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MN: Today is Monday, September 19, 2011. We are at the Centenary United Methodist Church, Tani Ikeda's on the video camera. We will be interviewing Mitsuru Yamasaki and I will be interviewing, my name is Martha Nakagawa. So, Mits which prefecture were your parents from?

MY: Hiroshima. Other than that I don't really know too much.

MN: Do you know anything about your parents' life before they had children?

MY: No, I don't know anything about them.

MN: How many children did you parents have?

MY: Three, three boys. I have two brothers.

MN: And then where are you in the sibling hierarchy?

MY: I'm in the middle.

MN: And where were you born?

MY: Caldwell, Idaho.

MN: And when were you born?

MY: February the 3rd, 1924.

MN: Now were all your brothers and yourself, were they all born at Caldwell, Idaho?

MY: Yes.

MN: Do you know how your parents ended up there?

MY: No. Like I say, I don't really know too much about my family history.

MN: Now before your parents moved to Los Angeles, they stopped in Salinas, is that right?

MY: Salinas, yeah.

MN: Do you know why?

MY: I think my father had a half brother, I think. I'm not positive. This is what I understand. Anyway, 'cause we met them eventually and they showed us pictures of us with the family, so I think, I guess he would be my uncle was farming there in Salinas. Eventually we moved on to L.A.

MN: Do you remember what year your family came down to L.A.?

MY: No, I don't know anything about that.

MN: Where did you live in L.A.?

MY: Originally I remember we lived in West Los Angeles, Sawtelle.

MN: And then how long were you there?

MY: I don't know.

MN: And from the Sawtelle area where did you go?

MY: We moved to Tenth and Central in L.A.

MN: Do you know what kind of work your father was doing at the time?

MY: I think he used to work for Yano Crate Company. That was in L.A.

MN: Now before your mother got sick, do you recall what your home life was like?

MY: Not really too much. I guess I was... before my mother got sick... she must have got sick in 1930. I was about seven years old, six, seven. Anyway, I don't remember too much. I remember we had a... it was a pretty good life. I mean, I remember my dad used to take us out, we took miniature golf... I think he was a good father. But after my mother got sick, then my dad... this was in 1932, he got laid off work at the Yano Crate because of the Depression and things. So one day we came home from school, the house had a padlock on it and we had no home, we had nowhere. We were fortunate that the people lived across the street had a couple of boys that was near our age. They took us in for a few days so we stayed there for a few days. Anyway, my mother's best friend, Mrs. Oda, I don't know if you've... but she heard about us and came after us and says, "No, you can't be... she made us live with them. My mother used to go to this L.A. Holiness Church and the reverend there was Reverend Kuzuhara. And then he found out about us so then he contacted Mr. Kusumoto who was a founder of the Shonien and asked if he could take us in. So we were really fortunate that we got taken there.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.