<Begin Segment 11>

BN: Anyway, okay... so your father kind of gets released to kind of join your oldest brother in New York.

HM: Well, he was released early only because my brother would guarantee him, you know, and because he was in New York and they won't allow him to go back, but he was allowed to go to New York. So he was there for about... I don't know how long, several months if not a year maybe. And then...

BN: Your sister was there also?

HM: My sister was there because after she got released from Manzanar, she went to New York and then she decided to go to college. So she went to Beaver College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[Interruption]

BN: So your sister...

HM: (Yes), she was in New York, too, and then my brother got married in New York.

BN: And then did they all come back?

HM: Well, eventually my... well, my father came back, according to Larry, just before he got shipped to the service to Minnesota in '46. So I think Bob came back after that, because we had just... oh, we hadn't moved yet, that's right. We were still at the Makiki house, and we had to move out because the government wanted the place. So we had to quickly find a place. So we moved, and then eventually Bob and his bride came back to Hawaii and lived in that Manoa house with us. But by that time, I was the only one left. Larry had gone already. I was in high school. So Bob took over the management of the company, of the store.

BN: Then when your father came back, was he still involved with the store at all?

HM: Oh, yes, he was. (Yes). But I guess he was getting old, so I guess he felt that Bob should take over. But he went to the store every day.

BN: Did he talk at all about his experience in the camp?

HM: You know, he may have, but I guess I didn't understand Japanese that well, so maybe I didn't understand everything. So I don't know. It must have been hard.

BN: And then you graduated and then you went...

HM: Oh, (yes), I graduated eventually and then went to Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Then I could visit my sister on vacations and holidays. But we never did come home. I never came home. My mom didn't want me to go away because I guess she lost so many people from the family, so she thought she could keep me at home and go to the university here, but I didn't want to do that. So she said, "Oh, if you go away, you won't be able to come home for a long time." [Laughs] Trying to talk me into not going. So yeah, I guess I was anxious to fly the coop.

BN: What did you study at Skidmore?

HM: Oh, actually I studied psychology, majored in that. And then I decided I needed (to get my) master's to do anything with it. However, I had heard of a program at Columbia where if you're a social science major or whatever, you could take the special course for teaching and then eventually teach. So I went to Columbia after I graduated for my master's to take that course. So I stayed an extra year. Then when I came home, I got a job with the Department of Education teaching. So I taught at Nimitz elementary the first year, then the second year I taught at Manoa elementary. But after I got married I quit teaching. Well, actually, after I got married and then I became pregnant I decided to quit.

BN: Did you meet your husband...

HM: After I came back, after he came back, too. He had gone... from the army, he decided to use the GI Bill and finish school, then he went to dental school and stayed away for about eight years. So I met him after he got back.

[Interruption]

BN: So I wanted to, yeah, just to finish up with your parents' story, what happened to them after your father came back and what the rest of their life was like.

HM: Well, my father continued his activities and going to the store, but also being active in the Japanese community again. And I guess because of that, I mentioned that he received a Kunsho from the government. I believe, according to the picture I had, it would be around 1967, '68 when he received that medal. And I guess the coincidence is that my husband also received the medal, 1999 he received that. My sister-in-law, who's from Japan, said, oh, she's never heard of too many people whose husband and father received the Kunsho from the Japanese government, so she was very surprised. And then... but my father continued with his activities as usual and tried to work with the Japanese community. And my mother was very active in Japanese Women's Society and Kuakini (Hospital).

<End Segment 11> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.