<Begin Segment 40>

TK: How did you meet with Mrs. Tsubota?

MT: My mother?

TK: No, your wife, Cherrie.

MT: Oh, actually, I left, we came home on the point system and Colonel Harrison, the commander of our unit and I had been in the army since 1941, so we had a hundred and, what we called a hundred and ten points. And so we were able to come back first. And we left the unit to go to what we call, they used to have Camp Lucky Strike, Camp Wings, all those cigarette names and in France. And so we, gosh, I guess it was about September of 1945, Colonel Harrison and I left and Lieutenant Hirano, he came up from a staff sergeant up to a lieutenant. It was a, he got a... and we went to camp. But what happened is, being a warrant officer, see, I'm between a second lieutenant and a first lieutenant. And we're about the lowest you can come. And so each camp we'd go to some higher officer would come in and they'd assign themselves onto the shipping list and you'd get shipped back and so we got left, we'd go to another camp. So, when I left Europe, France, I, it was in December, by that time. So I think the, lot of the 552, 442 had already come back and I was still struggling over there.

And so we got, we came back on a liberty ship to New York and then, but, when I got to New York -- no, no. Before I left Repo Depot, the soldiers from, American soldiers from all over United States at the Repo Depot that they're getting assigned back. There was a fellow from Idaho someplace, it's a little off the story but after the war the Russians were never paid during the war but when the war was over they got paid. All of a sudden they had all kinds of invasion currency, I guess, and, but, not had too much during the war, but you kinda get into black market type of a situation. So the American guys, the Russians, oh, they loved jeeps and they loved American 6 x 6 trucks, 4 x 6 trucks. And so they'd, the American GI would sell a jeep and then take the Russian the money but they're naive enough to think they bought it. And naturally, the MPs would come along and they say, "Well, I bought it and I paid cash for it." And they said, "Well, do you have a title to it?" And they say, "Well, no." And they'd say, "Well, I'm sorry. It's a stolen vehicle as far as we're concerned," and they'd pick it up. So this guy from Idaho evidently did quite a bit of this stuff and his duffle bag was loaded with invasion currency and you can't, you couldn't bring it back.

So I was assigned fifty guys to come back to the Idaho, Utah area, hakujin guys, fifty of 'em and one of these guys was this guy and so I got him a pass to suggest that he, the only thing would be, would be he can't bring the money back so possibly if he can negotiate with some French people or German people, buy a home and use that money that way and probably come back later. And so I got him transferred out of the outfit and, but I brought the fifty back with me and we got on at, we got to New York we got on a train. And when I got to Fort Douglas, Utah, it was December 24th. And so then Cherrie came from Price with Charlene and was almost two years old. And her sister Toshiko was waiting at the gate there. But they, they decided that they weren't gonna release me because I was injured and they thought that I'd have to take a full examination to stick around about a week or so. And I said, "Well, no way." And besides, there was some word in there that they would want me to sign up again for another term and then go to Japan and use my bilingual talents over there. But I just felt that it was fully five years that I'd been in the army and I thought I did the best I could and so what I did is I told the officer there that what I'll do is, "I want to go, my wife is here, and sister-in-law is here and I want to get out tonight and it's Christmas Eve." And he says, "Well, I can't figure any way to do it 'cause you gotta be examined." So I said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll waive all of my injuries." And I waived it thinking well, I was only, what, twenty-seven, and I signed a waiver. So he said, "On that basis, I'll let you go." And so I didn't have to go to Japan or I didn't have to stay there. So we got on a train that night and headed back for Price, Utah.

TK: It was a nice Christmas.

MT: Yeah, it's just the timing was really off and things.

TK: From 1945 until you returned to Seattle, what did you do?

MT: We stayed a week in Price there and I borrowed my brother-in-law's car and then mother and brother were farming in Vale, Oregon, so Cherrie and I went to visit my mother and brother there. We drove from, all the way up to Salt Lake and then all the way down into Vale, Oregon.

TK: Did your mother say anything about the thousand knots to you when she saw you in Vale?

MT: No. We were more excited, I guess, that I'd come back.

TK: Safely.

MT: Uh-huh. And, I never thought of it that way, but at a different interview they asked me, "Min, when you first saw your mother, what did you do?" And so I said, "Well, we rushed up and we held hands," and, but, you know, it didn't occur to me that between the Issei and the Nisei that we would embrace. Now we do, I mean, with wives and mothers. But all of a sudden when they asked me that question, I thought, here, Issei, Nisei, I mean, we held hands and namida ga deta, but I thought, "Gee, why didn't I embrace," after all that wartime, and during camp, I went to combat and back safely. Omota no da ga. But at that time it was the Issei, Nisei, oya, kyodai. Kimochi da ne.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.