Studs Terkel #6

The two stories we read today were both about the hardships civilians had to go through, and their experiences during the war. The first interview was with Peter Ota, a Nisei which was sent to a camp during World War 2. Shortly before him, his father and sister were sent away, Peters father was arrested and jailed for an unknown reason. His arrest brought shame to the family and caused his wife to become very ill. Since Peter's mother was too sick to move, she was not sent away to the camps. His father was released from jail and evacuated to Missouia, Montana where he was isolated from the rest of his family. During his time then, he sent Peter letters but they were censored and not very informational. I couldn't imagine that experience, being separated from your family and not being able to communicate with them either. The whole experience seems horrific and stressful. Peter was able to stay with his sister and they were transferred to Santa Aita, there they lived in previous horse stables. Living in that type of environment is disgusting, not only is it gross but its horrible to treat people like animals. In September of 1942, Peter and his sister were reunited with their father. Peter was lucky enough to leave these camps and work in Colorado and other places. Since he was working, he would be excused from the camps. Shortly after getting the job, the mom had died and Peter wanted to be cleared and get her body to burry in one of the camps where the family was. While his leave from his job/camp, Peter had to be escorted everywhere. There were FBI agents and other people following him around as if he were some kind of criminal. The way that he was treated through out this whole process was very inhumanely and disgusting. He later stated that once he was released from the camp and started a family of his own, he knew that he needed to "blend into the community and become part of white America". That statement was an important one because the only reason he was sent to the camps was because he didn't look like an average "white american". The next story was about Betty Hutchinson, a nurse during the war. She went into detail about her experience as a nurse, and the operations she made. The most interesting detail that I noticed was how fast everything happened. Right after she heard about Pearl Harbor, Betty was registered as a nurse and took action to help people. She became a plastic surgeon in 6 weeks and operated shortly after. The experience seemed very quick and rushed which doesn't seem too safe. Betty also spoke about her adaptation to her work, at first she became very sick when she saw something gory. After a while she adapted to what was going on and enjoyed her job much more than what she expected. I think that both stories were important because we never see the personal experiences that people go through during wartime.