<Begin Segment 6>

BH: Okay, so let's shift gears a little here and start to address the impact of World War II on you and your family. How did you hear about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

DH: Well, the bombing of Pearl Harbor was Sunday morning, we were working in the, one of the boy house. My brother went out and picked all the sprouts, you know, Brussels sprouts, and we had to clean 'em and pack 'em in the little halleck. So that's what we were doing was packing those Brussels sprouts so that Dad could go to market. And we heard on there, "There's bombing in Pearl Harbor," on the radio, because we always had radio on. That's how we first... I said, "Where's Pearl Harbor?" [Laughs]

[Interruption]

BH: How did your parents react to their homeland bombing that part of America?

DH: He was sort of shocked. He didn't understand how bad it was, we just heard it on the radio. But when he went to market, I guess he heard all the different stories and so forth. He was upset, and he knew there was nothing we could do, and he knew that eventually the U.S. was going to take over. He still believed in his homeland, but he told us, he said, "You guys are American citizens, so you just, you don't have anything to worry about." That's our way, he told us to, "Be proud of yourself and don't worry, have anybody talk you into doing something bad."

BH: And we've heard stories of the FBI going around and talking to people. What was your family's experience?

DH: Well, FBI came in and took over our house and told Mom to sit in certain room, stay away from everything, and they went through everything. And they took rifles and shotguns and stuff like that, Dad had around, because he used to go hunting and so on. So that was, Mom just cried, and she couldn't do anything. It's terrible, these people coming in, just take over the house. Funny part of it, Dad had the picture, they had a shrine, and under it he had picture or, Hirohito's picture. And then before, right after the war started, he took Roosevelt's picture and put it right over the top. [Laughs] So that was the way Dad did things.

BH: Did you know of any families who had somebody taken away by the FBI?

DH: Yes, we heard people that, Dr. Tanaka, Dad was close to them. We knew they were gone and all the new people were gone. They were in some club, I guess.

BH: So you were probably in high school at this time. How did things change at school?

DH: Well, I lasted through December, January. The teachers gave the guys a bad time, they told us, watch over, we weren't in any trouble. We haven't got anything to do with war. But kids did tell me a few things, bad things, what they were gonna do to me and so on. And after a while, we had, we can't travel more than eight miles or something like that from home. Well, I snuck in to, going to Benson for several weeks, but eventually I quit before the school ended. And right after that, in May we were evacuated.

BH: How did things change within the community? Were people fearful, were they angry, what was going on?

DH: Well, like the farm we were on, people that wanted to come and take over our things, they thought they could reap all the harvest of our things. But Dad controlled that mostly. My brother was there to help.

BH: Now you mentioned that -- go ahead.

DH: Well, they were, some people were mean to us, but most people were, they understood that there was nothing we could do.

BH: Can you give an example of how people in the community were mean, or what some of your fellow students at Benson said?

DH: Well, one of them, my friend, he said he carried an axe in his bag, and he showed me, "This is for you," he says. And I said, "No way."

BH: And this was a former friend of yours?

DH: No, this is a guy from somewhere, lived in town. He was in my first period class. But my teacher lectured the whole class that I wouldn't have any part of causing the war and so forth.

BH: How did that make you feel, that a teacher would stand up --

DH: I just sat there and I just didn't say anything, I was shocked, and I couldn't figure what... he can't do anything to me and I can't do anything to them. I can't say anything or they would get mad at me. But most of my friends in that same class, they sent me things after I was in camp, they would send me annuals and all the graduation and stuff. Then I lost track of them after we moved to Minidoka.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.