To view video, Click Here. Many first-generation men of Japanese ancestry (issei) spent the war years separated from their families. In this video segment Frank F. tells of the bittersweet reunion with his father after three years of separation.

"Yeah, I think when the Justice Department okayed his release from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Tule Lake and I said, "Dad's coming back, man." And then I told Seibo, who was still in camp, "He's coming back." And so we knew what day -- they didn't tell us what time. So waiting for a truck to drop him off, and we waited and waited -- and I remember it was in the afternoon, and it was a hot day, and the truck dropped him off, and he had to get off the back, and I grabbed his luggage and I brought it inside. And, now, I didn't see him from '41 December 7th 'til, '44 something, in '44. So that's a few years, and I think when I've grown up so much... I, my body's changed, my looks changed and I'm more a man. I mean, I've grown about 5-6 inches. But the bad scenario was, as he went around the room, he nodding his head and kinda greeting everybody by looking at them, and kind of saying, "I think I know you, but, hi, how are you." But then he points to me, of all people, and he says, "Who's this boy?" And, you know, that, that really shook me. But I, I never forgot that, because I felt loss at that time. And I think that mental part of it all, that's what, I think the effect of camp does to you. It isn't the other monetary kind of things that get to you, 'cause you could always sort of adjust. But the loss of a family tie. It was tough."

Frank F. Interview - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.

Nisei male. Born 1930 in Seattle, Washington. Grew up in Jackson Street neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. Incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Tule Lake incarceration camp, California. Resettled in Seattle. Former teacher and varsity basketball coach at Seattle's Franklin High School and administrator at Seattle Central Community College.

Courtesy of Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project