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TI: So let's go back to your father. So born in the late eighteen hundreds, what do you know about his childhood, growing up?

HM: I've seen his delayed birth certificate and he looks like a little bulldog, and he had a scar here [points to forehead above left eye]. Remember those days soda pops came in bottle? So somehow that exploded and cut his, above his eyelid, but he does look, I wish I brought all those papers with me, pictures with me. I forgot. But he, warukozo, he did look like a rascal thing, a rascal boy, but you see, they went to Kona in Hawaii and when he was two months old (...). Probably Grandpa found a better position. And I wondered how did my grandmother carry a two month old baby and run away from plantation? I didn't know that Grandpa came in a period of free immigration, they were able to go (without being caught). So then I heard stories that people took the government road. They called it a government road those days and it ran through Parker ranch, so one day -- I'm always looking at travel news and see what's coming up and so forth -- then the Parker ranch had a tour that went through the field and went to Mr. Parker's original home up in the mountain. So I called the number and they said yes, so about couple of days later my husband and I jumped on the plane and we went, and we were, this was the last tour to... then I saw the, I asked the driver, "What is a government road?" He said, "This is it, government road."

TI: Wow, interesting.

HM: I was so happy that Grandma carried my dad, two months old, and went to Hilo, I mean Kona, on the government road.

TI: And so you saw the actual road that they...

HM: Right. It connects things. You've been wondering how did they run away, but when you do genealogy you get your nose into it, and then the government road comes out in the conversation lot of times. So I'm glad that, so they went to Kona. And this is where I, we don't have any story about Kona. Nothing, not a single word my dad or my aunt ever mentioned. Nothing in Kona. But could have been he taught school, or there was a merchant, Kimura Shoten, did he work for them? But I can't find anything about Kimura Shoten. I've asked people in Kona, but nobody seemed to know, but one of these days I'd like to find out, see if I can go to the Japanese council at the, somewheres and find, and see if I can get some story. So this period in Kona is totally lost.

TI: Well let's, let me move on then, because I wanted to talk about your father 'cause it was unusual that he served during World War I.

HM: Yes.

TI: So tell me about that. What do you know about that?

HM: Well, let me tell you what my grandmother told people in the community, in Japanese: "Uchi no Kiyohide Amerika no heitaisan." And I understand she was very proud. So you can see back of her mind they had no intention of going back to Japan, because they had nothing because they sold everything. But my grandmother was very, very proud of her son being an American soldier, so I understand that she really bragged about that.

TI: And did your father ever tell you about, about serving during World War I?

HM: He said it was terrible, the discrimination was terrible. So when I grew up, when I grew up, when I went into the business world, this is what he taught me. I don't know whether it was the right thing to say, but I think I learned from what he said. He spoke very good Japanese as well as English because Grandpa and Grandma, my grandma didn't speak pidgin Japanese or pidgin English. She was trained because she was still hanagatakai. So this is what he said in Japanese: "Gaijin gonna push you with their mouth." They said, "The haoles gonna push you with their mouth, so watch it. So that meant, that taught me I have to be strong, so that was a good lesson.

TI: And that's what he learned by, by...

HM: Being in service, the... but everything, according to my mom, said, "Your dad got busted as soon as he got promoted."

TI: Explain that.

HM: You know, his stripes.

TI: Right, yeah.

HM: Because he must've been getting into a lot of trouble, otherwise he wouldn't get busted.

TI: Oh, so he got like a corporal or something and then he got --

HM: And then he got busted.

TI: -- busted back down to private.

HM: Yeah, but he, he got out as a corporal, but that was, Mom always said that, she probably heard it from someone else, that, "You know, your dad got busted as soon as he got promoted," so he must've got into a lot of trouble. He wasn't gonna let anybody run him over.

TI: Interesting. Now, were there very many other men your father's age who had served in the military?

HM: I don't know, but there was a very famous Pahala group. I'm not, I'm not sure, correct about that, but there was a, they called the Pahala group. I didn't think of looking it up, but I should have.

TI: Yeah, because on the mainland I, there're a few cases I've come across of, of men, Japanese, usually Japanese, they were Isseis actually served in World War I, but not, not Niseis.

HM: Nisei. And then another thing Mom said, that Grandma was happy because he brought home food, so he was able to bring, so like butter and things, because Grandma had, Grandma wasn't working and there were other siblings at home, so when Dad brought home food, it saved the whole family.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.