<Begin Segment 22>

TI: Okay. How about when you're in Seattle, and you start seeing Japanese American men returning either from the war or other places, did you notice anything different about them? Because some of them had just fought in a war, and it was a pretty horrendous experience for some of them. Did you notice anything about that?

TH: Not really. My husband was, he went into MIS because he didn't want to get dirty. Those that go in the army really work hard. So he joined the MIS.

TI: So was he stationed in Japan during the occupation?

TH: Philippines.

TI: I'm sorry, what?

TH: Philippines.

TI: Okay, so he was in the Philippines after the war.

TH: No, before it ended. Near the end, but they always had to have two Caucasians with them, because you couldn't tell the enemy. And so he was there, I don't know, maybe six months before the war ended.

TI: And do you know, when he did his MIS training, where he was trained?

TH: At Presidio.

TI: And so he was in an early, he was one of the early, he was one of the first classes?

TH: Right. And they had to learn, I don't know, ninety thousand kanjis before they could graduate. So his friend, we're getting back to when he was seventeen. He was seventeen, his friends were, all three of them were seventeen, and their mothers signed for them because (...) they didn't want to go back to camp. So anyway, he passed. He had a pretty good memory, so thank goodness, (...) and his friends couldn't make it. I don't know how he could learn even ten of those in nine months.

TI: And so how did you meet your husband?

TH: In Ontario. He came out from camp, and his friends, they were pretty young at that time.

TI: And so this is something that I have to bring up, because I was confused originally. So your maiden name is Hayashi, and your husband's last name is also Hayashi. So was there, I mean... there must have been some kind of jokes or something about that, having the same last name?

TH: Well, one hakujin girl asked me, "Is your husband your cousin?" [Laughs] That's the only time.

TI: "Are you related?"

TH: Yeah.

TI: Oh, that's funny. So where was George's family from?

TH: Tacoma.

TI: And how did you two meet? You said you met in Ontario, how did you meet?

TH: Probably in the sugar beet field someplace.

TI: So this was, at what point during, this is after the war that you met?

TH: No, during the war.

TI: Oh, during the war? So he was in camp?

TH: Yeah, I was sixteen and he was probably seventeen, he was a year older. So that goes back quite a ways.

TI: Oh, so you met him before he went into the service.

TH: Yeah, I just knew of him. And actually, the main reason he wanted to join the army is to get out of camp and the GI Bill. Otherwise he said he'd never be able to afford it.

BY: So in other words, he was on work release from Minidoka in a sugar beet field, and you were also there somehow in the summer, maybe you weren't going to school and you met him there, right?

TH: Right.

BY: Oh, okay. That makes sense.

TI: And when you first met him, did you start dating?

TH: No, I just thought they were a bunch of weird guys. [Laughs]

TI: So when did, did you guys keep in contact during the war?

TH: Right, yeah. He wrote several times.

TI: And so during this time, did you think of him or call him your boyfriend?

TH: Not really, just somebody to write to.

TI: So when did the two of you start more formally dating then?

TH: Must have been after the war. [Laughs]

TI: [Laughs] Not very memorable. So do you remember your, like your first date with him or anything like that?

TH: No, I can't remember that.

TI: Or where were you when you first started dating?

TH: I must have been, I don't know, seems like I was in Boise.

TI: Okay. And during that time, do you remember where he was living, where he lived? You mentioned his family was from Tacoma. Was he back on the west side?

TH: Well, he was going to school in Michigan.

TI: Okay.

TH: That part I kind of don't remember much.

TI: And then after the war, after you graduated from Boise State. And after he finishes, you're in Seattle, is that where you kind of connect again?

TH: Right.

TI: That makes sense. And you mentioned, yeah, he became a pharmacist, so he went to school in pharmacy.

TH: Michigan. And that was another case. When he graduated, he got a job in Wisconsin, and they had to let him go because it was "harming the business."

TI: Oh, because he was Japanese?

TH: Right, because he was Japanese. And so that must have, because he, I forget what year he graduated college. Oh, in 1951. So there was still some prejudice going on back there. And he always bragged about the Midwestern people, how nice they are.

TI: But in Wisconsin they had let him go.

TH: Yeah, the boss said, "I really like you," but they had some comments, probably.

TI: And so when he worked in Seattle as a pharmacist, who did he work for?

TH: Valley Medical Center. But before that, he couldn't find a job, so he took this job in Alaska where they rolled dice.

TI: Where they rolled dice?

TH: He rolled dice if you buy some, you get a prescription and get it filled, you rolled dice for the money. And don't ask me how that works. [Laughs] He didn't last long there because the mosquitos were so big.

TI: It sounds like maybe an incentive for people to buy their...

TH: He said it was all or nothing, something like that. But anyway, he had some bad experiences, too. But he worked at Valley Medical Center until he retired.

TI: And did the two of you have any children?

TH: No children.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.