<Begin Segment 21>

AC: In Tule Lake was this place were opened to the "no-nos," people answered "no" to questions 27 and 28 were sent, and you know, I guess generally we call that the "loyalty oath." What was the general feeling amongst the Issei and the Nisei about when this "loyalty oath" first came out?

MH: Okay. I might say this is not only Tule Lake. Every camp had these two questions. And when the two questions came up, I just thought, "What is the government trying to prove when they've already put us in camp? We're all put in there. What are they trying to prove?" And I think maybe they did that because they wanted the boys to volunteer to go into the army. And so like, it was really hard because, like I say, the Isseis could not receive citizenship. We were put into camp. The boys would say, "Well, why should I go when my family has to stay here?" You know, there was a lot of controversy, lot of controversy. And after all that happened, I'm surprised how many fellows volunteered to go. And of course like my family, I had two brothers already, so there was no question how my dad was going to answer that or we were going to answer that.

AC: But your brother was still drafted. He didn't volunteer. He was drafted.

MH: My older brother was drafted. My brother above me was volunteered.

AC: Right.

MH: So there's two different statuses in the army, I mean, in the service.

AC: There's the army of the United States and there's the United States Army, and how did your brothers feel about that distinction?

MH: About the what?

AC: You said the two different armies; one is the enlisted, people you drafted, and one is when you volunteer.

MH: Well, the one that was drafted, you can't help it. He had to go. The one who volunteered, I don't know what he was thinking, but he was still young, and he just wanted to go, and I admire him for that. He had just got out of high school, and you know, he wanted to go in the army.

AC: And your parents were --

MH: Little bit hesitant. But they said, "Okay, if you want to go." And that's where that allotment came, that brother that I got to go to Salt Lake.

AC: Because he went to the army, he was getting a small pension?

MH: Allotment.

AC: Allotment that he --

MH: Wasn't getting very much from the army either. My father think, "How can he send us this when he's not getting very much." But it was something he wanted the parents to have.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.