<Begin Segment 6>

TI: So tell me about hunting. So thirteen, Sundays you go out, what kind of rifle did you have?

RH: I had a twenty-two rifle and I would go rabbit hunting mostly.

TI: And was that a pretty common thing for boys your age to go rabbit hunting?

RH: I guess we'd just go out and shoot around and really we never got any rabbits, we never shot any.

TI: So you never brought home a rabbit?

RH: No, I don't remember bringing a rabbit home.

TI: But then tell me why you did it? So you go out, you don't get any rabbits, I mean, so what was the appeal of every Sunday going out?

RH: Getting out of church. [Laughs]

TI: How about other activities, so you would hunt, you talk about sports, did you play on a baseball team outside of school?

RH: Mostly basketball and we played a lot of basketball. We had a basket up in the back of the church and we used to go play over there a lot. And as far as other things I had BB guns and I would go up and down the alley and shooting at birds and stuff like that, shooting at anything.

TI: How about things with the family? You had... the three oldest were boys, did you guys ever go camping or do anything like that?

RH: No, we were pretty much separate, the brothers. I don't remember doing a lot with my brother George or Bill. And mostly I went out on my own.

TI: And why was that? Was that because of the age difference or just different interests or what was it?

RH: I think it was mostly the interests. I used to go with a bunch of other guys, if I didn't go to the camps I think I would've got in a lot of trouble.

TI: So the people you hung out with were kind of a tougher group?

RH: A rowdier bunch, yeah, did a lot of oddball things like I would go down by the river and shoot a lot. I used to take my BB gun mostly in town but later on I went to a lot of hunting with my .22 and there was this farm I used to go to and did a lot shooting out there. They didn't like me because I was shooting all kinds of different directions. When I think about it I says, oh, that was bad.

TI: And so that you were just like picking different targets and just shooting at them? And so if the neighbors were to describe you back then when you were thirteen, how would they describe you?

RH: I don't really remember what they would think, but I think a rowdy I guess, a rowdy kid doing things that normal kids wouldn't do.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.