<Begin Segment 19>

TI: But before you went there, your oldest brother, did he come home or when did he visit the house when Ralph came? When did Ralph come?

PY: Ralph came, I think... I think it was around October or so.

TI: Okay, so a little bit more after a year after the end of the war.

PY: Huh?

TI: So October 1946, or '45?

PY: '45.

TI: Okay, just so... August, so two months after.

PY: Yeah. You know, my brother, he tried -- because he didn't know where is Atatashima. He knew only the name of Atatashima but he did know where is Atatashima. Hiroshima prefecture, Hiroshima-ken is a big place. So he went to Hiroshima city and asked the people, "Take me to Atatashima." But those people didn't know where Atatashima is. So he had a hard time. But I think second or third time, they found one guy that know where Atatashima. That's how he came to Atatashima.

TI: Okay, so this is October, so this is just maybe two months after the war --

PY: Yeah, yeah.

TI: -- has ended. So describe that. What was it like for him coming to Atatashima?

PY: So he... you know, those days, the people were saying that, they called it shinchugun, shinchugun, American military personnel, they are very bad. So when the shinchugun come, you've got to hide your ladies, girls in there. Don't, they will... very bad people." That kind of story was going around. So and then, on that Atata Island, many family lost not only one but like two sons or whatever, you know. And they found out that, from the Atata temple, one of the son is coming back as a shinchugun, and American soldier. "We cannot, thing happen like this. Let's kill him." So later on, my mother found out that people were saying that. But anyway --

TI: Well, when your mother heard that, what did she, she do?

PY: Well, this was after, after my brother went home, so it was okay. But when my brother came, the island people were surprised, because he didn't have no gun, he wasn't, looked like a wild guy, wild American soldier. So everything after he came back -- and he had some gum or candy like that, he used to give to the children. So everything was okay.

TI: Now, when you saw him the first time, did you recognize him?

PY: Yeah, I recognized him, yeah.

TI: Because it had been many years since you saw him.

PY: But funny thing, funny thing happened is he had boots, and he wear the boots and coming, walk inside the house, on the tatami. Japan don't do that. But he's a military man, and he wear boots, even with the boots on. And my mother was surprised. [Laughs]

TI: When you say surprised, did your mother get mad at him? [Laughs]

PY: No, not mad, not mad at all, yeah. And he had an attack that night, malaria. But, so he brought his sleeping bag, though.

TI: So before, the first time he comes to the house, what was the reaction of your mother and father when they saw Ralph the first time?

PY: Well, I guess they were... I guess he's the second son. I went back to Atata first after the war, and he was the second one. And we had another, three more brothers. But I think he was the second one. Of course, we didn't know that he had hard time locating Atatashima, but when we saw him, I think the parents was so surprised and happy.

TI: Now, was Ralph able to speak very much Japanese? Would he just...

PY: Yeah, he'd understand, because he was the oldest one. I guess we used to communicate with my parents.

TI: So you mentioned, so one thing he did, he came in with his boots on the tatami, but he also, you said he had a malaria attack that night.

PY: Yeah.

TI: And you also mentioned, you were just saying, he brought a sleeping bag?

PY: Yeah, a sleeping bag.

TI: And so that must have been different for you to see.

PY: Yeah. Because he knew that he had malaria, I guess, but he didn't wake my mother up. He didn't sleep that night with a high fever or something, I don't know what malaria do to human body. So next day, my mother found out that, she was mad.

TI: Oh, she was mad that he didn't wake her up?

PY: Yeah, yeah, he didn't wake her up.

TI: And Ralph was probably used to taking care of himself.

PY: Yeah, that's why he had this sleeping bag. I guess he had some medication, too. But he caught the malaria in... what you call... I don't know.

TI: Like in Burma?

PY: Burma or someplace around that area, I think.

TI: Okay. Because Ralph -- for people who are watching this -- Ralph actually joined the OSS, the U.S. Army, and so he was doing sort of counterintelligence work and would oftentimes drop behind enemy lines and things like that. And he was, I believe, an officer? He was like a captain?

PY: Yeah, he was a captain.

TI: Captain, so, which was pretty unusual for a Japanese American to be an officer, so he must have been a really good soldier for him to be an officer. But I'm curious, now, for you, here you were being trained to fight for Japan, and then you see your older brother come through the door in a American uniform, something that you were trained to kind of fight against. What were you thinking when you saw that?

PY: Well, I guess because I was young, you turn around fast, yeah. During the war I was thinking, "Japan, Japan, Japan." I was, we were going to win the war. But once we lost the war, and I found out, yeah, Japan did something wrong, I started turning around, and that was pretty fast, yeah.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.