[language
warning] "Pat Katsura, our reading instructor, keeps us well entertained
with his stories of what an enemy alien has to go through in this country. He's a citizen of Japan - which means that
even if he goes to Denver he has to get special permission from the district
attorney's office. It doesn't pay to
drive in for the permit he found out.
Once he dropped down to get permission to go beyond Denver - but their
question was how he got to Denver without a permit. He apparently really got raked over the coals
for that.
"When
war broke out Pat was in Washington.
Hearing the news he rushed from a pro football game to the Japanese
Embassy. Seeing a mob there shaking
fists at the staff members on top of the building burning papers and taking
movies - he decided that it'd be healthier to drive on by - so he missed
helping Japan in this war just by a hair.
"He
then posed as a Chinese until the Chinese Embassy started passing out their 'I
am a Chinese' official buttons. Pat tried to pick one up at the Embassy but
they chased him off. It wasn't safe to
be on the streets so he finally lifted one from the coat of a chop suey joint
cook. After that he got a lot of
sympathy. In restaurants people would
come over to pat him on the back and tell how sorry they felt for our brave
Chinese Allies 'but those d__n Japs: Yeah, those d__n Japs' he'd agree in his
thick Japanese accent.
“Actually Pat looks more like an American
Indian than a Jap. Once he stood along
the sidelines while an anti-Jap mob beat up two Filipinos. 'But we're Filipinos,' they protested, to
which some mob fanatic replied 'We don't trust you Japs!'"
--
Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans.,
Saturday, September 29, 1945.
No comments:
Post a Comment