<Begin Segment 12>

SY: So I think we need to back up just a little, 'cause when you actually did leave camp, that's when you went, that's when your father went to work with this Chinese farmer?

KS: Yeah.

SY: And that was --

KS: Took the family with him and we stayed at one of the farmhouses, and we were there, we thought we'd have a place to stay and all that, and we were moved in with, I think, another family, another Japanese family. We... and that's when --

SY: And this was in what area?

KS: Well, they had, as I understood, there was one house, wood structure house, and I don't know how many bedrooms were in there and I don't remember if there was a shed or some other facility, just outside, and I remember outside of that house was the tub with the heater, firewood tub for hot water.

SY: Ofuro kind of.

KS: Yeah, the old type. [Laughs]

SY: And that was some, that was the first place you went to after camp, then?

KS: Yeah, that's the first place I'm aware of.

SY: And it was, where was it?

KS: In Gardena.

SY: So you went straight from --

KS: And Gardena was all farm fields. At one time used to have, celery fields is what it was. You put these little new celeries in there and they go along and plant 'em all. That's what he was doing. And because the wet and all that, his rheumatoid arthritis or whatever it was really hit him real bad. He became almost invalid on that.

SY: In his, in his legs mainly?

KS: In his legs, yeah.

SY: So his hands were okay, but his...

KS: I think his hands were okay, but it was mainly in his legs. He couldn't walk.

SY: So that prevented him from...

KS: That ended his, yeah, presented a problem. And here he's already pretty old, and to do farm work was even worse in his condition. And my mother was not resourceful in a sense for herself. She had to be directed all the time, and my father wasn't there she can't do nothing. So there was no choice, I guess, from my father's point of view. It was to go back, move to L.A. if we can get, find a place to stay, and be on welfare so they can at least eat.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.