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SY: So your, but your, so how much longer after that did your dad get sick? Was it a few years later that your dad became sick, or was it just very shortly after that?

HS: It was in Minneapolis that he caught pleurisy.

SY: So it was pretty soon after your brother died.

HS: Yeah, that was, I guess... he died within six months after we all got together as a family.

SY: So that was very soon.

HS: And my dad died nine months later. I always remember the six months and the nine months, for some reason. Certain things stick in your mind.

SY: That's, must've been a tough time for you, huh?

HS: Yeah. Well, they died, then when I got drafted I came back.

SY: So you got, you got drafted when your dad went into the hospital?

HS: Yeah.

SY: So you were told to report?

HS: I got inducted on January 3rd of 1946.

SY: On the same day that he --

HS: So I told the chaplain, I says, "Hey," says, "I'm the sole supporter of the family." And so the chaplain says, "Well, there's a right way and the army way." But so he put in an application for a dependency discharge. Well, a little later -- but what he did is he asked for a stay of deportation so that I would stay in Minneapolis. And so I think it was a one month, but what happened was some adjutant saw the request and said request denied, so the chaplain looked at that and said, "That man had no authority to do that." He says, "He broke army regulation. It's supposed to go before a board of review." But he says, "That is the ticket to your freedom automatically, really." But he says, "There's a right way and the army way," so he says, "No, what you have to do is apply for immediate transfer to basic training." So I did, and then February I think, I went to Shepherd Field in Texas as part of the Air Corps. And so then went to the chaplain told 'em what happened and so then he sent in my request, and I don't know... then he said, "Oh, you need more affidavits, so you got to get an affidavit from your mother, your father, your brother, and then two friends." And then he came back again and said, "Oh, there's something else," so between the back and forth letters and everything, snail mail, no computer in those days... [laughs]. But anyway, I think when I finally got permission, I think it was sometime in March, and then I got, says, "Okay, you're going home." But they sent me from Fort Snelling down to, what was it?

SY: You were in Texas.

HS: I was in Texas then... anyway, they sent me to San Antonio, that's where I stayed a week in processing and everything. So then when I got my discharge, I remember it was March 23rd, and so then he says, "We'll give you one railroad ticket one way." So what I did is I said, "Okay, route me from San Antonio to Los Angeles," then I could see some of the relatives in L.A., then go to Minneapolis. When I got back, I remember it was about four days that I was gone, and then the first...

SY: So your dad passed while you were in Los Angeles?

HS: No, he passed away not too long after I got back. After I got back, then my dad says, "Okay, now I can die peacefully."

SY: He told you that, huh?

HS: Yeah, he told me that. And then I wrote to, there was one friend, Issei friend in Philadelphia, and so for some reason he wrote letters, but anyway, I sent him a telegram saying, "Dad's dying." And as soon as he got the telegram he telegrammed back, he says, "I'm on my way," says, "I have to see my friend before he dies." And so that evening when I went back to the hospital, I tell him, "Koma-san coming from Philadelphia." He says, "Okay. I'll stay, I'll stay alive another day," he said. And so he came, and then he passed away while Koma-san was there. Yeah, Koma-san stayed a few days extra for the funeral, then he went back to Philadelphia. But I don't know what my dad did for him, but when sometime he had financial difficulty or something, and my thought was that the Isseis had this tanomoshi club -- anyway, twenty of 'em would each put ten dollars a month, then whoever wanted to borrow among the twenty -- but I think when Koma-san had a problem or something my dad got the group to loan him the couple hundred dollars. I think Koma-san never forgot that. But he always said, so I asked my dad, I said, "What did you do that Koma-san feels so indebted to you?" He said, "Oh, it was just a minor thing." But to Koma-san, he never forgot it.

SY: So your dad was pretty, it sounds like he was a pretty generous, helpful...

HS: Well, he always used to say, he says, "I would rather have a lot of friends than just have the goal of makin' money." He says, "Because people that think nothing but money have few friends, but," he said, "I'd rather have a lot of friends, because when times are tough," he says, "the friends will always help you out." And that's what he'd told me all the time, and that was his thing. But so he was always involved in kenjinkai. After my sister died, why, he got real involved in Nishi Hongwanji, and he was always doing things. So my poor mother, half the time she was watching the florist. [Laughs]

SY: So were you, so you were pretty close to your dad at the end, then.

HS: Yeah.

SY: You and he were the ones who talked. He told you all these things about --

HS: Well, since I used to do all the things around the, my brother never touched anything around the florist's or anything, but so he always used to say, he says that, "I never had the chance to go to college, but," he says, "I want you to make sure your kid brother, Takao, gets a chance to go to, the chances you missed."

SY: So he even told you that he wanted you to take care of him, your younger brother.

HS: He was always planning -- he even planned his own funeral. He called, there was no Japanese minister, but there was a Buddhist one, but there was an Episcopalian one in Indianapolis that was visiting the hospital, so two weeks before he died he called him over and says, "I'm Buddhist," but he says there's no one around, so he told him what he wanted on his funeral. So he planned his own funeral, and the minister came and told me that.

SY: So he ended up having a Buddhist funeral by an Episcopalian?

HS: It was just an Episcopalian ceremony, but he was, my dad was, up until the end, I mean, he was just weakening, but his mind was still clear. But he planned his own funeral, and he said, "This is what I want."

SY: So then, that's amazing. And your, and when, so when he passed, then what happened with the florist? And what happened to your mom, and how did she handle that with the business and everything?

HS: Well, she's never one to complain or anything. She's like my wife. [Laughs] Never complained, never, just... never complained when she lost her only daughter. But she was just a very sweet person, took every day as it comes.

SY: So did you feel like you had to take care of her also when your dad passed?

HS: Yeah, my dad always says, "Now you're," he says, "I know that you'll take care of Mom and Tak. But make sure you send him to college." That's the one thing he stressed.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.