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HM: You mentioned there were six siblings.

KO: Yeah.

HM: How were they in range and in age and who were they?

KO: At that time, Brush was the oldest. His real name is Seiji. I think, I'm told that his buddies or his playmates or whoever they were, all obviously hakujin, couldn't come out with "Seiji" and call him "Seiji." I think the closest they could come was Sage and then Sage Brush somehow it ended, it all ended up with just Brush. And he was known as Brush. The next sibling would be George. Now he had an American name. And George was fine, everybody could say George. But somehow they shortened it to Oak. Okay. And I could buy that. Obviously from the last name, shortened. But then the third brother was Nibs. Naoshi would be his proper given name and nobody around the neighborhood could ever say that, so it came out Nibs or Nabo. It was as close as they could make it. And he's been known as Nibs ever since, I suspect. And after that was Shiro. No one ever knew his name was Shiro really until, until he applied for college. He went through high school as Ebo. And there it stands all through grammar school and high school, Ebo. So we have... and then there was, the fifth son was Bill. He was named after William Clampet, the next-door neighbor. And William was his name and they all called him Bill of course. Then I was number six, all boys. My name when I started school was Keto, K-E-T-O. I went by that all through, all through grammar school and high school. Until evacuation when they said, "Get your papers together," did I ever know that my name was Kato, K-A-T-O. Well, at least that's the way it was spelled on my birth certificate. I didn't bother to make any changes or, or contest the spelling of my name. It's just easier to go by the name that was given. All through evacuation and army or military and college, it's been Kato. I get, I get a raised eyebrow every now and then from some people who see the name Kato as a first name. It is a, it is a given and an acceptable last name, but it's certainly not a first name.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.