Interviews
Loyalty questionnaire
When we first heard about the loyalty questionnaire they said that if you didn’t answer there was gonna be a $10,000 fine or a ten years imprisonment or both or something like that. Which we found out later was all bogus, you know that it wasn’t true. And uh, when I read those two questions, there was only two questions that were controversial. The question 27 that said will you go on combat duty to the most dangerous [inaudible] wherever ordered. And then the second question was will you be loyal to the United States. And the second part was will you foreswear allegiance to the emperor of Japan.
Well, I thought that both questions were ridiculous. Especially under the circumstances we were in. And so uh, I answered it “Under the present conditions and circumstances I am unable to answer these questions.” And uh on second-question 28 on the loyalty thing I just put “No.” Or no, I put the same thing under the present conditions I can’t answer these questions because uh I was you know we were under arrest.
Date: May 9, 2006
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Lisa Itagaki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
Explore More Videos
Making craft items from shells found at Tule Lake
(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII
Response to loyalty questionnaire
(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII
Move from Tule Lake to Minidoka
(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII
Apprehension about leaving camp
(b.1909) Nisei from Washington. Incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka during WWII. Resettled in Chicago after WWII
442 soldiers visiting U.S. concentration camps
(b. 1924) Political scientist, educator, and administrator from Hawai`i
Receiving a negative reaction from father upon asking about World War II experience
(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor
Loss of happy-go-lucky adolescence in Puyallup Assembly Center
(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.
Memories of dusty conditions at Minidoka incarceration camp
(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.
Making the decision to resist the draft
(b. 1923) Nisei from Washington. Resisted draft during WWII.
Social activities in Tashme
(b.1920) Japanese Canadian Nisei. Established the Ikenobo Ikebana Society of Toronto
Difference between experiences of youth and older people in WWII camps
(b.1929) Pioneer medical researcher in tissue transfer and organ transplantation.
Discharged from the U.S. Army after Pearl Harbor
(b. 1918) Founder Azumano Travel
Reaction to a 1942 speech by Mike Masaoka, Japanese American Citizen League's National Secretary
(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement
Death of sister in October 1942
(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement
First impression of New York City during war time
(1915 - 2011) Nisei florist who resettled in New York City after WW II. Active in Japanese American civil rights movement