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KP: And one of the questions kind of tied into that, World War II, I think was horrendous for all the soldiers that fought in it. Do you see a role between the 442nd and the 100th Battalion and the rest of the American fighting forces, do you think that that might have opened some of those doors because the recognition of, these are fellow Americans fighting from the rest of the returning soldiers that would have helped accept, increase the acceptance?

JW: I think so because after World War II, my father met a fellow who was, who was from the First Marine Division and he actually fought against the Japanese. And he, they had heard about the exploits of the 442nd. And he shook my father's hand. He says, You don't have to like a person but at least you can respect them." And for somebody who fought against the Japanese, that's not an easy thing to, to say. But my father said that he actually shook his hand. He introduced himself and he was from the First Marine Division. And so I think that respect is something that you need. Issei worked here many, many years. They didn't get any respect. But when you die for country, the other soldiers can respect the sacrifice of the veterans. Because they all died together, whether you were Asian, Hispanic, Black, or Caucasian. And I think it did make a huge difference because my father wouldn't expect a First Marine soldier to say that. He shook his hand and he, and he said there, he had heard that they had done great things. And that's not easy to do. And I believe that. You can't buy respect. People think you can buy respect and I said, no.

When you go to the cemeteries, in fact, I was just at a Memorial Day service for the men that are buried in Evergreen Cemetery because, see, they couldn't be buried in other cemeteries. So I put flowers for all the F Company people that were killed in action and wouldn't be buried in other cemeteries. And I realized when I was putting the flowers on those graves, I realized that it's kind of sad. Because each family has a same story to say. They couldn't be buried in other places and I thought, well, how sad. But at least we remember that and I thought to myself, well, one, one of the people is Kiyoshi Muranagi, he's a Medal of Honor winner and at least he's buried in Evergreen. But they're all, there's four MOH people there and because they couldn't be buried other places. And I think that says something about what we as Americans try to hide.

And I was born and raised in West Los Angeles. I went to Venice High School, just like my father did, just like my aunties did, and they never said anything about Japanese American internment camps or anything, World War II stories. You know, I only learned this because it was from the community. But I never, I think now they have something in the curriculum. But before that there's nothing on internment camps. I mean, people don't know. In fact I want to just, really one little story. I was in the Nisei Week parade several years ago and a teacher from Illinois couldn't believe that Japanese Americans could be in internment camp but you could be in the army fighting for America at the same time. And Yukiguchi was a combat medic for F Company, assigned to F Company, and his parents were in Manzanar also, told that teacher that yes, we were. And if you wanted to learn more you can look at these different websites or go to the Japanese American National Museum. But the fellow was in his middle thirties and he couldn't believe that people could be interned and yet fight for America at the same time. And Yukiguchi said, yes. And I think that many people are unaware. And I think it's, it's unfortunate. So I like the idea that people can at least, they go to Manzanar interpretive center or look online, they can find things and I don't think it's a story because there's too many things that occurred. I think the order itself to intern the people is good enough, you know.

And, in fact, one last thing I wanted to mention that when Yukiguchi was asked to go up to the camp and make a little talk at Manzanar interpretive center, and so he was talking to people there. And he explained things about seeing his parents in the internment camp. They owned a sixty-acre farm in Mint Canyon, which they lost. They had storage facilities in Burbank which were burned down after the war, or during the war. And he told those people that he didn't go to school after the war ended because his father was reduced to poverty. And he felt so sad that he went to work for Standard Brands as a truck driver and he worked 'til the age of seventy-three because he said it was so sad for him to see how poor their family became. See, many of the veterans worked six, seven days a week to recoup all these losses. And they didn't say anything because they felt so ashamed at their family living like, or destitute. So Yukiguchi said that he did that for many years. 'Cause he said that it wasn't acceptable for him because they were very prosperous farmers before the war and to be living like this, you know, his father being reduced to being like a, like a, a farm worker. And he said it hurt him so badly. Now that tape is actually in your interpretive center, and I believe that when you see that, it makes you feel sad. And when we were going back to Lone Pine, this lady was in a, worked in a restaurant or maybe her parents owned the restaurant, she was, she was so sad. She didn't know there were 10,000 people in Manzanar. She didn't know. She was born and raised in Lone Pine. And her parents told her, "Don't go to that area." And so she felt so ashamed because she didn't know. She was actually at that talk that Yukiguchi gave. And all we could say was that, what can you say? But she felt so sad. I, it's kind of hard to imagine but her parents told her don't go over there, and so she didn't. And that kind of thing. So it's, it's kind of a touching story.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.