<Begin Segment 3>

TI: So 1933, La Jolla, so do you have any childhood memories before the war of La Jolla?

JH: No.

TI: So the first kind of memories are more like in camp?

JH: Right. Maybe, probably when I was seven, which was right before camp, I found a penny. We were living in San Diego then. And so I asked my mother could I go to the store and get some candy. She said okay, and in those days if you were seven you were old enough to go, so I had to cross at the corner, so I went into the candy store, crossed the street, went into the candy store, bought my candy. When I came out there was a car parked beyond the corner, so it was a dilemma for me. Do I go around, and then I'm out in the middle of the street, right? Or do I go in between the cars, then I'm at the corner? So I decided to go in between the cars, and I was hit by a car going this way.

TI: So, 'cause you were sort of hidden, so when you came out --

JH: Yes, and I came out he was, who know? I mean, he didn't expect to see somebody come out between cars.

TI: And how badly were you hit?

JH: Well, when my mother, the neighbors ran to get her, and she said when she saw me she thought I was dead because there's, I think head injuries you bleed quite profusely, so, and I had a cut on my lip, I lost a tooth, and I had a concussion. Which wasn't, you wouldn't think there was so much blood, but I guess just that. I think I had a cut over here [points to lip] and I used to have those scars, but over time they disappear. And so anyway, it was very interesting. Maybe ten years ago my sister happened to mention that Mother said that the money she got from the insurance company for the injury, right, is what helped her through the war.

TI: So tell me about the insurance money. What insurance money would that be?

JH: I guess he, they figured because he hit a child that he was at fault and maybe those were damages. I have no idea.

TI: I see. Okay.

JH: I was in the hospital, not for very long. I think I had a broken collarbone too, besides the concussion. Gave me headaches until I was about eighteen.

TI: And so I'm wondering, when you mentioned that the insurance money helped your, the finances, so how did your mother support three girls and her?

JH: She opened her own, she opened her own business, the produce business in La Jolla. And that's how she supported us.

TI: And how did she juggle raising three girls and, and...

JH: I have no idea. She was fairly remarkable.

TI: Okay. That is amazing.

JH: Especially those days. First of all, she was very young and out on her own, and Japanese people frowned on divorce. I don't know that, there weren't very many at that time. 'Cause that would've been, like, maybe '36, 1936, '37.

TI: Now did she ever get help from others, like other families or friends that would help out?

JH: I don't think so. Her parents didn't approve, of course, because she more or less ran away from home and got married, so they didn't.

TI: But did you ever go up to Long Beach and visit your grandparents?

JH: Oh yeah, sure. In fact, when the war started we were staying with my grandparents in Long Beach.

TI: Okay, so on December 7, 1941?

JH: Right, we were in, we were in San Diego, but we moved as soon as, after December 7th we moved to be with our grandparents.

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