<Begin Segment 16>

TI: Before we... I just wanted to go back, and you talked about how you met your wife in chemistry class. And then after you graduated, when did you, when did you get married to Ethel?

HU: I was married, we got married in July 1941.

TI: So you were in the army, you were being...

HU: I got three-day pass. Said, "Let's elope." So we borrowed her father's car, and then we took off to Reno, and then a few more miles east of Reno, Carson City, Nevada, mining town. That's where we found a Justice of the Peace, and he called two ladies to be a witness. That's how we got married.

TI: So why did you and Ethel elope and not just get married in Sacramento with the family?

HU: How is that?

TI: Yeah, so why did you elope and not get married by Ethel's, close to Ethel's family?

HU: There were rumors, we were supposed to be serving twelve months at the beginning. And there were rumors, war is going on, and they heard, we heard that those married people were being discharged after twelve months. That's why we said, "Let's go and get married." [Laughs]

TI: And how did Ethel's parents, what did they think about her getting married to you?

HU: They didn't know. We didn't say anything.

TI: Now, isn't that unusual that you didn't tell her parents?

HU: We didn't say anything. We were separated anyway. I was at Fort Ord, and she was back in Sacramento, finished her school in San Francisco, sewing and design school, and she was working for a lady making dresses. So that's the way marriage was, separated.

TI: But when you went to Camp Savage, did she join you in Minneapolis?

HU: She joined me in August. They were allowed to meet the husband. So she came here to Minneapolis. We found a family who was looking for a babysitter and taking care of the house. So she waited two years. In Camp McCoy, I heard, says, "You have enough service, you're going to get out." And we made a home here.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.