<Begin Segment 16>

RP: What do you recall about December 7, 1941? Where were you? What were you doing?

TI: What was that date?

RP: December...

TI: Oh, December 7th? December 7th, '41... I guess I must have been at the store.

RP: Do you remember a football game you were attending that day?

TI: Football game? Was there a football game that day?

RP: Uh-huh.

TI: I don't recall.

RP: Well, you got, you shared this story about going out to a football game with a friend and you heard about the news during the game.

TI: Oh, yeah, yeah. We went to some semi-pro football game. I think this was in San Pedro. And we heard about the... uh-huh. And we couldn't, I had the car. We couldn't get on the car ferry to come back to Terminal Island. So we had to go, I think that's the Ford Bridge, all the way over there and get across. Or was it the other way around? We couldn't, they wouldn't let us on the Ford Bridge so we had to come to the ferry I guess. I guess that's what it was. Yeah, they had soldiers there. They wouldn't let anybody on, no cars. So we had to turn around and go to the ferry.

RP: And you had a bit of a difficult time trying to get back to the island with your vehicle.

TI: Yeah, but I guess that's common under that circumstances.

RP: So you came back, you finally got back on the island, I think you said, somewhere around midnight?

TI: Yeah.

RP: And you saw a few cars...

TI: Oh, I take it back. I got out, we came, I came back to San Pedro trying to get on the ferry but they wouldn't take me on the ferry. That's right. So I had to go park my car in a private garage and I thought the best thing for me to do was to go to the city hall, right there close to the ferry landing and when I got there I talked to a couple of I think they were FBI agents. And they escorted me from the city hall to the ferry landing. They put me aboard the ferry. I guess they must have talked to somebody that, "He's okay." So, I got, yeah, I got on the ferry and got home. It was about midnight. And walking home it was quiet and when I got close to my store I saw a couple of cars parked in front of the store, which is unusual because like I told you, very few of us owned a car. But there was this two cars I think there and when I got into my living quarters my father was puttin' an overcoat on. And it was the FBI agent picking him up. If I had been say five or ten minutes later, why, I would have missed him altogether.

RP: Did he have anything to say to you before they took him away?

TI: Well, he said, "This might be a long war so just take care of yourself." That was it.

RP: Can you remember your state of mind when you saw your dad?

TI: No, I didn't think too much about it. Just that he was leaving us. I never knew how long it'd be or what the condition would be after that, but he just said, "Well, it might be a long war, just take care of yourself." That was it.

RP: And why do you think the FBI picked him up?

TI: Well, like we were talking about previously, he was involved with a lot of different organizations on the island. And not as a officer but as a member, and they knew about his army status, you know, in Japan. So I think that was the main reason he was picked up.

RP: And then just shortly after that, most of the fishermen were also taken away.

TI: Oh yeah, uh-huh, yeah.

RP: Do you remember seeing people just taken away or just leaving?

TI: Yeah, I may have seen it, seen some people, but I just stuck close to home, you know, after that, and...

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.