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VY: Later on, did your parents or your siblings, or your uncles and grandparents, did they ever talk about this time in camp?

NH: Very, very little. At that time, after camp, they came back, my uncle and my dad, I guess they wanted to reestablish the nursery. Because slowly, my dad was working as a gardener and my uncle worked for the government, clerical work or something.

VY: When was this?

NH: Right after the war.

VY: Right after, okay.

NH: Then he got drafted in '46, my uncle. So the burden again was on my dad to maintain the family. And I know they, when we came back from the war, everything was demolished. Every glass in the greenhouse was broken.

VY: Yeah, so talk about that. What was it like to return? What condition was the nursery in?

NH: It was practically destroyed. All the metal was taken out, pipes for salvage, and I guess anything of use was vandalized or taken, plain (stolen). And I think prior to that, before we came back, my uncle came early to get the house in shape, and that was kind of vandalized, too, so he had to do a lot of work.

VY: And you said that there were renters in the house while you were in camp?

NH: Yes, they kind of left it in poor condition.

VY: What about the stock that you left with the Gomez family?

NH: Yeah, we were primarily azalea, a plant called azalea, and camellia growers, and apparently my grandfather did most of that work, young plants growing little by little. Unfortunately, that's a two- to three-year crop, so you don't get immediate results for the finished product. So my dad was working the gardening, and whatever spare time, I remember on weekends and stuff, then we worked on rebuilding and stuff like that, my uncle, too.

VY: Oh, I see. So while the nursery was sort of getting back on its feet, your dad was working as a gardener.

NH: Yeah, had to support the family.

VY: I see.

NH: I don't know how they did it, but they managed to save money. It wasn't a large capital investment at the beginning, to just get everything done, piece by piece, I don't know how they did it.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.