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MA: Was your sister able to come to Crystal City with you?

YA: She came one time. She had married and went with her husband to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where the 442 was training. And I forgot how long she was there. Basic training is, what, three or six months, I don't know. As long as... and then he went overseas. And on the way to Salt Lake City, where she had found somebody to stay with, she stopped in Crystal City and visited us. There were limitations, you couldn't stay longer than so many days. I didn't see her until way after the war was over. As soon as my brother-in-law went overseas, it wasn't too long before he was missing in action. And, you know, it was the strangest thing. My sister had posted a letter. The night she wrote to us... you know, they couldn't send telegrams. Maybe she could have, but she sent me an air, a special delivery letter. And that night she posted it, I woke up. My sister was calling me. I even turned the light on, 'cause I was so sure she was in the room. But then, she wasn't, so I went back to sleep. And the next day the letter came saying that her, Horse, we called him Horse, was missing in action. And I was just in shock. Horse's... let's see, good friend, auntie and... sister and brother-in-law were also in Crystal City, so I went to their house to tell them that Horse was missing in action, I remember. 'Cause her brothers were also in the 442. They were also taking basic training in Mississippi.

MA: Oh, so sad.

YA: And after one year, they're declared killed in action. And I remember we had a memorial service, and it was really sad. We had no flowers, and we just passed a bowl of incense from one person to the next, and it was on a regular table, we just passed it. So it was really a very sad, pitiable, memorial service.

MA: So your sister, did she settle in Salt Lake City after that?

YA: Uh-huh. But after the war was over, she went back to Seattle because my uncle, I think he bought another hotel, apartment, and he said, "You could come and stay." So my sister went over there to live.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.