<Begin Segment 20>

FA: Okay. How did you come to leave camp and resettle?

SS: Well, I could tell by the way the war was going that Japan was losing and some of those late stages of the war -- Japan's claims of having sunk so many American battleships -- we knew that was just hogwash. I also knew that the government had decided to close the camps down and that if I wanted to find a job, I'll probably have a better chance of finding a job before the war ended than after the war ended when there would be a surplus of former GIs that would be looking for jobs. And so I saw no further reason for not going out and finding myself as good a job as I could find under the circumstances.

FA: So how did you find a job?

SS: Oh, Well, I went to Philadelphia first. Stayed there for a week and found three or four companies that were willing to see me or to interview me, but not a single job offer.

FA: This was in what year? 1944 or '45? Before the closing of the camps?

SS: Yeah, it was before the closing. It was in 1944 when I left camp.

FA: 1944.

SS: Yeah, December.

FA: December. Philadelphia, no job, where did you apply, a business?

SS: Well, the WRA had job-seeking or offices in different cities, hoping to help the Nisei find employment there. And in Philadelphia there was no opening for people like me.

FA: Where did you try next?

SS: Well, I decided, after I stayed in Philadelphia for a week without a single offer, I decided I might as well go to New York.

FA: Why?

SS: Because there was nothing available in...

FA: But why not Cleveland? Why New York?

SS: Well, I hoped eventually to get back to the West Coast. And if I went out to New York and found nothing, it means I would just pay so much more freight to get myself shipped back to the West Coast area.

FA: So what did you find in New York?

SS: Well, that's when I ran into a person I met for the first time. My God, his name has even slipped my mind. It will come back eventually.

FA: A hakujin?

SS: Yes. Bussing. That was his name. He had, he had taught at Columbia and while he was at Columbia, he had become friendly with a guy named Langston who was the treasurer of Standard and Poor's and Langston told him that there was a job open at Standard and Poor's and for me to apply. I was really happy when I heard about that. The personnel officer, who made the final decision to hire me, so forth, he was quite pleased going over my school record and so forth. He assured me that I would be properly treated and so forth and given the same opportunities. Well, I was just glad to get any kind of a job. Particularly in the field for which I had studied. I majored at the University of Washington in public finance.

FA: So what job did you get?

SS: So they offered me a job as a statistician. Naturally, I was happy to get it. And oh yes, they said, "You will be hired if you pass our examination." So I showed up the next morning to take the examination and I passed the examination without any trouble. It was easy. They told me, they asked me, "What are you doing today?" after I had taken the test and they told me I had passed it. And I told them, "Well, I guess I'll go home." They said, "Wait a minute, you mean to say you are going from here and you won't be working for the rest of the day?" He said, "You can start working as of now." [Laughs]

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.