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MN: Now, Kiyo tells me this is right after the war, in the '50s, and when you guys were in the office just chit chatting you shared this dream you had, this vision. Share with us what vision you had.

BK: I don't know if I remember what the vision was. I have always felt that we were mistreated as Japanese Americans and that our cause has not been known to the people in the United States. The government took advantage of us. They put us in camps. They never compensated us and then told us to leave the camp and "go back to where you came from" and gave you travel expenses, and that's it. I says, "This is mistreatment of the citizens of this country, and yet we volunteered to serve in the army. We served in Europe, and I don't know what to tell you, but if it weren't for the 100th and 442nd, I think we might've lost the war in Europe. And as far as the Japanese Americans in the Pacific side, if you didn't have them, according to statements by the government, it would've cost you more time and money to have won, if you would've won." I says, we were mistreated, and I think that the government should know about it. We should let the citizens know about it. The only way we can do it is ourselves. We have to build a museum somewhere where people can see what happened and tell people what we're all about. And we're still lacking money. We're lacking recognition, and we haven't received anything from the government. I says we have to let the public know, and the only way I can think of is to start a museum, start a public place where we can teach people as to what happened to us. Nobody else is gonna do it for us. We have to do it ourselves. So we get, the soldiers got together and... however, the soldiers wanted to form their own unit, which was okay by me, just as long as we get the story out. So that's how we started.

MN: Before you, we get to that point, you had other, you were still making a living, before you could pursue this museum dream, and in between you got married. You were working in Little Tokyo. You had your office with Kiyo. You were teaching night classes at East L.A. College, and then in between you were sneaking in visits with Frances. How were her parents taking your visits?

BK: Well, Frances' family was in a turmoil. When I was first dating her, her father was ill. He passed away, and so there was one year lapse after he passed away that I felt I shouldn't be intruding on the family. They had to readjust themselves. After that I prevailed on Mrs. Tashiro that I wanted to get married to Frances, and she was happy, happy to see me come around. [Laughs] She needed some company, too, 'cause she was lonesome. But it worked out well. So our lives, we got married and we stayed close to Mrs. Tashiro's home because she owned a four unit apartment next door to her home and we stayed there the first year. Then she got pregnant and we had our first baby, so I says, "We need a home." So in between... Mrs. Tashiro moved out to Gardena, bought a new residence, and I moved to Gardena and bought an old house, and so we both moved to the Gardena area. And Mrs. Tashiro was close by, so we could look after her. And then the Gardena chapter started.

MN: Okay, let's, let's stop with the Gardena chapter there.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.