<Begin Segment 8>

AH: Tell me about your siblings, all of them. And give me a name with each one and tell me a little bit about them so I can get a sense of what the Yonamine family was like.

WY: Well, my oldest sister, Ritsuko, she's the oldest. And she, all the years, she always was with my father and mother, helping them all the time. And so she's still in Maui. But if it wasn't for her, I think my mother would have had a hard time. So, she didn't get married until kind of late because she was always there helping my mom and dad. And she had to work, help them support all the other brothers and sisters. And then my brother, number two, Akira, he was a pretty good athlete -- good football, baseball, basketball player. And so he was kind of like my idol, that guy, because he really, in high school, he really did good. But he, even today, he loves the game so much that he have kids come over to the house, he'd teach them how to play baseball and things like that. But...

AH: And you came next?

WY: Yeah, then I came.

AH: What was the age gap between the two?

WY: Two years.

AH: Just the two years?

WY: Yeah. And then, then between the next one, Satoru and I, we're about four years apart because between us there was another brother that died when he was only couple months. He died, see? So the one below me now, Monty, he was a studious type, you know. He played a little baseball, but he really went into the books a lot. He studied hard and all that. So, so he wasn't much of a athlete, that one. But he came out and he had a good job, you know. And then the one below that, Noboru, went to Iolani, and he made, he played football. He wasn't big, you know, little smaller than I am. But he made Honolulu Interscholastic All Star Team. So he, that, Nobu was quiet, really quiet. He don't say too much, but he played a lot of sports himself. And then came my sister, Alma. She was more... worked in the bank and help the family a lot, too. And the youngest one, Kenneth, he played baseball and, baseball and football. But he was another one that studied a lot, and he became an engineer working for Board of Water Supply.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.