<Begin Segment 19>

AI: And your wife, had she been incarcerated also?

KK: Well, she was born in Crystal City, Texas, and her family was from Peru, and I think they were worse off than we were. They were kidnapped from Peru. Well, first the father was kidnapped and they didn't see the father for a whole year and a half, and they got together at -- they didn't know if he was dead or alive, but finally they got together at Crystal City, they reunited there. And when the war ended, they -- nobody wanted them. Peru didn't want 'em back, US didn't want 'em back, Japan didn't want 'em. So they were stateless really. But the irony of that is that well, Collins helped them too to stay in the states, and they moved to San Diego. And the irony, as I say, was that three of the boys -- they were a family of seven too -- and three of the boys joined the military and one died, got killed in Vietnam as a hero. He had silver star, bronze star, and all that, Purple Heart; and the mother was a Gold Star mother. But yet he was a Peruvian when he joined. All three of the brothers were Peruvians.

AI: They were Peruvian citizens?

KK: Yeah.

AI: And your wife? Well, she was born in Crystal City.

KK: No, she was born so she was US citizen.

AI: And did your children know anything about her family story?

KK: Yeah, I told them about. In fact, I persuaded my wife to write a book about her family, a personal story, about her family.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.