Densho Digital Archive - Mas Okabe Interview (denshovh-omas

<Begin Segment 22>

KL: And you said someone helped you arrange that?

MO: Yes, there was this lady in Stockton that did that type of thing. I think her name was Mrs. Linebarger, and she used to do that for Japanese kids, set up a houseboy arrangement or something like that. She was a really nice lady. In fact, I think I took English or Shakespeare from her. Real nice lady.

KL: Did you reach out to her when you wanted to go there, or did she find you?

MO: A friend told me about her, and I think that friend set it up for me to go to Stockton to this place.

KL: Who was the family whose home you were in?

MO: Where I moved in?

KL: That you worked for.

MO: Bennett. I can't remember his first name, Bennett. He had a laboratory, you know, where he used to have frogs. In those days, they used to use frogs to determine women's pregnancy and things like that, and he used to have a lab.

KL: How did they do that?

MO: I don't know. I used to live above the garage, and he used to have this tank in the garage next to my bed and stuff, and he used to have frogs in there. They didn't bother me.

KL: And what was your work for them?

MO: I just used to arrange the table for breakfast and make simple things like salad. I never did any cooking, because I didn't know how to cook. Set the table, clear the table, little things. Well, I didn't do any house cleaning and stuff like that. It was fairly simple. Did that for two years.

KL: What were you studying?

MO: Well, when I was in high school, we used to, the kids used to sit around and say, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" I had no idea. And one guy says, "Why don't you be a dentist?" I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, dentists go to their office and come home, and there's no emergency, you don't have to go out at night. I said, yeah, maybe that's a good idea. Maybe I'll try that. So when I went to junior college I started taking courses for that, and that's what I did for two years.

KL: And then did you finish junior college?

MO: Not there. When I finished junior college, then the Korean War was going on and they were drafting students. Until then I had a deferment.

KL: Because of your student status.

MO: I can't remember what status it was, but for a student. And then my friend and I, we thought, god, I don't want to get drafted. Said, "Well, let's join the navy." And that way you can go to the naval school and do what you want to do, I thought. Choose the occupation, what you wanted. So we joined the navy, there was three of us, we joined together. Went through boot camp training, and they sent us to this ship after boot camp was over, and we were assigned to this destroyer, and we went to Korea. But we were never that close to Korea because ours was a radar picket ship, and we just stayed far away from land. I guess the radar would pick up planes or whatever, something. And we used to cruise around back and forth.

KL: Who were your three friends that you joined with?

MO: James Inouye, they lived in Stockton, and George Shibata.

KL: Were they on the ship with you?

MO: Yeah, the three of us. And then I was working in the, when I first came aboard the ship, this officer said, "Who knows how to type?" so I put my hand up right away. Said, "Okay, you go to the captain's office and work there." And the rest of the guys, they had to go and chip paint and that kind of stuff. So I made out pretty good. I wasn't a real good typist, but I could type. And working in the office, you're with the executive commander, and he says...

KL: Who was he? Do you remember his name?

MO: Huh?

KL: Do you remember his name?

MO: Yeah, his name was King, K-I-N-G, M.C. King. Because I used to sign papers for him, I used to forge his name. [Laughs] He was really nice, and he says, "What do you want to do?" I said, "Well, I don't want to be doing this, I want to go and do something in general field." He says, "Okay," so he packed up orders for me so that I could go to dental assisting school in San Diego. So I got off the ship, I went to San Diego and I went to dental assistant school there, and I was in San Diego for a couple of years.

KL That was after your discharge?

MO: No, during my naval career.

KL: During the navy time. Oh, okay. I didn't realize you were in that long.

MO: And I was stationed there in San Diego during that time. I was in the navy for two years. We signed up for four, but I was in for two years because I wanted to go to Japan. And before you go to Japan, they give you a physical exam.

KL: Why did you want to go to Japan?

MO: I just wanted to go. Because when we were on the ship, we used to go to Sasebo to fuel up the ship and get food and stuff like that, and then we go back out to sea. But during the time I was in Sasebo, I enjoyed Japan, so I said, "I want to go back again." So I put in a request to go to Japan, and they said, "Okay, you can go." But before you go, they give you an exam, physical, and they found out I had tuberculosis, so that ended my navy career. So I was given a discharge, medical discharge. And they sent me to Oakland, they have a hospital there, and they treated me there for a little bit, then they sent me to Livermore, there's a VA hospital there, and it's a tubercular hospital. And I was there for a year. And after I finished that, there was a counselor that used to come from the VA to see how I was doing and what I wanted to do. I told him what I wanted to do, I wanted to go to school. And he set it up with the GI Bill so that I could go to school. So then I went back to Stockton, it was called COP then, it's UOP now, but it's COP then. Then I finished up my one year of pre-dental courses.

KL: What did COP stand for?

MO: College of the Pacific. Now it's called University of the Pacific. And then I stayed there for a year at COP, and then I sent in for dental school, wanting to go, and then I was accepted at USC in Los Angeles. So this counselor again set me up with my GI Bill so that I get all my tuition paid, all my equipment and books paid by the government, and I get an allowance to live. And I did that for four years, studied there.