<Begin Segment 36>

AI: And he was in the TB ward so long. What would Jack do to pass the time?

KM: Well, Jack always wanted to be accountant. And when he graduated high school he had a scholarship that he could go to any school he wanted. Here again, the parents had a say so. And they kept saying that they were too poor. But they really weren't poor, they just wanted to just hang on to the money. And Dad was just barely sixty years old when...

AI: Jack's father?

KM: ...Jack's father. And then the mother said, "Look how old your dad is. You gotta help him." So he just sacrificed and worked out in the farm. But when he went to, when he got sick -- this is really, I just really praise him for this -- he, because he had this yearning to learn accounting, he looked up in these catalogs and he found a corresponding school. And so he took that and they accepted him. And then he would fill out the lesson and send it in and get a grade and get the next lesson. And in the twenty-month period, he completed that whole course. And that's why he got the job after he got discharged from the hospital and came outside, back home. But that's another story, too. When he first came back, doctor still said, "You must take it easy." Get a part-time job, but not a full-time job.

AI: This was still in camp?

KM: No, this is after he came back.

AI: Oh, outside.

KM: I'm jumping ahead of schedule. [Laughs] But anyway, he looked in all this job wanted and help wanted column, and he couldn't find it in the masculine section any more, so he went to the female. [Laughs] He said, "Maybe there's some openings in the female column." 'Cause he wanted to work so badly. And so he looked and he couldn't find it. But when, after we came out of camp, my, I had a lot of customers, I started to sew again after my first child was old enough to walk around and Jack could handle him. And I had a customer that was working in this employment agency in the state. And so I asked (her), I said, "Hey, by the way, is there any opening for accounting? " And so she said, "Oh, let me think about it." It didn't take very long. I guess she knew all the ins and outs. And she said, "Hey, there's a job for welfare department if you wanna work. But this welfare department won't last very long 'cause they're gonna close this. But if you want it for even for temporary, if you wanna get a foot in the state work, this would be a good opportunity." So that's what he did. And then 'course later on he would transfer into the Cal Trans, transportation department. That's where he worked for thirty years.

AI: Well, we'll get back into that again...

KM: Okay. [Laughs]

AI: ...when we return after the war.

KM: Uh-huh.

AI: But, you were saying about how he worked so hard on this correspondence course. He actually finished it...

KM: Yeah.

AI: ...during the time he was on the TB ward. Well, now can you tell me what happened? When was he discharged from the TB ward?

KM: Umm... I forgot the exact date, but anyway, it's twenty months, it was exactly twenty months after October the 6th -- [Laughs] '42. So...

AI: So it was in 1944?

KM: Let's see, 19 -- yeah, 1944.

AI: About summer, maybe early summer of '44?

KM: Uh. Around fall I think it was. Uh-huh.

AI: Oh, fall?

KM: Uh-huh.

AI: So when he came out then what happened? You were able to, you had your own room in the barrack at that time?

KM: Yes, we were by ourselves. And then I was still teaching the different ones, and sewing a little bit. And 'course, that's when we decided to have our child. And then the following, in '45 now, our child was born in October of '45.

<End Segment 36> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.