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TI: So we're going to get started, and the way I start is today is Wednesday, September 23, 2009, and we are in Los Angeles at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, part of the Japanese American National Museum. Doing the interview with me is Barbara Takei, I'm Tom Ikeda, and on camera we have Dana Hoshide. And so today we're here with Frank Sumida. And so Frank, I'm going to start at the very beginning.

FS: Okay, go ahead.

TI: And so can you tell me where and when you were born?

FS: Chicago, Illinois, at Cook County. What was that hospital? I don't know if I have my birth certificate.

TI: Oh, that's okay. But what was the date of your birth?

FS: Oh, 8/10/25.

TI: Now, so were you born at a house or in a hospital?

FS: Hospital, yeah.

TI: So you're the first person I've interviewed that's born in Chicago.

FS: Oh. Mayor Daly was a clerk at that time. He signed my birth certificate.

TI: Oh, that's amazing.

FS: And then it's the second or third Daly now, in Chicago.

TI: Right, so this is the old Boss Daly?

FS: Yeah, the old grandpa.

TI: Interesting. So now I want to talk about your parents. Your father, can you tell me his name and where he was raised?

FS: Gee, I can't pronounce his Japanese name, I, it has I, just the initial I. Sumida. My mother's name was Shigeno, that'd be a better help.

TI: And where was your father from?

FS: Hiroshima. Mother, Hiroshima.

TI: And do you know what the family, your father's family did in Japan?

FS: Farmers.

TI: How about your mother's family?

FS: Farmers. [Laughs]

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.