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MN: You were honorable discharged February 1947 and you returned back to Boyle Heights, and what happened to this lady who was living in your home? Was she still there?

BK: Oh, Mrs. Hearst kept the proceeds of whatever she would rent out. She lived free of any expense. My parents paid for the water bill out of the camp proceeds they made. So she lived for free and she rented the place out. She would keep the rent, but she would look after the property and that's all my parents were worried about, someone to live there and make sure the property was maintained. So Mrs. Hearst was good in that she did live there and the property was not destroyed, and she didn't do anything but just live there. But we're grateful that she stayed there.

MN: Once you're back into civilian life, what did you do?

BK: Well, the first thing I did was to go to USC to register. I came back after being discharged on a weekend and so my buddies came over, and on Monday I went to USC to register, so I didn't lose a day at all from coming back from being separated from the service in trying to get my civilian life going. And Monday when I went down to USC, I filled out all the forms and then found out that I could register for the coming semester for the evening program. The day program was (full). And I (applied for the night program). I was happy that each night I had a different course, three units, and so I had fifteen units during the week. I was able to attend school by street car. I didn't have a car. And I could study while I was riding on the street car, which was a benefit. And after the semester was over I converted to summer school, and in summer school I was in the regular school program, and then in the fall I was in the regular school. So I didn't miss a beat.

MN: Did you continue in medicine?

BK: Pardon me?

MN: Did you continue with medicine?

BK: No, when we took the various tests, ability tests, we were thinking about what fields I would be best suited for. Medicine came out okay, but it showed that I was academically strong in math, so I said what is there in math that I could take that won't take too long? And they said you could be an engineer, an accountant. I said, "How long does each one take?" An accounting only took three years, so I says, "I want to sign up for accounting." So that's what I did, and I graduated with a degree in accounting.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.