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SY: So now tell me about your... the siblings and where you are in the family structure.

HK: Yes, there are seven children now, and four of them are deceased, and I'm next to the last. I have a younger sister.

SY: So when were you born and where were you born?

HK: I was born in 1931 in San Leandro, again, that's in northern California.

SY: And all the older siblings that were born also in San Leandro then? You were the next to the youngest so maybe all of your siblings were born in San Leandro?

HK: As far as I know that's the case, yes, we were all born in that area.

SY: And what was your father doing? He continued farming all those years while he was --

HK: Yes, when he settled in California he was pretty much in the farming business, yes.

SY: And your father, did he speak much English?

HK: A little but not fluent.

SY: So do you remember what living as a farming family was like? I mean, did you actually have to do some of the work or were you too young?

HK: I was pretty young so I didn't do a whole lot of work, but I remember my parents working very, very hard. Long hours and here thinking about my mother, she had to work in the field on the farm, and then she'd have to come home and then do the cooking, preparing the meals and then the laundry, so she had a hard life.

SY: And taking care of the children?

HK: And my father also had a hard life because he worked those long, long hours, so it was tough.

SY: Were they primarily farming a certain crop?

HK: I think they were largely strawberries as I recall. They also did some other, what they call truck farming too.

SY: I see. So they actually leased the land?

HK: Yes, they leased the land, they couldn't afford to buy the land.

SY: And then whatever crops he would take to markets.

HK: Yes, I can remember when we lived in San Leandro, we even had a strawberry stand on East 14th Street there so we would also sell strawberries with a stand which is kind of crude but people did that.

SY: And your older brother and sisters probably had the brunt of the responsibility for helping.

HK: They all did pitch in, my older ones, and then my brother eventually was able to go to Cal Ag... UC Davis, the agricultural school for a couple of years. So he picked up some additional skills by going there.

SY: And this was early...

HK: This is probably 19 -- latter '30s probably.

SY: So how much older is he than you?

HK: He's twelve years older than I am.

SY: And then there were other... maybe you could go through your siblings.

HK: So I had four sisters above me and one sister below me. So everybody helped on the farm.

SY: And then there were the only the two sons.

HK: Yes, that's correct.

SY: So it was the oldest son and then you were the next to the youngest. I see. Did your father and mother talk about wanting more sons or was that ever discussed?

HK: No, we had a lot of girls in our family, but that wasn't really discussed.

SY: They never talked about that. That's good. That's very good. So you actually were going to elementary school.

HK: Yes, that's correct. You mean at the time of Pearl Harbor and World War II, yes, that's correct.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.