<Begin Segment 2>

MA: Can you talk a little bit more about your father's job on the railroad?

SO: Well, there isn't much to him. All he did was, I don't know exactly how many employees he was supervising. I would imagine maybe fifteen or twenty employees of the railroad, laying out new railroad sections, putting in new ties, general maintenance.

MA: And he was the Issei --

SO: He was, he was the boss, and that's why they called him the section boss, or section foreman.

MA: Do you remember who the other men were on, like, in his group? Were they other Isseis?

SO: No, they were all, the best, I think they were all Caucasians. I don't think there was, no Japanese in his group, at that time.

MA: Do you know, I guess, how he got this job for the... what was the railroad company?

SO: SP&S.

MA: SP&S? Do you know how he initially got hooked up with that job?

SO: No, I don't. I don't know. All I know is -- [laughs] -- he got the job, but I don't know how he got it or who recommended him or anything like that.

MA: So you mentioned before that he got badly injured.

SO: Badly, very badly.

MA: So how did that actually occur?

SO: Well, evidently, there was a flat, you know what those flatbeds look like on the railroad, it was full of, not logs, they were like telephone poles, you know, they were that long, and they had a bunch of 'em on that and (someone) didn't tie it on there right, I guess, and it so happened the crew was working right next to, I mean, that (it) was parked right next to where the crew was working, and he was in the way when the whole thing came loose, and that's what fell on him. He just about lost his life then, actually.

MA: Do you have many memories of...

SO: No, that's all I remember, and I remember his face was, gone through it pretty, really bad, it's all out of shape, and they had to rebuild his face. That's all I remember.

MA: Did he receive any sort of disability pay from the railroad?

SO: I don't, I don't know about that either. All I know is shortly after that he gave it up, quit.

MA: And what were the effects of this injury for him?

SO: Well, it didn't bother him, actually, after he got well. He was able to function quite well.

MA: How long did it take for him to get fully recovered from this?

SO: Oh, that I can't remember either. I really don't know.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.