<Begin Segment 6>

FK: When you came back to Bainbridge, did the whole family come back at the same time?

BT: All except Vic. Vic wanted to finish his senior year at Manzanar.

FK: You guys came back early, didn't you?

BT: April.

FK: Yeah, first family. So what was it like when you came back to the island?

BT: Well, weather-wise, it was shocking because it was cold and dreary compared to sunshine down there. But our house was all broken into and everything, no windows. So it was kind of rough for a little while.

FK: Did you have someone looking after your farm when you were gone?

BT: Well, we got evacuated in April, so we had a crop of strawberries that he, my father, I guess he contracted out to some person to harvest it. What was the original question?

FK: Did you have someone looking after your farm for you while you were gone?

BT: After that, no. Except the neighbors, they looked after some of our properties like the truck. I guess we didn't have a whole lot.

FK: Who were your neighbors?

BT: There was a family, I don't know whether you know Engstrom, Bob Engstrom, he used to be a captain on the ferry here. His parents, he was there, too. Them, primarily. Like I say, we didn't have too much property that was that valuable.

FK: So when you... was there some sort of decision made when you left? Because it seemed like that was earlier than most people were leaving, so did your dad or somebody decide, hey, we're just going to get out of here as soon as we can?

BT: Oh, you mean out of Manzanar?

FK: Out of Manzanar, yeah.

BT: Well, I guess he wanted to, he had to start a crop of strawberries, and planting is in April, so I think that's the reason that we came back. If he had waited until later, be another couple of years before another crop.

FK: So what were your feelings when you saw your house and the windows were gone and things like that?

BT: I'm sure it wasn't great, but I don't remember it exactly.

FK: So you guys just started right in repairing?

BT: Yeah, I guess. My father was in charge. [Laughs]

FK: And you probably enjoyed getting back to the berries, right? [Laughs] So when you came back then, how old were you?

BT: I guess I was down there three years, so I was sixteen.

FK: So you actually went back into Bainbridge High School.

BT: Yeah, finished that year. It was a couple months, I guess.

FK: So what was that like, going back to Bainbridge High School?

BT: Gee, I don't recall that too much, what happened that year. I guess I saw some of my old friends, classmates, lot more mature.

FK: So when you graduated, what did you decide you were going to do?

BT: Well, I went sophomore and senior year there. I wasn't college material, so the Air Force gave me a good opportunity to choose a career before I went in. You apply for a school before you got in, so I think that was a pretty good deal.

FK: Well, did you face any animosity or any things like that because you were Japanese and the war just ended and so forth?

BT: Not outwardly. I'm sure they were probably talking behind my back or something, but I didn't detect any outward hostility. Maybe I was too dumb to recognize it. [Laughs]

FK: Okay. So your mother and father pretty much went back to farming, right? And then as... let's see, where were you in the family? You were the third?

BT: I'm the second oldest.

FK: The second oldest, okay. So when you left and Vic graduated and all that from high school and stuff, did Vic come back and farm, too, or what happened there?

BT: Oh, I was helping out for about six months and then I joined the Air Force.

FK: Yeah. So the farm continued with your, with the other brothers?

BT: Yeah.

FK: Now, how long did your family farm?

BT: Oh, quite a while. 'Til the '70s, I think. My father died in 1972, so up to that time.

FK: Now, do you guys still own the land there?

BT: Yeah, we got about, we had ten acres but the state took part of it for the route. Yeah, it's still under my father's name, but my sister is paying the taxes from our... well, we got the assets before my mother passed away, before she even went in the nursing home. Because she was getting where she couldn't handle the finances.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.