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Title
Oral History Interview with Henri George Waegell
Created Date
February 24th, 1994
Description
Caucasian male, born August 26, 1926 in Sacramento, California. He is the identical twin to brother James. He and his two brothers are retired farmers. George describes farming livestock and fruit, drying persimmons Japanese-style. Throughout his schooling he had Nisei friends and classmates and continues contact with some. He recalls his mother as a 'do-er', one who helped Japanese and was critical of internment due to constitutional issues. George, his two brothers and mother were at the Elk Grove Train Depot to see Nisei friends off to internment camps in May 1942 when he was sixteen. During the war George had an agricultural deferment from the military and stayed on the family farm while his brother joined the military. During the Korean War, in 1951 at age twenty-five, George refused to serve and was sentenced to three years at McNeil prison. He served nineteen months. His reason for refusing service was that the U.S., as a foreign power, intervened in Korea on the domino theory that China would take over all of Korea. George was also an early protester of the Vietnam War for similar reasons. George met Gordon Hirabayashi at a Florin Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) meeting and talked about McNeil Prison, Hirabayashi having served time prior to George.
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