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JN: Can we start with you introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about your family in, before, before the war?

VT: My name is Victor M. Takemoto, the oldest son of Yone and Saichi Takemoto. Before the war there were strawberry farmers living... they always say Manzanita. That's where I was born, Manzanita, but I always think it's Rolling Bay. But there's some... I don't know. I think, I still think it's Rolling Bay. [Laughs] Let's see... I have four brothers and one sister, all younger than I am. And all but one of those are alive yet. They're living in this area, Seattle area. My sister, the youngest, lives in Kingston, but she still works at the Marine Bank in Winslow. And we came back to Bainbridge in April of 1945. My family did, I didn't come back 'til two months later since I, I was graduating from high school. I thought I'd better graduate first. Then also I had to go to Los Angeles. I was scheduled to go Los Angeles for a army physical. So, I went there before I came home.

[Interruption]

VT: I was born in October 27, 1926, at the time of the... when the war broke out I was fifteen years old and a freshman in high school. All of my brothers and sisters are probably about two years apart, my sister being the youngest. At the time of December 7th, she was probably two or three years old. I'd have to look at the sheet to find out what her birth date was, but she was still pretty young. That's all I can remember.

JN: Did you work on the farm then? When, in your...

VT: Well, I was a student, so I would work after school and on Saturday and some Sundays. I would have to help the parents, and since we were, I was the oldest, I had some of those responsibilities. At the time the war broke out, it was, I believe it was a Sunday. And of course we didn't have TV in those days but we did have a radio. And we were glued to the radio since we were concerned, my parents were concerned what has happened and what their outcome might be, since they weren't citizens. Rest of us were, the kids, were all citizens. It didn't matter, but both parents were not citizens and they were concerned.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.