<Begin Segment 12>

TI: So earlier you mentioned how Okayama is next to Hiroshima.

PF: Yeah, yeah.

TI: How did you hear about the atomic bomb?

PF: Atomic bomb.

TI: Yeah, how did you hear?

PF: I heard that they dropped a bomb, but Japan, they got the hill. So when it drops here, this side's okay. And so Japan, one thing is they got lots of hills, so it's okay. So I said, "Boy," I said, "how come they're fighting so much?" Yeah. But that's... lots of people.

TI: But when you heard about the bomb, what did you hear? Was it like a special bomb, or did you know how bad it was?

PF: Yeah, they said it's a real bad bomb. It's not like our bomb, yeah, they said you get burned and everything like that they said. Yeah, it's bad. You can't... then I wanted to be a nurse, and I said, "Oh, no, I can't be a nurse." Helping the nurse, the bandage, no, I said, "Uh-uh," I don't want to be a nurse.

TI: Well, in the days after the atomic bomb, did you see any of the victims?

PF: No, no.

TI: So they were, none of them came?

PF: No, no, I didn't see nobody. And then my two sister was in Hiroshima, my sister-in-law. My two brothers married two sisters, yeah. And they had, their leg or something like that, and then the Americans sent 'em to Japan, to the doctor, yeah.

TI: So in Japan, you had two brothers in Japan, or one brother?

PF: One brother, but the other brother went from here. He was in the army. The young one. He went to Japan and married a sister.

TI: I see. Oh, so your brothers married sisters.

PF: Yeah, two sisters. That no good. Two sisters, two sister marry, they're not good, because you can't tell one sister something, huh? But I was good friend with my youngest one. I didn't like the oldest one. But they got divorced, the young one got divorced. See, it wasn't marriage, I said, "You didn't love each other and got married, you got forced from my brother," and then they got married, I bet. But he don't say that. I said, "No, you guys didn't get married like that." But see, they married seventeen year, but they got divorced. No good.

TI: But interesting, so your younger brother, Tom, so was he with the MIS, the Military Intelligence Service? As a soldier, did he come to Japan?

PF: Yeah, yeah, he went to Japan.

TI: So he was an American soldier.

PF: Soldier, yeah.

TI: During the occupation?

PF: Yeah, he went to Japan, and then my brother Tom, next.

TI: And so, okay, so your younger brother was in the occupation, and what was it like when you saw your younger brother? Because you hadn't seen him for a long time.

PF: When I came back from America I saw him, yeah.

TI: But did you see him in Japan?

PF: No, no, he didn't come. He didn't come. After I came home, he went to Japan.

TI: Oh, okay, later. Okay, I understand. All right.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.