<Begin Segment 5>

SS: What did you do for fun?

HW: Oh, swimming in the irrigation ditch and play games, you know, play ball, whatever. And then we had a big pasture nearby, go out there and play ball or run around. And the pasture was right next to the city limits, so I remember barnstorming airplanes coming in there, landing in the pasture. And then puttin' up the sign -- $5 for a ride, anybody wants to fly.

SS: Were you active in any sports?

HW: Oh, a little bit. When you work, you can't, it's hard to do after-school activities, you know. I did play a little football. I played a lot of basketball and so forth with community organizations. But not all the time, like the kids are able to do now. Because you had chores to do. You had work to do. Yup.

SS: Now, you obviously had a horse. Did the family have a car in those days?

HW: Oh yeah. Yeah, we had a car. Ever since I can remember.

SS: Back in those days, when did a young man learn how to drive?

HW: When he was old enough to get behind the wheel and shift the gears. I'll tell you when I started driving, seriously, down the highway, was when I was eleven years old. Because we were going to Japanese school and it was in town. And the school ran seven days a week. The city kids went during the weekdays after school, and those of us who lived in the country, we went Saturday and Sunday all day. And Father, it was too much of a chore for Father to drive us into town and pick us up. So he got together with our neighbor, and there were two boys there, school age, and three of us, myself, my sister and my brother. So, they, both fathers agreed that I could drive the car into town to school. So I did that.

SS: Were you just tall enough to peek over the steering wheel at that point?

HW: Oh, eleven. I was considered a fairly big kid at the time, but they both agreed that I could drive so I started driving on weekends. And go shopping for Mom, you know, and things like that.

SS: When you look back on it now, with the benefit of wisdom and maturity, do you think, "Oh my goodness, I was eleven. I was driving a car."

HW: Well, it wasn't the age, it's whether you can or can't do, I think. Now the law says you have to be this age.

SS: Did you ever get into mischief as a kid?

HW: Well yeah, I think we turned over an outhouse at Halloween once, you know, things like that.

SS: What was that like, did you get into trouble?

HW: Well, you run like everything so you don't get into trouble.

SS: How did that happen? Was it your idea?

HW: Well, when you're a bunch of kids, you know, you don't know really who started it. Or how the conversation gets to that, but it happens.

SS: Can you remember back then what some of your... what some of your favorite possessions might have been?

HW: Well, yeah, as a little kid I liked the little racecars, you know. You push 'em around, build little mud tracks for 'em and things like that. I think I probably liked more than anything else -- airplanes. Airplanes, World War I stuff, you know, that's what it was, yes.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1996 Densho. All Rights Reserved.