<Begin Segment 7>

TI: Now, when you talked with your older brothers, did you speak in English or Japanese?

HU: The second...

TI: Japanese.

HU: ...brother went to night school, went to night school. He learned some English. One day, my father and Yoshihiro, the second one, went into town. We had a hakujin no friend, he was an engineer. He used to service all the water pumps, because they were all irrigated land. And he was really nice to Japanese people, so they went to see this man and wife. The wife was a lawyer. And second brother said, "We'd like to own the land." And she said, "I'll find out for you, I'll go to the state office and find out. And if we can write up a paper to form a corporation, I'll tell my husband if he'll take the paper for you to sign." The corporation was created. And the paper says, "You can own the land, go and buy it." So started looking for bare land, 65 acres. That was the biggest victory for my father. And we moved over there, Dad built a great big house with running water, painted white, great big barn to house three horses, pile of hay, and in the middle of the barn was a place for a truck. The other half was for packing. My dad was really happy, he says, "I accomplished what I wanted to do." This is what I mean, if you work a little harder, your reward will be bigger. That was his accomplishment in his life. When he was around sixty-three, he says, "I'm going back to Japan." It was about two years before the war, I heard he died during the war, and we received a confirmation by American Red Cross he had died during the war. That was the end of his life. But he left a legacy.

TI: So he did accomplish, you said how he wanted to build a legacy and then go back to Japan, but leave the legacy for his sons.

HU: So all the sons were left, we had to continue. I know all the kids were in good position.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.