says, "Hey, it's up to the individual. Why have all these meetings? It's up to the individual, so just let it go." After that, no meeting, no nothing. But some of the old folks, they didn't, they wanted to sign "no-no." But funny thing, all the guys that, folks... there were some that got drafted, here I didn't get drafted. [Laughs] I don't know. All those guys all went. Says, "Better sign 'no-no.'"

RP: Kind of want to follow the story of the minister who was sent to Tule Lake, and your family went there, too. And then the minister ended up in Jerome when segregation...

TK: Yeah, I think so. I didn't see him. I usually see him, but where in the heck was he, in Jerome. I went for a visit... I'm sure they went to Jerome, 'cause they ended up in Tule Lake, I mean, Seabrook Farms, yeah.

RP: And that minister ended up marrying you in there.

TK: Yeah. 'Cause I went to visit my folks in Seabrook Farms, and I went to see... well, I used to love Mrs. Sasaki, see. And every time I go, she always makes me waffles. So I'd go, "Here I am," go in there. Then when we decided to get married, I said, well, since she was so young, I asked the reverend, "Can you write a letter to her dad saying we want to get married, and can I have a permission?" He said, "Okay," so he wrote, and next thing you knew, she was back in Chicago. I met her in Chicago, and we went back to Seabrook Farms, got married over there, then we went back to Chicago. [Laughs] Yeah. So then he died, I guess before we came back to California, I guess. But we kept in touch with the family. And every year, I used to go down to L.A., I used to drop in and we used to have dinner and all that. Then finally, she passed away with cancer. A few years back, the eldest daughter, she was one class ahead of me, she died of stomach cancer. But the rest of the family, all the younger brothers, he was in Chicago, New York, but he died. So the rest of the family is in L.A. We keep in touch, I mean, I call them and they call back. Just like a second family.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.