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BN: And then from Iowa, then...

WS: We came back to California.

BN: And was this, when you came back, because you left for Iowa in the middle of '44. So was the war still on when you came back to California, or do you remember, was the war over by then?

WS: The war was over, but I don't know. When did we come back? I think the war was over.

BN: But it was still, I mean, it was... did you come back in 1945?

WS: I think so, yeah.

BN: But maybe after the war had ended?

WS: Yeah.

BN: And back to Los Angeles?

WS: Right. They had still segregated schools.

BN: Did you have, now, you couldn't go back to where you had lived before on Terminal Island?

WS: No.

BN: So where did you...

WS: Went back to West Jefferson area. And they had segregated schools in those days.

BN: Do you remember where you lived, exactly?

WS: Yeah, 4th Avenue and 29th Place.

BN: This was, was it a house?

WS: A house, small little house.

BN: And this is just the three of you at this point, right?

WS: What?

BN: Is this the three of you, or is your brother also with you?

WS: It was back and forth, he joined the army and all that kind of stuff, so he wasn't around too much. Small house, I think we bought a small house for them.

BN: Do you know how they were able to afford to buy a house?

WS: No. Small, beat up little house.

BN: And by this time you were in high school, right? So which high school did you go to?

WS: What was the name of that school? I don't know. Straight down the street to west... what was the name of the school?

BN: It's not Dorsey?

WS: Dorsey?

BN: Is it Dorsey or L.A. High?

WS: Must have been Dorsey, yeah. Dorsey. Eleventh grade, Dorsey, and I graduated from Dorsey High. Went to UCLA.

BN: What did you want to study, or did you know, when you went and started at UCLA?

WS: Sociology. It's all I knew.

BN: And then what did your parents do when they came back to L.A.?

WS: My father was gardening, my mother worked cleaning houses, I guess.

BN: Did you have to help your dad with the gardening route as many kids did?

WS: A little bit. A little bit, and then I got my own route.

BN: Your own gardening route?

WS: Yeah. Bought a lawnmower.

BN: In what area?

WS: I don't remember. Probably all in the same area.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.