<Begin Segment 9>

TI: Okay, so why don't we kind of go there. So December 7, 1941, do you remember that day?

YS: Yeah.

TI: And so how did you find out about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

YS: By radio. See, that was... when we went back to school on Monday, we had to go to the auditorium, and then you listened to the radio.

TI: And did the principal go up there and say something or a teacher say something?

YS: I don't remember if they said anything or not. I think we listened to the radio and then that was about it, I thought. They probably did say something, but I don't really remember.

TI: Now how about your family on Sunday, December 7th? Did your family talk about what happened?

YS: Yeah, they were talking about... well, I think we were woodcutting. That's what we used to do all those Sundays, go out and cut our own wood. So I think we were woodcutting that day. I know... what day was it? When we'd come from school one day, my dad was gone.

TI: So the FBI --

YS: They were there when we come home, and then they, of course, then they say they're going to take him and my mom got real, you know, upset.

TI: So what was your father doing that made the FBI interested?

YS: Well, because we had dynamite and caps, because we'd blow up, cleared land, you know, you have dynamite and caps. That's the only thing they had against him, really. So they took him, but he came back in a few days.

TI: Now was your father involved in terms of like a leader of the community?

YS: No, he wasn't. Yeah, and some of those he took. He was never...

TI: But I would guess that many of the farmers had dynamite caps.

YS: Oh, yeah, lot of them had that. Lot of them had dynamite stuff. We had it in the house, caps in the house. So they come and, when they come and question you and everything, heck, what can you do?

TI: Yeah, so explain to me, so it's like you came home from school? Or when you said you came home and they were there already, so who was there? Like how many officials were there?

YS: Two, I think.

TI: And they were FBI?

YS: Yeah, FBI.

TI: And tell me what they were wearing and what they looked like.

YS: They're just regular.

TI: Were they wearing suits?

YS: No, I don't think they were. Just regular clothes. They say they're such and such.

TI: Did they have, like, sidearms, did they have guns or anything?

YS: They might have had. I don't really remember.

TI: And were they... what was their demeanor? I mean, how did they act toward your...

YS: Yeah, they were, the ones who came, ours wasn't bad, but I heard some of 'em were bad.

TI: Now were your parents able to speak English?

YS: Well, enough, I guess. I mean, they didn't know what was coming on.

TI: Were any of your older siblings there?

YS: No. My brother and them, they were playing, so I think, basketball and stuff. So my oldest brother and I, I remember, we walked in the house, and they were there.

TI: So was it Akio?

YS: Yeah. Him and I walked, we were walking from the bus, and then go to the house, and they were there.

TI: And so what were you thinking when you saw that?

YS: Yeah, we didn't know what to think. [Laughs] But we heard about it the rest of the time.

TI: And you mentioned your mother was pretty upset?

YS: Yeah, she was crying and everything when they took him. Because you don't know what they're going to do.

TI: And did they take him to Seattle?

YS: Yeah, they took him to Seattle or wherever they went. They don't say that, but then that's where they went, Seattle, anyhow. But like I say, he came back in a couple days.

TI: Did he talk about what happened when he was in Seattle?

YS: Yeah. I didn't hear what they'd done or nothing.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.