Densho Digital Archive - John Tomita Interview (denshovh-tjohn

<Begin Segment 17>

KP: So let's, let's go back a little bit. You're in Tule Lake when the "loyalty questionnaire" came around.

JT: Oh, yeah.

KP: How did that go down or what do you remember about that?

JT: Well, before the "loyalty question," the, they sent a, a, some soldier, Japanese American soldier into camp. They, they were recruiting for military language school. And, so they, we were, I was at that time I was ready to go. I was gettin' tired of staying in camp. And, but I went to, I'm still remembering, Lieutenant Hirano. He gave us a little test to see how much Japanese we know. And then he started calling them up. I got called so I went to interview. He thought, he felt that I know enough Japanese to go to intelligence school. So that last question he says, "Did you ask your parents for approval?" And I said, "No." And he said, "Well, I need your parents' approval." So, well, my dad was definitely against it. Yeah, he wouldn't... so, I had a big argument with him but anyway. That was, I never, so I never went back. And then...

KP: So, why was your father so opposed? Do you remember the argument?

JT: Well, he claimed that I'm the oldest and that I should at least look after my younger sister and brothers. And then he felt that the war was not gonna last long. Yeah, so, during in the segregation, we didn't even go to another camp. We, we just stayed. And then, he always felt that, yeah... and my father was a man of few words. But when he speaks, he's a really fiery guy.

[Interruption]

KP: This is tape three of a continuing interview with John Tomita and today is July 21, 2009. I forgot to put that on the beginning of the tape so someone's gonna have to dig through all the tapes to find the, the date. We were just talking about Tule Lake. And we were talking about the "loyalty questionnaire." And you said first what happened is that they came through drafting for the MIS and your father, you were interested but your father said no.

JT: Yeah.

KP: But then the "loyalty questionnaire" came around. And, do you remember that?

JT: Yeah. Yes, most of the, I mean as far as... my father, on the loyalty thing, my father never said one word. I mean, he, he didn't say anything. It was up to me to decide. So I said well, okay, I won't fight but I'll support United States. I said one of the questions was will you fight and the second question was will you take arms. And so I still remember. I said I won't take arms but I will support the United States. So I was what they called, "no-yes." Not a "no-no" or "yes-yes." I was a "no-yes." And I felt comfortable that way so that's the way I stood. A lot of the kids, some of the kids came over to talk to me. And I said, "It's up to you, but, whatever you feel." But, they were forced by their parent to sign "no-no." Yeah, they were mostly young kids. I say they're just above teenager. I mean, yeah, so I felt sorry for them. And, well, at that time it, it, that was after segregation, so it was sort of a rough time. That, a lot of 'em that came in from other camp, they called it the Wassho gumi and they get up early in the morning and holler around the block and...

KP: So you, you answered "no-yes."

JT: Yeah.

KP: No that you wouldn't fight. Why did you select no you wouldn't fight? What were you, what was your thinking at that time?

JT: Well, I felt that I didn't want to shoot anybody. I didn't want to shoot the Japanese soldiers. I didn't want to... to me, I guess I'm, I'm against war. To me, war was not the right way to do things. I mean I, there must be, before killing anybody, there must be a better way than the killing. And I always felt that I'll support the law but I won't take arms. I had a very strong feeling about that. Yeah, so, signing "no-yes" was, it didn't bother me. I mean, I felt good inside.