Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Fred Matsumura Interview
Narrator: Fred Matsumura
Interviewers: Tom Ikeda (primary), Beverly Kashino (secondary)
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: July 2, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-mfred-01-0013

<Begin Segment 13>

TI: Now I know at Camp Shelby you trained hard, but every once in a while you would get leave and go, and then... what was that like, and where would you guys go?

FM: The first leave we had, we went to New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. We would travel by train from here to there. And Hayashi, one of the mainland boys, he gave us his mother's address, he said, "When you go to Chicago, go visit them." So we gave 'em a call and went to visit them. They were really nice people, yeah.

TI: And what kinds of things did they do for you when you went to Chicago, that first time? When you say they're very nice, what did they do?

FM: Oh, they had us over for dinner. And, sit around, talk, and ask us how their son is doing. And tell 'em, "Oh, he's doing great. He's all right. He'll be all right." In fact, one of the guys that went with us, he married Hayashi's sister.

TI: That's interesting.

FM: Yeah.

TI: And did he meet her during this meeting, this trip?

FM: Yeah.

TI: That's interesting.

FM: After he met her, we came back to camp, he said, "Oh, Fred, I'm in love, Freddie." [Laughs]

TI: How did Hayashi feel about that, his younger sister marrying one of his buddies? [Laughs]

FM: He keeps on, "Oh, Freddie, I'm in love. I'm in love."

TI: That's funny.

FM: But he died about four, five years ago. In an accident -- oh, Seattle accident. Remember that automobile accident in Seattle they had? Yeah.

BK: That my dad was driving in?

FM: I don't know who was driving, but yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, no -- well, that's right, he died in that Seattle accident, yeah.

BK: One my dad was driving. Yeah.

FM: Yeah. He was a real nice guy, too. We all, I tell you, they all great guys that I served with.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.