<Begin Segment 8>

MT: In 1929, we... 1930, my dad asked us to, he bought a brand-new car to, because my older sister Sadako was gonna get married. And so, to Japanese-style, to take her and deliver to the, to the Murakami family down in Long Beach, Washington, he bought this car the night before. The next day we were, Dad asked to take a houseguest back to Orillia, a Issei man. And so after dinner, Dad asked us to take him back so we took this brand-new car and my brother Henry was driving and behind my brother was my brother Masayoshi. He was sixteen at that time. And I was riding the passenger side, on the right side. And Mr. Okimoto was riding on the right rear. But we, it was a very, very foggy evening down in the valley. The fog became real, real bad and we, we, I think we traveled about, oh, about two or three miles from Kent, north on the West Valley Highway to go to Orillia and we were, just before we got to O'Brien, the Anderson's oil tanker, ten-ton oil tanker came across the center line in the fog and it clipped the, my brother's car, just behind him, but he hit his head and he had a head concussion. Masayoshi was right behind him but the truck ran right into him and killed him instantly. I was thrown out of the car and Mr. Okimoto's head went through the window and he was bleeding in his neck and shoulder and things like that. But it was, it was very hectic because we were, just before we got to O'Brien, but there was a lot of Japanese farmers there and this was right in front of Nomura's farm there. And all the Japanese in that area came right away but it was so foggy, they couldn't help us and Masayoshi, we laid him out in Nomura's yard there and we knew he was dead. And so they, they got word to my mother and they brought her there. And imagine that Dad was sick, he, Masayoshi died and Hiroo was completely unconscious and I was a little younger than twelve years old and Mr. Okimoto was bleeding.

And so they, but all the Japanese farmers came as soon as possible. But the one that I remember, recall that came and really helped out was Mr. Eki Saito, who was the president and owner of the White River Packing House and he had a Lincoln Zephyr at that time, the only one that, back in 1930. And Mother asked him to take us to -- we couldn't wait for the ambulance or anything and no telephones in those days. So Mr. Saito volunteered to put Masayoshi in his car and Mr. Okimoto and my brother. And my mother rode with him but it was very hectic, I imagine. I heard later that Mother wanted him to hurry up and people said, "Well, if you hurry in the fog you're gonna get in another accident." And so go fast and some say go slow and, but from Kent down to the Auburn General Hospital, that's about, almost eight miles, I believe. And they finally, got Masayoshi -- Masayoshi was left there for the mortuary to pick him up and for my brother Henry, Okimoto-san, and my mother and the Saito's car to get there. But my brother was unconscious for about, oh, over thirty days because he had the concussion of the brain where the truck had hit him. So, but I felt sorry for Mr. Saito because this Lincoln Zephyr, beautiful car, and had, blood was all over it, all the back seat and both the back seat and the front seat because of Okimoto-san in there and my brother Masayoshi was, I mean, Hiroo was bleeding all the way down there, so...

TI: When a tragedy like this happens in the community, in the valley like that, how did the community react to this? I mean, how, what kind of support did you get from the other Japanese families?

MT: Oh, it, the support is terrific because it's... we led a very, very close life among all the immigrants, not only Hiroshima people, the other prefecture people. Sometimes I think we were closer than the relatives in Japan. We're really close among each other and so the help and the... that we received at that time was just unexplainable, closeness. We felt like kyodai, you know, brothers and sisters or parents had gone through that tragedy.

TI: Well, what would be some examples of some of the things that they would do to help the family during this, this time?

MT: Well, they showed us all this kindness as much as they can but there's only so much you can do in a tragedy like this. What was very hard for me was... I wasn't able to drive at that time, but my brother, like I mentioned, Henry, was in the Auburn General Hospital for over thirty days, unconscious. But Mother, to catch the bus had to walk from the west side of Kent to east side of Kent to catch that bus. She didn't speak any English and she went to the Auburn General Hospital every day and went back and forth and sometimes the Japanese would take her there, but to get there early in the morning she always took the bus. And I give her a lot of credit because it must have been, with Dad sick at home and Yachiyo sick at home and Masayoshi had died and the strain of going from Kent to the Auburn General Hospital. But we were very, Mother was very fortunate because we had Dr. Owen Taylor, he lived in Kent but he was the head of the Auburn General Hospital and he was really a comfort because as serious as it was, he did everything he possibly could to comfort Mother and try to save my brother.

TI: When you look back at this, at this, this event, or these events that happened so closely... so, your, this accident, your father being sick, your sister being sick. How do you think this, this affected you, because you were pre-teen, so you were, you were old enough to really know what was going on and yet you were just developing as a adult. How do you think all this impacted you?

MT: It, like you mentioned, I was about twelve years old, so to a certain extent it was an experience of life and to a certain extent, to see Mother suffer to such an extent was really, it worried me very, very much. And when Mother said, well, she just hoped that she wouldn't go crazy with the entire situation falling on her at one time... to this day I really think the world of Mother and what she did for all of us kids by keeping us together after that even, so, it's really unexplainable what a Japanese mother really goes through for their kids and especially, not speaking English at all and it was thirty days at least. And finally, after thirty days my brother started to come to and so Dr. Taylor examined him and he found a blood clot on his brain and so he told Mother that since he knew my brother since he was about five years old, that he would somehow save him, his life, and it just occurred, probably a year or so before that... Dr. Taylor was a surgeon, even in the early days. And there was a boy in California from a wealthy family was in an accident and had a similar situation where the blood clot on the brain and he wouldn't snap out of it. He got conscious but still he wasn't normal. And Dr. Taylor went to California and he operated on this boy and he saved his life. And so he told Mother that he would somehow save -- we called him Hiroo at that time -- 'cause he knew him at about five years old when the name was Hiroo. And "Henry" came after he graduated high school. But he was determined to save his life and so Mother, he asked Mother to sign a release and he operated for eight hours, and right straight through in those days. And he said that, he would explain to me later that he had to take an auger to go through his skull to get into the brain and get that blood clot out and, but... Dr. Taylor told me, he said, "Min, it was so strenuous," that he took a glass of whiskey and so the strain and the pressure was so much that just to relax him. And I was so thankful. Mother was thankful.

TI: That's an amazing story. But, but going back to you, I was wondering if you felt a need to perhaps take on more responsibility, given all the things happening to your family, or in some ways, you had to grow up faster because of all this?

MT: Well, I think I did grow up faster. It wasn't me wanting to grow up faster, it was just, under the circumstances, I think I started to learn to drive when I was about thirteen, fourteen years old. And so, maturing, but at the same time, during Depression, when you're limited all around, there's only so much you can do. You want to help, it doesn't help that, but, very limited at that time so... but I did grow up quickly, a lot more than I should have because of the circumstances, I believe.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.