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One of the most difficult periods in camp
was the time when we all had to I guess

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it was an April isn't about our members are
on their March or April of ninety forty

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three when we had to put
together they put together

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a package for people who wanted to leave
the camp had to sign certain kinds of

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decorations and also people who were
volunteering for the Army and the draft

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registration all women at the
same time and it created

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a lot of problems in camp. I was working
with social services at that time.

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And so I sat in on

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a lot of the family discussions that people
were having was very difficult because

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mixed into it was

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a lot of the bitterness that people felt
about. What had happened to them an

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evacuation the uncertainty what was going
to happen to them in the future. The

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feeling that we should not
assign any declaration

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that says that we're willing to forswear
the allegiance to Japan because there were

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some people for whom it would mean that
they would have no lack of anything should

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happen to you know in the future
in the world and so there were

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a lot of mixed feelings at
that time and I could see

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a lot of tragedies that were developing
there were instances for example of people

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who had children in Japan and therefore
wanted to check to make sure that

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their children. OK but the same time they
wanted to stay in the United States and I

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know of one family where you know the
families just separated along those lines

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people who were going to stay and people
who had to go back to Japan not because

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they were destroyed but because they had
family that they had to check and we had

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instances where the parents were very
discouraged about what had happened to them

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and they're for. Did not want their children
to volunteer for the army at the same

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time we had people who were
very strong about demonstrating

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loyalty and therefore joining the army
and so the whole camp was put into

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a terrible situation because people could
not under the circumstances make what

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they think is

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a wise and recent decision that was very
difficult and I saw families split as

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a result of it and I've talked to some
people have told me that even today they

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just don't talk about that period because
it was so painful to hear. I think the

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government made

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a mistake on that because they didn't
look into it before they made up the

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questionnaire so they just sprung this
questionnaire on the people and it's just

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we're seeing there there's

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a lot of confusion because you know you
had feelings about trying to be loyal and

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on the other hand certain people members
of the family wanted to you know go to Pan

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and then of course the other
thing was he says if they you

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know what they said loyalty to the Japanese
emperor they would be citizens of our

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country. No citizen here no citizenship
here and no citizenship in Japan. And

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so there was a lot of confusion and
even among the Nisei there was

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a lot of confusion because they didn't
know exactly what to do because they felt

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that this was their country and you know
they wanted to fight for it yet. They had

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feelings for their parents still you know.
And so that was one of the reasons why

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there was so much dissension in the camp
around that time around this question of

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whether he had been no no. Or yes yes.