[NOTE: This transcript has not undergone a final proofreading and may contain
errors. It is being provided in draft form to enhance access to the video recording. As soon as possible, it will be replaced with a final, corrected transcript and will be synced to the video to provide clickable timecodes.]Anna Takada: 00:00 Hi, can you just state your first and last name?
Eunice Kurisu: 00:04 Eunice Kurisu.
AT: 00:06 Okay, and then, um, so where, where and when were you born?
EK: 00:13 I was born in Norwalk, California, August, the 10th, 1925.
AT: 00:20 And can you tell me a little bit about your hometown?
EK: 00:24 I really don't know much about it. And we moved several times in a
very short period of time. And my father passed away when we, I was not quite four. So, umAT: 00:42 Where, where would you move to? Where were some of the places you were moving?
EK: 00:50 Um, I really don't remember, exactly. But we ended up, that I could
remember, was Santa Monica. And, um, my mother worked as a custodian in the church there.AT: 01:10 And did you have any siblings?
EK: 01:13 I have two older brothers and a sister, brother, younger. So I'm the
middle child.AT: 01:20 Okay, so five total?
EK: 01:21 Five children.
AT: 01:23 And so was it, it was just your mom and your siblings when you were
moving around?EK: 01:26 No, well, at first, um, there were four of us siblings actually when
my father passed away and my mother remarried a couple of years later and my younger brother was born, so he's a stepbrother. ButAT: 01:42 And, um, when did she marry your stepfather?
EK: 01:50 Um, 1931, I believe.
AT: 01:57 And, and what did he do? What did your stepfather do?
EK: 02:03 Huh?
AT: 02:03 For work?
EK: 02:05 Oh, he was a gardener. Not a very efficient one because apparently he
didn't work too well, but, so my mother was really the breadwinner actually.AT: 02:22 So was Santa Monica the the place you remember the best of your childhood?
EK: 02:29 No, not really. Um, we, after we married, after they got married and
my brother was born, we lived near Hollywood for a short period of time. And then we moved to, um, a Japanese family was moving to Japan and they had a chicken farm. And so we moved there. And that was in Vernon, California.AT: 02:59 And how long was your family there?
EK: 03:00 We were there probably from 1933 til 1940.
AT: 03:10 So quite some time. Seven years.
EK: 03:13 Yeah. And, uh, the summer of 1940, the property was sold, so we had to
move and, uh, we were able to purchase some acreage in Downey and we lived there for, until the war broke out.AT: 03:33 What kind of property was it or what were you farming?
EK: 03:37 Well, it was, still. She still stayed with the chickens, but it was a
five acre lot and it had a lot of fruit trees on it. And she worked very hard all those years.AT: 03:55 And as a, as a child, um, what was that like moving around so often?
Did you like it or?EK: 04:04 Didn't know any better.
AT: 04:06 Sure. And um, and what about, um, school for you as a kid?
EK: 04:18 It went fairly well, I guess. I, um, when I lived near Hollywood and I
went to grammar school there and um, for some reason or other that they skipped me a half a year, in second grade, then they, the following year they skipped me another half a year. So I was a year ahead of most and so my age. Which now that I look back could be not an advantage really, since you're not mature enough to, you know, associate with kids a year, younger year, older than you are.AT: 05:04 And in some of these areas that you were going to school, um, did you
know other Japanese American families?EK: 05:12 I can't remember any, uh, except after we moved to Vernon, there were
several Japanese families. Yes.AT: 05:22 So was that, was that a different kind of experience?
EK: 05:25 Well, yeah, in a way it was, it was a little different, but we never
lived, uh, really in the Japanese community as such. And my mother was a hardworking woman and there was very little time for social activities. So we pretty much had to entertain ourselves.AT: 05:52 The kids?
EK: 05:54 Well, we were in a rural area, so.
AT: 05:59 And, um, did your parents come to the U.S. from Japan?
EK: 06:05 Yes, yes. My mother and father came in, uh, um, early part of 1920,
'21. And, um, my oldest brother, my mother was pregnant with my oldest brother about seven months and she would definitely wanted him to be born here. So she came on the ship.AT: 06:36 Why was that?
EK: 06:38 Well, because she wanted him to be born in the United States and as it
would happen, um, after my father passed away, um, there were four of us. My youngest sister was about a month and a half old at the time. And, um, her parents in Japan wanted to have her come back to Japan to help take care of us. But she said that they're all American citizens and they're going to stay here.AT: 07:20 And, and your parents where in Japan were they from?
EK: 07:24 Kagawa ken
AT: 07:26 Both of them?
EK: 07:27 Yes. Well, no, I'm not sure about my father. I just remember my mother
saying as she was.AT: 07:37 And then, uh, where were you in Vernon, um, when, uh, the war broke out?
EK: 07:46 No, we were in Downey.
AT: 07:48 In Downey?
EK: 07:48 Yes. Because that was in 1941, December. Uh, so we have been just been
in Downey for a year when the war broke out. And, um, that year, September we were able to buy our first brand new car. It was a four door, Plymouth and December, the war broke out and we went to camp in April 14th of '42.AT: 08:28 When, when your family got that car, was that, was that exciting news?
EK: 08:34 Yes, it was. Well, of course, you know, we were all, we had nothing
but used cars up until then. So it was really, it was nice.AT: 08:50 And, um, so in December, do you remember the actual day that Pearl
Harbor was attacked?EK: 09:00 It was a Sunday afternoon.
AT: 09:03 And do you remember what you were doing at the time or when you found
out about it?EK: 09:08 I can't. We probably had gone to church that morning and sometime in
the early afternoon. I'm not sure. We must've heard it on the radio.AT: 09:25 How old would you have been? How old were you at that time?
EK: 09:27 I would have been 16.
AT: 09:36 And, um, what kind of church did your family go to?
EK: 09:41 It was called the Union Church of Los Angeles. So it's um
congregational and Presbyterian.AT: 09:55 Uh, did you always go to church since you could remember, since you
were a kid?EK: 09:59 Going?
AT: 09:59 Going to church, did you always go to church?
EK: 10:05 Oh yes. As a child, yes, we all went.
AT: 10:13 When you were in high school, did you do any other extracurriculars or
anything outside of school?EK: 10:19 Um, no, not really. I helped with my mother with eggs, every afternoon
it was the seven day week job.AT: 10:34 So that would be outside of school hours?
EK: 10:36 Yeah. Yeah.
AT: 10:38 And, and what were some of the tasks that you had?
EK: 10:40 Well, it was mostly in sorting out the eggs and um, cleaning them if
they were dirty and then weighing them to make sure, you know, large, medium, small.AT: 10:55 And was that something that all of your siblings did?
EK: 10:58 Well, I did. My brother's helped with the feeding of the chickens
everyday. And taking care of them otherwise.AT: 11:12 So when you were 16 and you, you got the news about Pearl Harbor, did
you think anything of it or what, what was your reaction?EK: 11:19 Well, typical teenager, you know, could change at the time, but as
time went on, it got more serious. We didn't know what was coming.AT: 11:38 Did you talk about it with your family, your parents, or your older brother?
EK: 11:43 Probably with my brothers, a little bit, but we didn't anticipate what
would happened.AT: 11:52 And then, um, when did he, do you know, remember when the Evacuation
Orders came out or when you heard about them?EK: 12:00 It was, it was probably the early part of April or end of March or
early part of April. Yeah. And actually the one notice that we got that we had to be at a certain place at a certain time was a week before. So April 7th, I guess, cause we, we boarded a bus with what we could carry, not knowing for me, we were going on the 14th, and then we ended up in Santa Anita.AT: 12:42 Can you tell me a little bit more, if you're able to remember. Um, can
you describe what, what happens and, and what was going on with your family when you got those orders? When you instructed by your, your?EK: 13:04 My mother never said too much about it, and we just followed
instructions when she gave us some. But, um, I remember, um, when we got the date that we had to be at a certain place was a week before and I had to call my oldest brother who had just graduated from USC and he was working in something there. And so I had to call him on the phone to tell him that he had to come home right away and get ready to leave. That was the most that I can remember.AT: 13:53 And so that, that phone call that was on you to make, not your mom?
EK: 14:01 Yeah, I made, I made the phone call because she had other things to
get together with only a week to do it in, you know. So.AT: 14:18 So did your, your mother, did she have to sell the car and the land?
EK: 14:24 I really don't know what happened, but we left it on the property. And
it was leased to um [Grain and Milling Company?] That they bought the feed to feed chickens from. And I don't know what the details of that were.AT: 14:43 And then so, your oldest brother, did he meet you back, um, at home or
did you meet somewhere else?EK: 14:51 Oh, no, he came, he was living at home at the time. He just happened
to be at work when I heard news and I had tell him to um, come home.AT: 15:03 And then, so, um, how did you all get to Santa Anita?
EK: 15:12 Our neighbor across the street who had a, dairy drove us up to the
corner of Paramount and Firestone in Downey. We didn't know what we're gonna see, but we've got a, they loaded us on buses. They didn't tell us anything.AT: 15:37 Were there. Were there other families?
EK: 15:39 Yes, yes, yes. It was a full bus.
AT: 15:48 And um, how long was that, that trip? Cause you're, you on the bus,
you didn't know where you were going?EK: 15:54 Um, probably a little bit more than half an hour. They did, we got off
the bus and there were words and Anita and the Burks were not completed yet. So we were housed in the stables for about a month or so until they completed.AT: 16:23 When you arrived, um, did you have to register or anything or what happened?
EK: 16:28 Yes. Well, like I say, the parents did everything, so I just tagged
along. You go here, you go there. But um, it was the younger kids, they didn't really care about what was happening there, just to be in a different place and. People, um, after, after we were settled, um, we were able to get a job, something within the camp too. Um, and uh, I worked in the recreation department and they organized a baseball league for after dinner. And my job was to keep track of the standings of the teams and betting averages, which they printed in the camp newspaper every week. And my, my oldest brother was on the editorial staff, Santa Anita paper, Pacemaker it was called.AT: 18:01 Why was it called that? Do you know?
EK: 18:07 It, part of the horse racing thing, I guess. I don't know who named
it, but that's what they called it at time.AT: 18:18 Do you remember your own first impressions of Santa Anita when you arrived?
EK: 18:24 Well, it was different. It was um, because everybody you saw was
Japanese, which was unusual for me to be in that environment. Um, but you, you know, they're people just like you are, you know, so. We got along as pretty much, I know my younger brother and sister enjoyed the idea of going to a mess hall with their friends rather than with the family. And they would play from early morning until it got dark. And parents had very little control over what they did during the day. Cause there were so many kids running around. Of course, they did a organize and start school for the younger children, which was good.AT: 19:38 Did you know anyone, um, in camp that you knew from before or in Santa
Anita rather?EK: 19:51 Maybe a couple, but not very many.
AT: 19:58 And were you making any friends?
EK: 20:00 Yes. Yes, yes. Well, naturally the people you work with and your
neighbors, and.AT: 20:06 And um, did you have to go to school in addition to having the job or
did you know?EK: 20:20 I was, I was a senior in high school at the time.
AT: 20:23 Because you skipped a couple of grades? Cause you were 16?
EK: 20:28 Yes. So um, they had a graduation ceremony for us in Santa Anita and
my high school had sent my diploma from the high school, so I received it there. And, it, of course, in 2004, they let me go to another graduation, with the graduating class and received another one.AT: 20:58 That was with, um, which graduating class from?
EK: 21:03 Downey High School.
AT: 21:05 Oh wow.
EK: 21:07 My children went to Warren, Warren High School, which is a second high
school, but it wasn't built until after the, long after the war, so.AT: 21:18 And then, um, so how long was your family in Santa Anita?
EK: 21:26 From April til I'm thinking late September, early October maybe.
AT: 21:37 And do you remember how many students were in the graduating class at
Santa Anita?EK: 21:45 No, no idea.
AT: 21:46 Was it, was it a lot of people or was it a smaller class?
EK: 21:51 I really have no recollection of that because they were from a wide
area of schools. I don't remember, I don't actually remember the ceremony itself, but I know we did have one.AT: 22:09 And then as far as, uh, living and sleeping and all of that, was your
family in the same um?EK: 22:16 Barrack.
AT: 22:19 Mhm.
EK: 22:19 Yeah. One, one barrack room.
AT: 22:24 And.
EK: 22:24 No furniture except the Army cots.
AT: 22:28 Did you all have your own cots?
EK: 22:31 Yeah, one cot per person.
AT: 22:34 That would have been seven people?
EK: 22:36 Yes. Right.
AT: 22:39 And then, um, so in the fall, where did you end up going?
EK: 22:48 Because my brother worked for the newspaper. They gave him an option
to choose any one of the 10 different locations. And he picked, uh, Jerome, Arkansas because the weather being more close to the California type of weather. And so that's where we went.AT: 23:15 And how long was that trip and how did you get there?
EK: 23:17 Oh, train was, it was, it was a very warm period of time, I remember.
And uh, cause they tried to give us salt pills for the heat and it made me sick. But um, oh, it takes several days because they would sidetrack us in order for two trains or any more valuable cargo to go through if we happened to be in the way. So it was, it was several days. I can't remember exactly how many.AT: 24:01 And what, forgive my ignorance, what, what is the salt pill supposed
to do?EK: 24:07 I don't really, don't know, but uh, they expect, I guess they were
afraid of heat stroke or something because the trains didn't have air conditioning or anything and um, they were full of people, which made it even hotter. So other than that, I have no idea.AT: 24:38 And while you were on that trip, where are you aware of where you were going?
EK: 24:44 Yes, we knew were going to go.
AT: 24:48 Um, and so when you got to Jerome, what, what was that like? How was
that different from Santa Anita?EK: 25:02 Well, I guess we were probably one of the first group to arrive there.
And our barracks was the furthest Northeast corner of the camp, the end room. So you couldn't go any further Northeast than that. And of course where we worked wouldn't have been at the opposite end of the camp.AT: 25:29 Well, I imagined that it would be easier to find your home than some
other homes.EK: 25:35 Yeah. Right, right. Yeah.
AT: 25:39 And so did you just, did you continue working while you were in camp?
What, what did you do once you got there?EK: 25:46 Um, in Jerome I worked, um, on the mimeograph machine and I would
print out whatever notices that had to be sent out. And also those paper, once a week we would print.AT: 26:06 Did you have to apply for those jobs or how did that work? Did you
sign up?EK: 26:12 I don't remember how I got that job. I just, I guess my connection
with my brother being in the newspaper, had a little bit of weight to it.AT: 26:24 Was the other brother above you, was he also working?
EK: 26:30 I, you know, I know that I think, I can't remember exactly what he
did. It, it's, I'd never asked a question. I, I know he was there. I know he did some kind of work, but I couldn't honestly tell you. But my best guess would be that he worked probably something with motor pool because he was mechanically minded, but I can't be sure.AT: 27:04 And your young, younger siblings were they still in school?
EK: 27:07 The younger two were, yes.
AT: 27:14 And then what about, um, your family life? Would you, would you eat
together or would you only really see each other?EK: 27:22 No.
AT: 27:23 When did you see each other?
EK: 27:25 At night. When you had to go home to sleep. But, um, but you made
friends and you naturally would eat with your friends if you, whoever you happen to be with at meal time.AT: 27:53 Do you have any other memories of, of Jerome that stick out for you?
EK: 28:00 Not too many. I uh, I know I did go to several socials that's what
they used to call the dances on Saturday night where they had recorded music. The different, uh, clubs or organizations who had put on a social. And it was a meeting place for people.AT: 28:30 What were some of those clubs and organizations?
EK: 28:36 I remember one was, uh, a group of, um, young men from Hawthorne and
they were called the Hawthorne Juniors or something like that. Well, in fact the newspaper staff probably put it on a social at one point or another. And various, so musicians would do that, from time to time.AT: 29:07 Were they mostly for young people?
EK: 29:10 Well, yeah. Yeah, they would be.
AT: 29:15 And how long did you all stay in Jerome?
EK: 29:18 I was there from the time of, got there until I left in on June 1st of
1943 and then I came to Chicago. And I worked with a family.AT: 29:40 Did you come alone?
EK: 29:40 Well, with a group of other people.
AT: 29:46 Friends or how was that?
EK: 29:48 Well, not really friends, but they were going, they were going to the
same place I was.AT: 30:00 And can you tell me more about how that that came about or how you
found out about?EK: 30:06 To leave Chicago? Oh to come to Chicago. Well, I had a friend who I
met in Santa Anita and when we got to Jerome, she was there and she introduced me to another girl. And she later on, um, got a job in Chicago. And so I got in touch with her and she in turn helped me get the job with Barbara's family.AT: 30:47 So you, you had, um, you were connected through?
EK: 30:51 Connected, yeah.
AT: 30:53 And as this happens, the girl that I contacted took me on her on our
first day off to her brother's place and we had dinner and I later married him.Everyone: 31:20 [Laughter]
AT: 31:20 So was your family, your family was still in Jerome?
EK: 31:24 Yes.
AT: 31:25 And um, do you remember having conversations with your mother or did
she help at all with the decision making in that?EK: 31:37 Did what?
AT: 31:37 Did she help at all with the decision making and you coming to Chicago
or was that kind of.EK: 31:42 Surprisingly she didn't object. I wonder if they know even today,
that's she would have trusted me to come. But, um, no, she pretty much left us on her own.AT: 32:16 What was Chicago like when you first got here and where did you arrive?
EK: 32:23 Um, probably Chicago Union station I think. And I think her father
probably met me there. We were there by then, you know, gas rationing was in and so mostly traveled on public transportation. And, uh, I don't remember riding in a car very often.AT: 33:11 And so before you arrived, you, did you have the name and the
information of the family you'd be staying with?EK: 33:17 Oh yes! Yeah, yeah. And during the time that I was here in Chicago, my
family, the camps were people were leaving. And so they consolidated Jerome and Rohwer together and my parents moved to Rohwer. And so after I got married and got pregnant, living in Chicago by myself with not an option because my husband got drafted. And so my mother came to get me and I went back to Rohwer and that's where I had my daughter.AT: 34:08 And what year was that that you went back?
EK: 34:11 Um, would have been late 1943, '44.
AT: 34:26 Um, so you, and what was the name of the family that you were staying with?
EK: 34:33 Pardon?
AT: 34:33 The, the name of the family that you're staying with?
EK: 34:37 Senn S. E. N. N.
AT: 34:39 The Senn family?
EK: 34:39 Yeah.
AT: 34:41 And, um, so you would have been with them for uh, a little over a year?
EK: 34:51 Yeah. Approximately. Yeah.
AT: 34:55 And where did they live?
EK: 34:57 They lived on the South Side, I think it was like 55th Street.
Another Speaker: 35:04 Hyde Park
AT: 35:09 And um, what were your, your first impressions of the city? Cause I
imagine that was your first time coming to Chicago.EK: 35:18 Well, actually it's the first time I lived in the city because I
always lived in rural areas. So it was a little different. You enjoyed what there was.AT: 35:37 Did anything surprise you about it?
EK: 35:41 Probably a lot of things. Being a teenager and thinking that you knew
everything there was to know about everything, you know, so probably everything was kind of different.AT: 35:59 At that time were there other Japanese Americans in Hyde Park or not?
EK: 36:06 Yes, yes, there were several. Yes. That I knew, yes. And occasionally
we would be able to get together.AT: 36:17 And was it mostly folks from camp as well?
EK: 36:24 Probably more so. Yeah.
AT: 36:27 Okay. And then, um, so you went back to Rohwer in 1944.
AS: 36:40 Do you want to tell the, part of the time with us, in Michigan, that
you spent the summer? We spent the summerEK: 36:50 Oh, yes. You know, uh, the family took a vacation home and stayed in
Michigan shores for several weeks and I have a picture of that with her. Yeah.AT: 37:10 So not just Chicago, but also Michigan or.
EK: 37:12 Michigan, yeah.
AT: 37:19 And then, um, when you returned to Rohwer in 44', your whole family
was there, not just your parents?EK: 37:30 No, my brother and my old two older brothers had moved to Cincinnati.
AT: 37:35 And what were they doing there?
EK: 37:37 Um, my oldest brother worked for McCalls Magazine and I'm not sure
what my other brother, I forget. He was working, but I didn't know him exactly.AT: 37:48 Always off the grid that one. What, what, what were your brothers,
what were their names?EK: 37:58 My oldest brother's, Paul, Sam, my sister's name was Jesse and Arthur,
was the youngest.AT: 38:09 Um, and where the younger ones, were they with your parents in Rohwer?
The younger ones, were they with your parents in Rohwer?EK: 38:17 In Rohwer, yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. They still would've been in school.
AT: 38:25 And how long did you stay there and you, that's where you had your
first child?EK: 38:31 Yes. Uhuh.
AT: 38:35 So how long were you there?
EK: 38:39 Well, the first, first train load back to California was in late July,
I believe, to arrive in L.A. about August the 1st of '45. And the family had made reservations to stay at a hostel in Los Angeles. And I did too, but unknowingly they my name was not put on the list and until I got to L.A. and found out that somebody had not put my name on the list.AT: 39:19 So what happens?
EK: 39:22 I was kind of frustrated didn't know what to do. But um, the young
Caucasian gentleman came up and heard the conversation and he took responsibility for not having to put my name on the list. I don't know whether it was true or not, but he offered his parents' home because they were out of town at the time and he said, you can stay at my parents' home. And so the family and my daughter and I stayed in his home for, in their parents' home, for a couple of weeks, I think, until the hostel opened up and we were able to move to the hostel.AT: 40:10 That being, the hostel being in L.A. ?
EK: 40:13 Actually it was located in Sawtelle.
AT: 40:18 Sorry?
EK: 40:18 Sawtelle S. A. W. T. E. L. L. E. It's near Santa Monica.
AT: 40:29 So that wouldn't have been far from where? That wouldn't have been far
from where your mother was before the war? At one time?EK: 40:38 Yeah, at one point. Yeah. At one point. Yeah, it was kind of my, the church.
AT: 40:45 And do you know what year that would have been? That you returned?
EK: 40:48 That would have been '45.
AT: 40:52 And um, where were you married at that point?
EK: 40:57 Yes, I was married the year before.
AT: 41:00 And was your, your husband was still serving?
EK: 41:03 Yeah, he was in the service. He was in Germany, but the Occupation Force.
AT: 41:11 And uh what did your family do once you're in Sawtelle?
EK: 41:18 Well, we had put, my mother wisely had made arrangements to keep the
property we had in Downey. And so, uh, eventually we were able to go back to it, the house that we lived in burned down, but there was an older building that we may do and we stayed in that. And although it didn't have any cooking facilities, my brother found a wood stove and we would do our cooking outdoors, until we could get set up.AT: 42:02 And so you then you settled in, back in Downey?
EK: 42:07 Yeah, right, right, right.
AT: 42:10 And, uh, was your mother able to pick back up the chicken business?
EK: 42:15 Yes, yes, yes. She was bound and determined to do that. Very strong.
AT: 42:24 And, and what about yourself? Were you helping out or
EK: 42:30 I helped out where I had to, pretty much.
AT: 42:36 And, and while you're raising your firstborn,
EK: 42:39 Right, right, right.
AT: 42:44 And then did your family stay there for?
EK: 42:46 We lived on that property until 1973. And that, um, oh, by then she
had retired from the chickens and um, my brother Sam, who was her partner in the business, had moved to Whittier and he had his own family. Seven children, exactly. But while they were living in Downey, he lived in one house. We lived in the middle. And my oldest brother lived in a third house and each time the wife got pregnant and had a baby, I got the rest of the family to take care of until she got back on her feet.AT: 43:55 And um, back a few years during, you know, while the war was still on.
Were you communicating with your husband? And what was his name?EK: 44:08 Jim, yeah. Yeah, we wrote letters and actually he got an early release
discharged from the Army because of being a young father.AT: 44:27 So when was he?
EK: 44:29 So he was in approximately 18 months.
AT: 44:31 So he would have been coming back up in '45? Is that right?
EK: 44:41 No, '40, '40, '46. Summer of '46 I believe that was.
AT: 44:52 And was he originally from Chicago?
EK: 44:55 No, he, his family came from Madera, California, which is in central
California. And his family owned 80 acres of vineyard and they raised tomtom grapes, which they turned into raisins.AT: 45:22 And um, his family did, were they in camp as well?
EK: 45:28 Yes, they were, they went from Fresno Assembly center, which was, I
think that Fresno fairgrounds. And they went to Jerome.AT: 45:44 And then he went to Chicago because that's where?
EK: 45:47 He went to, yeah, he found a job in a candy factory in Chicago. And so
he was working there. But the rest of this family with two, uh, Gila.AT: 46:04 And so when he was released, where did he?
EK: 46:07 Came back to Downey.
AT: 46:08 And so you said you were on the property until the 70s.
EK: 46:18 Mhm.
AT: 46:18 Where did you move after that?
EK: 46:21 We moved to another house, not about a mile away, still in Downey. My,
my baby, my youngest one was in high school and he was a senior, when we moved.AT: 46:39 Was that Russ?
EK: 46:41 Yes.
AS: 46:48 Mhm.
AT: 46:48 And did you, um, did you ever talk about your, your experiences, um,
during the war with, with your family when you were raising a family?EK: 47:02 Not really. Subject never came up. It was a world of little kids all
growing up together. So.AT: 47:15 And when you, when you returned to Downey, um, were there still not
many, um, Japanese Americans in the area or in the town?EK: 47:29 Probably not.
AT: 47:39 Um, oh, one thing that I had meant to ask, um, when you were growing
up, did you speak Japanese with your parents?EK: 47:49 Yes, necessarily. But, um, my mother was determined to become an
American citizen and she couldn't do that legally until the late 1950s and when, when that became possible, she did that. And she did get her citizenship without going to a class to learn about, she more or less did it on her own. So she was very proud of that. And after that, every election she was there.AT: 48:34 She sounds like a a very strong
EK: 48:36 Yes, very, very determined. So she, we, although we spoke a lot of
Japanese, she also necessarily dealing with people who came to buy eggs. She had the English became a necessity, so she was probably lot more proficient in that than a lot of the Japanese see safe.AT: 49:08 And how is your Japanese now?
EK: 49:11 Mine?
AT: 49:12 Do you still speak?
EK: 49:13 Nonexistent I have nobody to talk to. Well I do one or two, but very
seldom and it's not something that I'm, I really probably should know more, but I'm an American.AT: 49:42 I, is there anything, um, in your daily life or otherwise that you
practice or, or hold on to your Japanese heritage?EK: 49:58 I don't think so, unfortunately, I mean, it's a foreign country to me
as it is to anybody else. I visited once and it was at the time, it was a very interesting experience, but, um, I didn't have a dying interest to learn all about it or anything like that.AT: 50:33 When did you visit?
EK: 50:36 Well, there again, it was probably in the 1980s.
AT: 50:46 And, um, if, if you could leave your, your children and maybe your
grandchildren or your family with any kind of message or legacy, what would you want them to, to know or carry with them?EK: 51:06 Just be a good American. Be a good person. Anything else?
AT: 51:23 Well, is there anything else that you might like to add or that we
might have missed in the conversation?EK: 51:28 Not really.
AT: 51:28 Does anyone else, have any?
AS: 51:41 Don't get me going. I've learned so much.
AT: 51:43 Well, thank you so much for taking the time for speaking with me..
EK: 51:47 Oh, you're welcome. Thank you.
