<Begin Segment 18>

TI: Okay, but before you did that, my notes indicate that you got married about this time.

YM: Oh, yeah. Before I shipped over, I got in touch with Alice and I said, "I'm going overseas. Should we get married?" And she said, "Okay." [Laughs] And so it was a quickie wedding.

TI: And so describe that. Where did you get married, who was there?

YM: Well, I had a friend who stood with me as best man, and she had a college friend that was her maid of honor. I got a weekend pass from Belvoir, I went into Washington, D.C. I just had my suntans as far as clothing is concerned. So I went to a local cleaning shop and I took my clothes off and had them press it for me while I stood behind the curtain. Then I went to a jewelry shop and picked up a couple of rings, hopped on the train, and I met Alice. She was doing her internship in New York City, so she came down by train and we met at the church that she attended while she was in, going to Temple. And we were married by her minister.

TI: So this is in Philadelphia?

YM: In Philadelphia.

TI: And what was Alice's maiden name?

YM: Abe.

TI: And so this happened pretty quickly, everything.

YM: Well, yeah, it happened very quickly. And somebody gave me the other day, I don't know whether my sister-in-law or whoever, a telegram. In those days, telegrams came in yellow sheets with little strips. And she handed this to me and I opened it, and it says on there, "Yo and I were married today. Alice." It was sent to my folks. [Laughs] So I kind of treasure that.

TI: And so had you communicated with your folks before getting married?

YM: No, I didn't tell 'em we were getting married or anything. [Laughs]

TI: How about Alice? Did she, well, her father was sick.

YM: Yeah, I don't know whether she informed her parents either. It was just one of those things.

TI: And how much dating had you done with Alice prior to getting married?

YM: Not too much. We dated while we were at Tanforan, and then when I was working after graduation in Detroit, I remember taking a train to Philadelphia, and then that was the only time. I came home, and we continued to write to each other. It's just lucky for me that she didn't decide to go somewhere else. [Laughs] I'm very fortunate in that respect. She's a wonderful gal.

TI: That's a great story. So married in Philadelphia, but now you have to get shipped overseas.

YM: Yeah, well, three days, we spent two or three days together, and they shipped me to the West Coast. I was supposed to go to Japan, so they sent me to Camp Beale, California, just near Sacramento. I was there a week and then they said, "You're Japanese. We can't send you to Japan." It'd be the army of occupation, you know. "So we have to send you to Europe." So they shipped me all the way back to the East Coast.

TI: That's interesting. Because, in fact, they were actually shipping a lot of Niseis to Japan during the occupation.

YM: Yeah, I don't know what the reason was, but I was shipped all the way to California and they decided to send me back to the East Coast and send me to Europe.

TI: It's almost like a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

YM: Well, that's typical army, I think.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.