<Begin Segment 22>

TI: Okay. So during the war, were there any events or memories that have come to mind? Besides, I guess the big one was giving birth to your first child.

KK: Yeah.

TI: Probably the biggest.

KK: Well, of course, after things settled down a bit, and everybody got back to so-called "normal," we all had to walk around with gas bags, gas masks and something else. It was gas masks and... I can't remember what it was. It was a nuisance.

TI: And during the years during the war, do you recall any kind of difficulties by being a Japanese American? Did, like, discrimination or animosity towards you because of the war against Japan?

KK: Well, I felt that the haoles were suspicious of us, and they couldn't tell what we would do. We tried to be as invisible as possible without being too obnoxious.

TI: You talked about your family friend, Hiro Higuchi, the reverend. And you mentioned later on he was the chaplain for the 442. Were there very many men that you knew that you knew that volunteered for the, I guess, at first, the 100th and then the 442? Was that pretty common?

KK: Yeah, well, I didn't know too many of the people, but my husband did because many of them were his patients.

TI: Now, was your husband ever subject to military service?

KK: No, he volunteered go to, but they told him, "No, you stay home and take care of the teeth before they arrive in the army." [Laughs]

TI: Oh, good. So they thought he would be more valuable as a dentist in Hawaii than...

KK: Yeah. And then in case of emergency, then he would be on the medical corps.

TI: Okay. So you mentioned you were pregnant with your first child. Let's talk a little bit about your children. So who, can you tell me the names of your children?

KK: Yeah, the first one was Carolyn, C-A-R-O-L-Y-N. What else do you want to know about that?

TI: Well, then why don't we just do the order first.

KK: Well, then Paul, and then Mary, and Glenn is the youngest, G-L-E-N-N.

TI: Okay. And so I'm curious what it was like raising children during not only the war time, but really maybe after the war. What was Hawaii like raising children during this time?

KK: Well, by that time, we'd gotten used to the fact that Japan was an enemy. Of course, peace was 1945, '46, somewhere in there. I don't know. I just thought it was normal to have children to raise. They were two years apart, so it was a little bit busy, I should say, when the kids were young.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.