<Begin Segment 12>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So that reminds me, while you're rebuilding in Bellevue, your grandfather and your uncles are in Japan. What's going on over there with your family there?

SA: But they had already passed away, my grandparents. No, excuse me, I take that back. My grandmother had died during World War II, and we received a notice through the Red Cross that she had died. And my grandfather lived to be way into his eighties, and my father was able to see him (and visit) him, but of course, my grandfather was in ill health. And my uncle had died, too. (...) Unfortunately, my uncle who graduated from Bellevue High School in 1934 went to Japan and (attended) Meiji University. And then, because he had dual citizenship, (...) was taken into the Japanese navy and he perished. So it was very sad for my grandparents, because here my uncle who had accompanied his parents to Japan, died when he was only twenty-eight years old. He was married and had a daughter, and so we keep in (touch) with her, because she wants to know about her father. (...) She wanted to know about her father's childhood because she didn't really know too much about it. So I have (a folder) they put together. (...) The internet is amazing, they got pictures and everything, and I have to show it to you. She and her husband put it together.

TI: Now did it every cause any problems that your father's brother, your uncle, was in the Japanese military? Did that ever come up in any interviews?

SA: Well, we didn't even know that he was in (the Japanese military). He was taken, because it was (during) the war. (...) His sister, (my aunt), was living in Los Angeles -- (had) studied in Japan, so she was very knowledgeable in the Japanese language and she had also gone to school in the United States. So when the war started, she was recruited by the, it's called the Army Special Programs Administration. (...) During World War II, she taught at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul (...). She taught the army people. Not, it wasn't like military intelligence.

TI: This was actually through the university?

SA: Actually through the university, yeah. It was called Army Special Programs Administration. (Narr. note: My aunt said upon completion, they were promoted to lieutenants.)

SP: So Japanese language specifically?

SA: (Yes), she taught the Japanese language, because she was bilingual. And bilingual people were really sought after during World War II. And she was very knowledgeable in both languages.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.