<Begin Segment 7>

BY: So I understand that you met your wife while you were in Germany. Can you tell me about that?

DY: She was a student in Berkeley and an exchange student.

BY: And how did you meet her?

DY: She was dating my roommate.

BY: So you swooped in and took her away, huh?

DY: Well, sort of.

BY: Okay, all right. So what's her name?

DY: Karen.

BY: What is her full name?

DY: Karen Moya Bendix.

BY: So is she Japanese American?

DY: No, she's Jewish, Jewish American.

BY: In Germany, but well after the war.

DY: Right.

BY: So how was it dating someone of another race in Germany? No big deal?

DY: Well, basically we didn't date much.

BY: Okay. And so when and where did you get married?

DY: 1970. And we got married in Switzerland. Because it was Tuesday, and Americans got married on Tuesday. So they just pulled out the file and put the paperwork in the file. They used paperwork, all the Americans.

BY: What do you mean by all the Americans got married on Tuesday?

DY: The bureaucrats, if you want to get married in Switzerland, you got married on Tuesday.

BY: All right. So then after you were married, did you stay in Germany for a while, or when did you return to the United States?

DY: Probably a year.

BY: And where was your wife from? Where had she grown up?

DY: She grew up in Berkeley, California.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.