<Begin Segment 22>

KN: So do you remember that day when the letter actually came and your reaction to it?

HM: I have pictures of that. The first thing my husband -- my husband was our chauffeur -- boy, we ate lot of hamburgers for lunch when we were doing research, lot of hamburgers we ate, so no wonder I put on weight at that time, but the first thing he said when he opened the mail -- we knew that it was the check, government check -- the first thing, when I showed my husband the check, you know what he said? "Mom, yoku yatta," you did well. Because I, we really worked hard for that, because I worked hard for my parents because rightfully that's theirs, not mine. I wanted my parents to get that because, but they passed away before the bill was passed. That's not fair. That's not fair. Rightfully that belonged to my mom and my dad, not us. But I really, I worked for them. At times I was very hurt because they asked us some, such stupid questions and we had to look for information, but I wasn't gonna give up. I did for my parents, I really did. I really worked my pants off then. I wanted to. So when my husband said, "Mom, yoku yatta," that means "you did well," I was very happy. I was happy that somebody recognized that I worked hard. So the first thing I did, I put the check on the hotekesan.

TI: I'm sorry, say that again, the check...

HM: Yeah, opened the check and I put it on the hotekesan, the altar, and I thanked my parents. Because of them I got this.

KN: Were your sisters alive then?

HM: I lost Amy before that, my sister right below, but Miyeko, the youngest --

KN: Do you remember telling her and what was her reaction to all this?

HM: Oh, Miyeko was something else. She was, she had a lot of children, so working on the repatriation was hard for her, so I did everything for her because we had the same information, so I made photostat copies for her and whatever had to be signed I had her sign and I sent it, 'cause she was raising five children. That's a lot of work. [Laughs] So I did for her. But it was a good feeling.

TI: And in the end, how many received checks because of this effort?

HM: I think all the, all the people that worked in the group had.

TI: So do you know how many checks it ended up being, how many people?

HM: I don't know, but there's one family I remember distinctly, I think they had twelve in all.

TI: I'm sorry, twelve?

HM: Yeah.

TI: Wow.

HM: Twelve times twenty thousand.

TI: So that's two hundred forty thousand dollars.

HM: That's lots of money. But I don't know whether I should tell you guys... well, they -- no, I don't think I better tell you that story.

TI: Okay, that's fine. After people start receiving checks, what did people tell you, 'cause you were sort of one of the organizers who got this moving? What did they tell you?

HM: Not one thank you.

TI: No. You got to be kidding me, really?

HM: Of course, we thanked ourselves who worked together. You know, it's so sad I can't think of her name. I can picture her. (Ruth Yamaguchi).

TI: Even some of the people who, maybe, early on weren't supportive --

HM: Who gave us bad time.

TI: -- and they got their checks, they didn't say anything to you?

HM: All the correspondence had our name and telephone number because they had to call us back for information. I was hurt. You know, you shouldn't expect something back when you do something for somebody. That's not, well, don't do it if you want -- but at least "thank you." Uh-uh, no.

KN: Are these families ashamed that they received money or...

HM: I don't know. Maybe they're busy, or, my husband said, probably they thought it was right they got the twenty thousand. Maybe they, it was right they got the --

TI: But even if they thought it was right, they could still say thank you.

HM: Yeah. Well, that's okay. That's human.

TI: When you first started the effort back in, what, 1991, '92, what were people thinking? Did they think there was a good chance that they would get this money?

HM: No.

TI: Did you think there was a good chance you would get this money?

HM: No.

TI: So why do it?

HM: My parents. My father and my mother. I want to, I wanted to be a payback time for what they've sacrificed and what they've lost. By then I was grown up, so my mind was not like when I was a youngster. I really thought about my parents a lot.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.