<Begin Segment 33>

AO: And then before I left, I had made arrangements for a job babysitting, or helping, a nanny job in a suburb of Philadelphia, in Wyncote, and called them and they told me how to get out to their place and I took the train and went there. He was an attorney, and they had this nine-month-old daughter, and I had to look after Nancy. And that was, and I stayed there and worked there thinking that I could commute from there to Temple. And while I was... and then every Thursday on my day off I went to the hostel, it's the only friendly place I knew.

And one time when I was there, this phone call came that this woman was looking for a Nisei girl. They had just heard about evacuation and thought it was just terrible, and they wanted to do their bit to make up to it by taking a Nisei girl into their home, a student. And so they wanted to meet me first to see who I was and what I was like. So we made arrangements, I met them, and Mrs. Barry liked me. I didn't, I guess I only had like a couple of weeks left before I had to start school, so I left Wyncote and went to stay with the Barrys. And they were, they treated me like their own daughter. And Nancy was going to University of Pennsylvania.

KL: Was she their daughter?

AO: Yes. Yeah, the two, they're all Nancy's.

KL: Nancy Barry?

AO: Yeah. So I became part of their family, and she was just so good to me. One night they were gone somewhere, and I was home alone, and I was reading this very interesting book. I had this funny pain here, so I just crawled on the bed and just kept reading. But I was all curled up, and when she came home, she looked and she saw me all curled up and she wondered. And I told her, "Well, I've got this funny pain." "Appendicitis," she says. I said, "But I'm..." you know. So I lasted, went through the night, and the next morning she took me to the doctor and the doctor said yes. So they put me in the hospital and did an appendectomy. And that, and while I was there in the hospital -- in those days they kept you for a week -- VJ Day happened.

KL: What was your reaction to it?

AO: Hallelujah. That was in the summertime. Because after, during the summer, during the summer break, I'd gotten a job at Hahnemann Hospital working. And the two people that I worked with, I was... I would be preparing materials for the students to, for their classes, like mounting slides and stuff like that. And then I guess I typed, and doing some typing stuff, too, just the odds and ends.

KL: When you heard about VJ day, what did you hear about the bomb, the atomic bombs?

AO: Yeah. That was probably, it was bombed when I was probably under, I mean, out. And so I don't remember any kind of a personal reaction.

KL: Did you hear anything about them, that there was this new weapon, or was it just...

AO: The war is ending, yeah. Because I was there in the hospital not knowing anybody. It was run by nuns, and they were very nice to me. And I remember the first night... I mean, here you are, laid up in the hospital, and you're not supposed to get out of bed. That first night, I was asleep, and I heard my mother calling. And I jumped out of bed and I found myself standing at the foot of the bed, quickly crawled back in. And later I found out my mother dreamed it, or I guess dreamed or something that I needed her, and she had called my name.

KL: Your connection to her was strong, huh?

AO: So Mrs. Barry was all prepared to wire my mother, but she wanted to wait until after the surgery to see how I was. And then she decided, no, she would write and tell her the details, that it would be better.

KL: What had your communication with your sister in Japan been during the war?

AO: During the war there was no communication, so we had no idea just where she might be or anything. My mother wrote to the latest, the only address she had of her brother to see what was happening, and we learned a little bit about their deprivations. My mother put together packages as often as she could and sent them to them.

KL: Were you released from the hospital then at the end of that...

AO: Oh, yeah, then I was home.

KL: Did you continue to go to the hostel after you had moved in with the other family, the Barrys?

AO: No, I did not, no.

KL: What was your first time going to Temple like?

AO: Well, Temple University is... you know like UC is all in one place, it's like another building, office building on a street, and you look for the address and go in and find your... and the only real memories of my time there at Temple, are my German class. Because that instructor just was quite... just by the way you talked, he could tell where you were from. I mean, he was naming, "You're from the Bronx, you're from Long Island, you're from..." just fascinating.

KL: What made you study German?

AO: Pardon?

KL: What made you study German?

AO: I figured for medical you need... German was the best. Because I had studied Latin in high school.

KL: What was your reception like from the other students and teacher?

AO: Fine. There was no ill feelings or anything. In fact, there were a couple of missionaries who had been in Japan, and so we became pretty good friends.

KL: Were there any other Japanese Americans you had in classes?

AO: No, not in... because I just went to my classes and then went home, so I didn't participate in any student activities. If there were any, I don't know there were.

<End Segment 33> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.