<Begin Segment 22>

MA: Well, I wanted to ask you about, you speak to a lot of students about your experiences during World War II, and...

HT: Well, this first started, I have a teacher that's was my friend in golf. (Her name is Mary Buhrt.) She got hold of me and said, "Helen, you have to tell them about this. Because they're just learning it." I said, "No, I'm not going to." "Well, tell them, will you come and talk to the teachers first?" I said, "Okay." So that's when it started. Then the fifth grade teacher said, "You're going to come." And I sort of didn't want to, said, "Well, you're on." They were taping it. That's what I wanted to show you the song but I didn't have that tape here. I don't think you have a tape here. Anyway, they, I started, I say, "Okay." Then it started, every word. And I said I'm just going to do it for my grandchildren. Then the two grandchildren I finished, and everybody else. But this last one was something that I'll never forget. Sixth grade honors students, they were sixth graders, and the (teacher's family) was in Poland. They were almost going to be in the Holocaust, the whole family, and they were rescued by soldiers. And then the mother would never talk about it and (she lives in Montana now. Her daughter is the present teacher). And she told me that she could not see my book. She saw this book, she saw everything, everything. I said, you can't compare it with the Holocaust. We weren't mistreated, we were, we lost everything, but we weren't killed or anything like that. But she said that, 'You have given me, my mother will not talk about it and she's really down. And so she said that she's going to go back to Poland and try to gather up a lot of stuff and put it in a booklet like I did." And she said that, "You have made my life come to." So it solved so much and the kids, they were, I just could not believe. My grandson is the same age and I had him read some of what the kids wrote. "You mean, they're same age as me?" I said, "Yeah." "They sound like college." I said, "College would you say, I mean, Kyle, would you say that?" He said, "I don't think so." But...

MA: What were some of the things that they wrote to you?

HT: They wrote, I should have brought it. They says that, the one that really, they said that the, the boy that really got me, when I went visiting back I made 'em all flapping crane. Do you know how to make the flapping crane? They all stood around -- I should have brought the picture -- they all stood by me, "See, look at the picture. They just love you." And this boy said, "What really impressed me was this lady who came, lost, her whole family lost everything, including herself. But she still had good side inside to come and tell us her story. And it really hit me, at the age eighty-five." I said, "Well, I'm not really eighty-five yet." [Laughs] And then so I asked the teacher, I said, "Where is Connor?" "He's sitting right in front of you." And he shook my hand. "I just have to give you a hug." And I gave him a hug. And they, every one of the kids wrote a whole bunch of stuff like that.

MA: It seems like you're making an impact.

HT: This was what the teacher said, "You really made something out of them. You watch, they're going to be great people." And there's another class, the same thing. And this girl, they had sort of like a, like a get-together at the end. And then the, this songwriter sang my song that the students after I said the speech they all wrote notes and then they wrote the song together. And then the mothers came, and they came and they said, "I have to tell you, my children have changed so much just listening to you." And one of them came up and said, said that, "I wished your mother had retrieved the pictures." You know, they remember every little thing. And, oh, that was so neat. And then it was (Mr. Larry Long) that wrote this song, he had a, when he was little he had a coach that was Mr. Maeda. And he was the one that wanted, wanted him to write a song about the Japanese internment. So he couldn't get at him because he died. He was on his deathbed in California. So, then he tried to reach somebody else and then this girl said that, "I know somebody in St. Louis Park, Helen Tsuchiya." So he got a hold of me, and then we started talking and he said, "That was the best." So we're really close. He played soccer -- he went to the same school as Frank. They played soccer together. It's a small world we're just knit together. But it was, it's, I think that why I said that at first, I said, I don't want to talk to kids. I don't want to say this, I don't want to say this, but now I'm thinking back, I think it's a good thing I did because it has impacted the kids and they are learning, and they're understanding what we went through. It's no, it's not really their fault, his fault, this fault. And I think they're really learning instead of, this is what the teacher said, "It was so good for you to come and talk because it was better than just reading a couple of lines. They heard it from somebody who survived." And one of my main thing that I tell them is, remember the CBS show, Survivor? And I said, "Do you know what the last person, the survivor got?" "A million bucks." I said, "I know. I didn't get a million bucks. They referred to me as a survivor. But I got my freedom, my, they didn't take my citizenship away, but at least I was able to be free and do what I can." And they all looked at me, they said, "You're right." So that was one of my sayings that I said, which I think it, I think they thought, that was a pretty good saying. I came, I was showing the kids, I said, "Hey don't you think that was pretty good?" "Yeah, I think it was pretty good, Mom." [Laughs]

MA: Well, yeah, it sounds like you're having a real influence, which is so important.

HT: Well, I hope so. Right now I'm sort of tired, but that's okay. I'm so glad I met you girls.

MA: Well, is there anything else you would like to share before we finish up?

HT: No, I'm fine. I really appreciate this.

MA: Well, thank you. I appreciate you coming in and sharing your story.

HT: Well, I hope it's okay.

MA: Yeah, it's great. So, thank you.

HT: Okay.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.