<Begin Segment 8>

SS: When we got down to Manzanar, we had people from all over and then from Southern California, even today you'll find a difference between Southern California and Northern Californians and it really stood out and I thought, wow, Japanese are different depending on where they come from and so that was part of my education, learning. The other thing that... the one thing you probably know about the so-called riot on December 8, 1942, and that was my first experience, or shall we say, direct observation of confrontational violence. And it was... since then, I think to this day, I do not believe in any kind of demonstrations or confrontational things. It was stupid. Well, I think the reason it impacted on me is that of the, what was it, eleven people that were shot, two came from my barracks, one next door, and they just happened to be there, they weren't part of the demonstration or anything else. They were just bystanders and they're out of curiosity, they happened to be there and they just... and of course, two men were killed or died as a result of that, and all because of some idiot (making) some allegations of wrongdoing by camp administrators, and it's totally false as far as I can tell. And again, since then, because my having spent a number of years in Japan and the Far East, that the ringleaders of that, instigators of that were (educated) in the 1920s in Japan and the labor movement there and the Marxist (influence). And I saw it, and at the time I didn't know what, but since my study of insurgencies, subversion and so forth, it's that mentality, and it always bothers me when I see these people getting people to rabble rouse and so forth. And to this day I just don't believe in it and whenever I see it I say, okay, here we go, forget it.

RP: Do you recall the names of the two men from your barrack that were wounded?

SS: Yes, there's Tom Hatanaka and Charlie (...)... I don't remember his last name, he was the one that lived next to ours. I think I was Sekihara, I think you'll find it on the list there. And they're in Block 27, 8, and they were in the same block, they were in the same building.

RP: You weren't directly involved with the riot.

SS: No, I wasn't there.

RP: But how did the aftermath or the fallout from the riot affect you? You just mentioned one of those experiences.

SS: Well, that caused the emergence of, quote, what I would consider "anti-American attitudes" and so forth. And that put me on the other side of the fence, so to speak, in my block. And as a consequence, I felt like a persona non grata within my own block. But shortly after that, that's when I started working in the hospital so I sort of got away from it. The Block 26 mess hall was right across the firebreak and so the few meals I ate at the mess hall, I'd go to 26 and I never did go back to Block 27 mess hall. Years later my mother thought I'd get killed. [Laughs] But that never bothered me but I just... then I started in January '43, I started working in the hospital so all my spare time I spent at the hospital either working or just being at the hospital. And the hospital was a good deal for me too because that gave me a place to do my homework, you know, lights on.

RP: So there were no physical or verbal confrontations?

SS: No, just verbal ones, sort of the attitude, but I'm not sure how you'd characterize it but that's the one thing that I recall my father telling me. He said, "Whatever happens, remember you're an American," I had no other country, see. And I think my life has sort of demonstrated that.

RP: How did you get involved working at the hospital, Jim?

SS: Well, again, that's a direct linkage to the December riot because there were two people from my barrack were over there hospitalized, we went up to see them and that was my first introduction to the hospital. And then we visited them, but I also at that time was starting to think of my future, I thought I wanted to become a doctor. And I figured, well, so that gave me incentive, and on top of that, you know, what is there to do? Going to school and so forth. It would give me an outlet and so when I went up and talked to Miss Wetzel, and badgered her into giving me a job part-time.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.