<Begin Segment 18>

MA: So then what, what year did you graduate from high school?

LS: 1948, I believe it was. That was in January, yeah, January.

MA: And what did you do after graduating from high school?

LS: Well, I continued working at the taxidermy, then I wanted to go see what California was like. So I had my uncle living there in Long Beach, so I went there and stayed there for about a year and a half, and then I came back home because the Korean War started.

MA: So you moved to Long Beach. What were you impressions of Long Beach? I mean, you hadn't --

LS: Oh, it was fun for me. It was exciting to be away from home, you know how that goes. But then I had a brother that went to Korea, and he was killed almost instantly, and I had to get back to my folks. And then I've been staying here in Denver ever since. He was in Japan for almost two years, I think, then the war started and they shipped him to Korea and he landed there towards evening, I believe, next day he was gone. He was an interpreter, they needed an interpreter 'cause they had a POW, and they called him up front. He was on this jeep with three others, and one South Korean survived and the other three... (...) my brother was still living, but by the time he got into the hospital and they tried to revive him, it was too late and he was gone. And that was a shock to my family.

MA: And you heard about this news when you were in California?

LS: Uh-huh. In fact, they have a (statue), they don't have it there, they removed it, but in Camp Drake in Japan, they had a statue of him and two older soldiers. Because my brother was one of the first to be killed.

MA: Where was the statue?

LS: At Camp Drake in Japan, just north of Tokyo, I believe.

MA: And what was your brother's name?

LS: Mitsuru, Mitsuru Goto, he was a PFC.

MA: And was he the second oldest brother, or the second oldest child?

LS: No, the first, he was right under me. So he was the first, in fact, he was the first grandson on my mom's side for my grandparents.

MA: And when did he enlist in the war?

LS: He enlisted soon after graduation, 1949.

MA: Okay, so the war had, World War II had been over.

LS: Yeah. Because he died in 1950.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright ©2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.