<Begin Segment 15>

VW: So then I was in college, and so I quit football and I went one year, I was in college, and then I became pretty well acquainted with what I had to do to study and so on and so forth. And I developed my studying habits. And then the next year, which was 1941 in the fall, they had a program called War Training... no. They had a program that you could get a pilot's license if you paid forty dollars, and it was subsidized by the university. And I thought, "Forty dollars, that's pretty inexpensive for a private pilot's license," but I didn't have forty dollars. And so I went home one weekend, and I happened to run into my friend, and he said, "Virgil, I'll loan you forty dollars." He wasn't in college, though, he was working. And so I said, "Wow, that's pretty good." So he gave me forty dollars and I paid forty dollars, and I started, like, in the fall of '41, I was in the process of flying, learning how to fly, and then war broke out in December the 7th, 1941. And that's when I became very quiet about who I was and so on, because it just was easier that way. Human beings tend to take, usually, an easier way if it's a legal and honest way, so we just kept quiet about who we were.

TI: So let me explain this, so who you were, meaning your Japanese background.

VW: Didn't say anything about it.

TI: So up to that point, your last name was Nishimura.

VW: But I ended the college under "Westdale," but you're right...

TI: But up through high school --

VW: Legally, it was, legally it still was Nishimura. I graduated from high school Nishimura. But when I went to college, I just went with the alias Westdale, although my name wasn't changed in court yet. That wasn't until 1942 that I changed. So, but I put Nishimura and then I put Westdale underneath it. So they knew my name was Nishimura, but they also knew that I went by Westdale.

TI: So how did you, explain how you chose the name Westdale.

VW: Back before my mom died, Nishimura, speaking I guess the Japanese way is "Nishimura." But we always called it "Nishimura." And "nishi" means "west," English translation of the name. "Nishi" means "west," : "mura" means "village." Well, you couldn't say "Westvillage" for a name, 'cause it sounds like a city. And so we thought about that, and then we, somebody, I don't know who in the family thought of "dale," like "hill and dale." And so "Westdale," and so that's how Westdale came about. Kind of an, it was really an English translation of the name. And it was easy to spell, but we never changed it then, yet. But it was easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and people didn't ask us, "How do you pronounce that?" We were born and raised in a Caucasian area in the Midwest. And so we had no Japanese American friends of any kind. And so we were just plain old Caucasian type people. And when they saw the name "Nishimura," "How do you spell that?" and so on, and, "What kind of a name is that?" And so we got kind of a little frustrated about having to explain all that all the time. So we thought changing it to Westdale was easier. And so, but we just kept that in mind, that's all. And then not until 1942 I changed it when I ran into all kinds of problems.

TI: Sure. Now, did your siblings also change it to Westdale?

VW: They didn't at first, no. But my brother eventually changed his, but quite a while afterward. And then my sister Virginia changed hers, and Elinore... well Lucile got married, and so her name changed anyway. And Virginia, she thought about changing hers, but she didn't really do that, she didn't change her name legally, but she did eventually change it to Westdale, knowing that it was kind of an English translation of the name.

TI: Okay, good.

VW: But I changed mine through the court in 1942.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.