<Begin Segment 21>

TI: So, now, after your tour, you talked about naturalization?

KT: Yeah, that was really interesting. I come back here, and I wanted to get my citizenship, so I went down there to apply for that deal because that was in October, and I knew I would have a job with Boeing as soon as I got my naturalization paper there. And then when I walk into there, they tell me, "You have to take the course there, six months' course before you could apply for naturalization paper." And I balked at that. "Look," I says, "I was educated in the U.S., K through 12, University of Washington graduate, I do not need to go to any history class to learn that." And we hemmed and hawed, arguing about that, and finally, the guy said, "Well, in view of your military service, we'll let you take the test." And boy, did I cram for that test. "Two weeks," they said, "come back here for your test." And I really crammed for that federal history, and I really passed it. And the guy says, "Well, you did pretty good on your test." I said, "I was a 3.4 GPA in college, engineering school," I said, "I know how to take tests." And then there was the oral examination portion, and he said, "Well, we still got to go through this oral examination." And he says, "Can you name the thirteen colonies?" I said, "God, what a question to ask me," I said. I just went right through it because I had a good memory at that time. Not anymore, but that time. And finally when he finished, I said, "God, you're giving me this oral exam and you got the nerve to ask me that question?" I said, "If you go out on the street and pull the guy, how many guys could really answer the legislative, the executive and judicial branch of the government, all that thing?" I said, "Come on." He said, "Well, I wanted to test you to see. You did so good in your written examination, I was testing you." And I was kind of mad for them to... and when I finally got to a point where I would "swear to bear arms for your country," I said, "I bore arms for my country." [Laughs] And later on, I happened to be talking to another friend of mine, and I said, and the hassle I went through and how I got... he says, "You know, my sister is in the same boat as you. She was teaching those courses. And when she applied for her naturalization paper, after telling them she taught that course, they didn't agree. They made her wait six more months to take the course as a student." Yeah, the bureaucracy. You got to fit each form, and since she didn't have a military service to fall back on, they made her wait six months to get it. I remember arguing, "Hey, I got a job coming for me. I can't get that job until... hey, I'm broke. I don't got no money stashed away." [Laughs]

TI: That's a good story. But you mentioned earlier that, you said, as soon as you got naturalized, you knew that job at Boeing was waiting for you. How did you know that? Was Boeing hiring at that point?

KT: Yeah, they were hiring. Back in '54, hey, any engineer could have walked right up to the employment office and get hired then. They were clamoring for engineers. The 707 program was starting to build up, and they needed engineers, you know. So it was a given. As soon as I got my naturalization paper, I was on the payroll.

TI: So you decided to do Boeing versus civil service, because civil service was another option.

KT: Another backup that I could go, but then I had to go through the process of going through that. And besides, at Boeing, I was getting a good pay there.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.