<Begin Segment 2>

MN: So in total, how many children did your parents have?

BS: Seven, but two died very young, one about a year and a half, another one about a half year old. The rest are living yet.

MN: And then where are you in the sibling hierarchy?

BS: I'm the third one, two older brothers.

MN: And then one of your older brothers, the one that passed away...

BS: Yes.

MN: And then a younger sister then.

BS: Younger sister.

MN: And now, where were you born?

BS: I was born right down here, downtown Los Angeles. A midwife, I forgot the name... Toyo Kato. Toyo Kato was the midwife.

MN: Which building were you born in?

BS: 419 1/2 North Main Street, Los Angeles.

MN: And that, today, is a historic building.

BS: No.

MN: No, it's not?

BS: It's not there anymore.

MN: Oh, it's not. I thought it was preserved. Oh, that's too bad.

BS: Yeah, that's before we went to the Hotel Plaza.

MN: That is too bad. What year were you born?

BS: 1930, December 24th.

MN: Right before Christmas. What is your birth name?

BS: My birth name? William Hiroshi Shishima.

MN: Did your parents -- so your parents, when you were born, gave you an English and a Japanese name.

BS: Yes.

MN: What about your two older brothers?

BS: My older brother right above me is Robert Takeshi Shishima. The oldest one, the first son, I only know of Toru Shishima.

MN: So your parents, by the second child, started to give both an English and a Japanese name. But the first child only got a Japanese name.

BS: Well, I don't know. I don't know if he had an English name or not. I always referred to as Toru.

MN: Do you know how your parents picked your name?

BS: No idea, but it seemed like it was a common name during that era, William and Robert.

MN: So when you were growing up, which name did you go by?

BS: In the first nine years (in school), I used Hiroshi. And after that, it was after camp, that's when I changed to William, and then everyone called me Bill.

MN: Why did you change to William after camp?

BS: Because until that time, I was always with Japanese students. But then, in the tenth grade, first time I had Caucasian classmates and they had trouble pronouncing Hiroshi Shishima, so I changed it to my legal first name, William, or Bill.

MN: Now, what is the first language that you learned?

BS: English.

MN: So at home, how did you communicate with your parents?

BS: That was the problem. My dad spoke fluent English no problem, but my mom was broken English and ours was broken Japanese. So any technical thing, we had to go through my dad.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.