<Begin Segment 25>

SY: So when you came back to L.A. and then took care of the family, did you decide to go back to school?

FO: Yes. George and I, we both went up, went back to school. And I sent my two younger siblings to L.A. High and then after that we went in, George and I went to City College for a while. Then George went into, he went to USC under GI Bill.

SY: And what were you studying?

FO: I was planning to be a missionary, because I saw all this suffering in Japan and in the Philippines. But every time I tell that to Vi, she gets upset. Because I told her that, "I wanted to be a missionary until I met you. You changed my whole life around." "I did not," she tells me.

SY: And who is Vi? Okay, so how did you meet Vi?

FO: Well, it was a friend of mine that introduced us.

SY: And when was that?

FO: That was when I was still going to UCLA.

SY: So that was after City College.

FO: Yeah. City College, when I was going to City College, I got sick. I had pleurisy real bad, and I was in the VA hospital in West L.A. for a while, then they sent me to a hospital in New Mexico, Fort Bayard, New Mexico, because that pleurisy fluid became positive and I was partly, they were afraid that it was going to be TB. So complete rest. I stayed in bed most of the time. And there was a lot of other GIs that were like that. So I stayed there, what, a year and a half or something like that.

SY: In New Mexico?

FO: Yeah, in New Mexico, Fort Bayard, VA hospital.

SY: Wow. And you were hospitalized that whole time?

FO: Yeah.

SY: That must have been tough.

FO: It was. Well, you know, you learn to adjust. And the guys down there didn't know what to make of me.

SY: New Mexico? And your parents, were they concerned, they must have been concerned about you, huh?

FO: Oh, yeah. Mom was always concerned. And Father John used to write to me and tell me about everything.

SY: And then so that was, took a break in your education, too.

FO: Yeah.

SY: So you couldn't really...

FO: I couldn't do nothing.

SY: And then when you came back...

FO: I went back to City College.

SY: And so you got cured completely of the pleurisy?

FO: Yeah. Because... no, I don't know what the word cure means, but all that fluid dried up. That's what they were trying to do, to dry it up. So they used to drain me every now and then, you know, put a needle in me and pull that stuff. It looks like beer coming out. It had a head on it.

SY: Painful.

FO: No, you get used to it. And then they put a tube down your throat. That's the part that I used to gag. And then, you know, the people in Fort Bayard area, Silverton, New Mexico, or Silver City, New Mexico, they didn't know what to make of me.

SY: You were the only Japanese?

FO: Yeah, I was the only Asian around.

SY: Only Asian around. But you spent most of the time inside the hospital.

FO: Yeah.

SY: It was just the staff and people that...

FO: Yeah. But the gray ladies, the gals that come and visit all the veterans all the time, they didn't know what to think of me. But I talked to them and they were real nice to me, and they bring me, they give me the same gifts that they give everybody else. But the thing was, when I was there, I found out that the New Mexico national guard took a beating in the Philippines from the Japanese. That's when I started to get worried, because if these guys found out I was there... [Laughs].

SY: Wow. So then when you came back to L.A., you ended up enrolling at UCLA?

FO: No, I finished up at City College and then I went to UCLA.

SY: Oh, so you actually went back to City College and then you decided to change your major?

FO: No. Well, yeah. I didn't know what I wanted. But I had a good time at UCLA because everybody was much younger and they didn't know how old I was, and people can't figure out what I'm doing with these young guys. They want to know how come I know these young people.

SY: And that's where you met Vi?

FO: Well, she used to go to Holiness Church, and I was at St. Mary's. And this friend of mine that went to City College with me, he introduced us. And it was love at first sight, really. I told her I wanted to get married, "Let's get married." And she looked at me. She said, "When?" I said, "As soon as I get out of school and make some money."

SY: So that's what happened?

FO: Yeah, that's what happened.

SY: Wow.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.