<Begin Segment 7>

KB: You lived in the house on Kearney 'til war happened, so let's talk a little bit about Pearl Harbor. Where were you?

SO: I was at home.

KB: How old were you?

SO: In '41 I was (eleven) years old.

KB: How did you hear about it?

SO: By the radio. It was President Roosevelt.

KB: Were you home with your family?

SO: Yeah.

KB: How did your parents react when you heard that news?

SO: I don't think they were that happy, because you live in the U.S. and you have war against Japan. So I think we found that there was some prejudice at that time.

KB: Against your family?

SO: Yeah.

KB: Do you remember any incidents specifically?

SO: No incidents, but I think they didn't want to rent to us.

KB: Where were you staying?

SO: Yeah.

KB: What did your parents feel, too? Your brother is in Japan, living in Japan, and you were in America, and now you have war.

SO: Yeah, that was a conflict.

KB: Conflict. Can you remember how, reactions to that at all?

SO: Well, they knew that he couldn't come back anymore.

KB: How old was he at the time?

SO: He must have been about twelve. No, he was of army age in Japan.

KB: Did he...

SO: He had to go (into) the Japanese army.

KB: He had to go? Tell us a little bit about that.

SO: He had to go to the service in Japan, so he was lucky he came out of it all right.

KB: But what a dilemma, your brother fighting against all of you that still live here.

SO: That's right.

KB: Do you remember any reaction from your parents at that time, when that happened?

SO: I'm sure they were afraid.

KB: Did you have any incidents at school, that you might be treated differently after Pearl Harbor?

SO: No, I don't think... their friends were still friends, but then I think they had a little bit of... I don't know what you call it, I don't know if it's prejudice.

KB: Did teachers treat you differently?

SO: No, I don't think the children were bothered that much.

KB: So you just went to school that next week and just, business as usual.

SO: Yeah.

KB: Did your family talk about war at all or what might happen to them or your family when Pearl Harbor happened?

SO: No, we didn't talk about it.

KB: Didn't have any idea what would happen?

SO: Yeah, they're just probably afraid a little bit.

KB: Your mom or dad didn't put away anything that was Japanese in the home to make sure that people didn't think that you were loyal to Japan or anything like that?

SO: I think you had to hand in your shortwave radios to the FBI.

KB: So your family had to turn it in? Did you have to take it someplace?

SO: We didn't have a shortwave then, but some people did.

KB: You did not have the FBI visit your home?

SO: No.

KB: Did your sister or your older brother, since they were older, did you notice how they reacted to this?

SO: No, I wasn't that observing, I guess, on that.

KB: You're a young boy.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.