<Begin Segment 16>

RP: John, you spent a lot of time out of camp.

JT: Yeah.

RP: So did you, were you issued a pass to go outside?

JT: Yeah. We were given a pass but that, that pass that we had is so temporary. I mean, some of the guys, they take it away from us and then we, then we go home. We, we don't go to work.

KP: Some of the guys? What, what guys would take away?

JT: Oh, oh, my crew. Yeah, we had some talkative guys that always say the wrong things to the soldiers.

RP: I was gonna ask you if, what kind of encounters you had with the, the soldiers, coming or going?

JT: As far as our crew was concerned, we didn't have too much trouble. But they point the gun at us and, and from the patrol tower they, they tell us to halt and put your hands up and... but, I never thought they were gonna shoot us until that incident they had. Then I really got kind of scared.

KP: What incident was that? Could you describe that for us?

JT: Well, the only thing that I know, I mean, I didn't see the actual shooting. We were there right after the shooting.

KP: And you were coming back into the camp?

JT: Yeah, yeah, see, these fellows that were... at that time the railroad was across the street. They have to go out there to unload the, they were unloading lumber and they take it into the camp. And they were going back and forth. And one of those trips the security guard just stopped them and told 'em to get out of the truck. So the guy got out of the truck and then when they, as soon as he got out of the truck I heard he was just shot right there. Then when we came by, all we saw is the blood over there. No, nobody was there but we saw the blood and I said, "Holy cow. Now what are they doing?" They don't want, yeah, (...) the truck driver was, name was Okamoto. We, the reason I remember Okamoto is that his brother, younger brother, was a friend of my cousin. So, so he was telling us how he got shot. And I guess evidently they didn't pick him up right away because the, he lost so much blood when they took him to the hospital they couldn't get enough blood to him.

KP: Did you ever, did you ever hear why? There was no reason?

JT: Yeah, I heard it was no reason. It was just, he was told to come out of the truck. So he came out of the truck and they just, guy shot him. Yeah, that's the only thing. Yeah, and I didn't see it or, so, but I saw that blood down on the, the whole blood.

KP: So after that you...

JT: Yeah, we were very careful. We were, I mean, I told 'em my crew to just stay in the truck, just wait. Yeah.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.