<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Now, how long were you at Jerome before you went to Chicago, do you remember about how long?

KI: I didn't go to Chicago.

TI: Oh, you didn't? I thought, for some reason --

KI: Oh, my, the twins went to Chicago.

TI: Twins went to Chicago.

KI: I came back to California.

TI: Oh, so you stayed in Jerome all the way...

KI: Yeah, when they said we could go back to California, that's when I came back to Fresno.

TI: Okay.

JS: Well, when did Hi, he was MIS, right? So when did he go into training? Do you remember that?

KI: You know, MIS was Minnesota?

JS: Right.

KI: He was there, he had, I have pictures of him and his clothing.

JS: So George is still pretty young there.

TI: So when Hi went to go train in Minneapolis, did you ever consider going to live in Minneapolis to be close to him?

KI: No.

TI: So it'd be easier to take care of George in Jerome and stay there?

KI: Yeah. I don't remember going to join in.

TI: Yeah. So when Hi had left to go to training, what was it like for you? Now you're like a single mother.

KI: Oh, yeah. I remember. My neighbor was a single man, and he knew that my husband was gone, and he did approach me, but I said, "No, I have no interest." So that ended that. [Laughs]

TI: So there were other men that were interested in you, but in terms of just taking care of George, it was just, it was kind of the same? You're probably so focused on doing that.

KI: Yeah.

TI: How did you and Hi communicate back and forth when Hi was in Minneapolis? Did the two of you write letters back and forth?

KI: I think so. I probably did.

TI: By any chance did you keep any of his letters or your letters?

KI: I used to have, I used to keep 'em, but one day I said, "Why am I keeping these letters?" So I burned it up.

TI: Oh. Yeah, I always like when people keep those letters, because they're just interesting to see day by day what people were interested in and sharing. So when the war ended and they opened up the West Coast, you were able to go from Jerome back to Fresno. Where was Hi when you were gonna go back to Fresno? Do you know where he was?

KI: He was in the military, and he took a furlough and brought me back to Fresno.

TI: Oh, so he helped you get back to Fresno. So he was probably still training in Minneapolis, and then helped you to do that.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.