<Begin Segment 26>

TI: And how about your father, what did your father do?

MI: My dad had to do serving. And then when they came in he had to take their, whatever things, put them away. I guess he kind of kept the downstairs clean.

TI: And also, didn't he do the yardwork also?

MI: Well, later on he did.

TI: So I remember that's what he would he always...

MI: Then he did the yardwork. But we had to leave there because after my sister got married, she got pregnant right away. And Joe had to go to Japan, and she was pregnant back in St. Paul. She had to come back, and we had no place to put her. He couldn't stay at our place, at the bishop's house, and so we had to go find a house that she could move into.

TI: Is that the house that was by...

MI: Yeah, that's 36 Eighteenth Avenue. So we bought the house about September. She got married in August and she was pregnant, so about September, October, we bought the house, and that was the only way we could get out of the bishop's house.

TI: You also told me this story about the bishop and maybe the closest he felt to your family. And this was because he didn't live that much longer, I think, after...

MI: Oh no, I can't remember when he died, but when he knew he was going to die, he asked that we come and see him. And so the four of us went to see him and then he asked what we were doing and all that. And then after that interview, Chuck just said to me, "You know, I think the bishop liked us." I mean, he treated us nice and we treated him nice, too. So it was kind of like a thank you on both ends when we went to see him.

TI: You know, the other thing I wanted to talk about, and you mentioned some of Bako's friends that played, he played basketball with, Bako played on the Maryknoll. You mentioned Augie Aratani and...

MI: The only thing, cadets was more of a Courier League, and that was Taro, Sambo, George Kosaka, Dutch Takekawa, John Kawaguchi, that was a real close-knit group. But before, the only cadets, I know Maryknoll had Boy Scouts, and Bako was in the Boy Scouts with them. And then Ish and Kaji, I know they were in the Girl Scouts.

TI: But so Bako had these really close friends before the war, and many of these men served with him on the 442?

MI: Just Sambo did. Sambo and maybe Nobi.

TI: But people like Augie, wasn't he...

MI: Augie, I think he was in a different company, but they knew, I mean, he and Augie were real good friends from Maryknoll days.

TI: So I'm wondering, when they returned to Seattle, what did they say to you or your parents about Bako?

MI: Well, they treated us real good. Taro used to pick us up to go mushroom picking and everything.

TI: Or can you describe any of the visits of the men when they returned to Seattle? And you also mentioned these Hawaii guys from the 100th that would stop by and see your mom?

MI: Yeah, they came over. I mean, they just gave their condolences and bought flowers.

TI: To show their respects?

MI: Yeah.

TI: Any information or stories from them about Bako that you remember?

MI: I really don't... Ish might know. Ish and Bako were real close.

TI: Because by then, Ish was back in Seattle.

MI: Well, she was in Peoria or wherever she was. But when she came back, I knew she and Bako and Jane really got along together.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.