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TI: So let's go to your life a little bit more. So you were born in Vallejo, California, in 1925. Tell me about, sort of, your first memories. Where were you when you began to really remember things?

MH: Washington, D.C. My father was on duty there at the Naval Department, and we lived in Chevy Chase, and I was, let's see, that was probably, I was probably three to five years old there, I think. And then my sister Charlotte was born there.

TI: And do you know what influenced your father to, to join the Navy?

MH: It's very interesting. He was, he graduated from college at a very young age, as we've said. And he was going to become a civil engineer, working on the roads in, I guess, Arkansas, which is where he was born. And then I think it was through knowing of my great-great uncle, Admiral Luce, that he became more interested in the Navy. And decided -- and also, my grandmother said that, "You should serve your country and you should go into the Navy." And so through Admiral Luce, he got a commission, I mean, he got whatever it is that you, to go to Annapolis and go to the Naval Academy there.

TI: And you said, though, he graduated very early, I think we said we said earlier, like about sixteen.

MH: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: And then --

MH: He graduated, I think, practically the same year that he entered college, actually. [Laughs]

TI: And so he was a college graduate before he went to Annapolis?

MH: Before he went to Annapolis.

TI: Which is unusual because most people go to Annapolis to get their college...

MH: Yes.

TI: So given that he already had a college degree, what did he do at Annapolis?

MH: Well, you know, he was the usual midshipman. But he, one of the reasons that he was able to get through college so early was because he was a mathematical genius, which, I might say, I inherited in reverse. He... he graduated, I think, it was one or two years after he entered this college, and they made a rule that nobody was ever to do that again, after he graduated.

TI: And so what are some stories or examples of his math aptitude? When you say he was a mathematical genius, did you ever hear any stories that kind of indicated how good he was at math?

MH: I just know that that was his general reputation, and I think also because of the, of the submarine disaster that he was in later, and his ability to calculate the odds and to proceed on that, evinced that. But I know when -- this is jumping forward in my story -- but when we went to Newport when I was, I think, seven years old, I believe, he was going to the Naval War College there. I had not been in school, I was then in first grade, but I was seven years old, and I should have been in second grade. So he tutored me in math at that time, which must have been miserable for him to have to get himself down to that level of math. [Laughs]

TI: And just do addition, subtraction, multiplication tables.

MH: Exactly, yes.

TI: Do you recall any examples when he would teach you, or just growing up, of his ability to calculate things as they --

MH: No, that was the only incident I remember. You know, the, being in a military family, or naval family, is a little bit like the traditional Japanese family in that the father leaves the home for his occupation, and he doesn't come back until late evening, and is there for the night. The mother is taking care of the whole household, she's taking care of the children, she sees to their lives. And of course, the boy of the household is the favored one, and the daughter is not as well-favored. And that's the way the, with the military families. The father, when he's home, he's the law, and you follow whatever he says, and you're obedient to him. And you're not supposed to show too much spark of imagination. [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, that is, I've done lots of interviews with Japanese families, and that does sound similar in terms of the deference you would give to the male.

MH: Yes.

TI: The father figure.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.