<Begin Segment 39>

KL: How did you get to Las Vegas where you're living now?

GM: By marrying her. [Laughs] She lived here, she went to Tucson, we were both in the mid-seventies. She was, "I'm not going to move to Tucson," I said, "Why not?" "It's too country, like you." I said, "Hey, I'm from L.A." "No, you're too country." I have a friend in Tucson, he cussed me out, "Stupid, what the hell, why don't you guys live in a neutral place?" I said, "Where?" "Tucson." Because my friend that lives here, he moved here some years ago and he said, "Oh, yeah, when you guys moved to Tucson," he said, because he was stationed during the Korean War briefly in Fort Huachuca, which is southeast Arizona. He said, "Man, I heard that you were moving over there. I said, "I'm just that way." And then when I moved here, two weeks after I moved here, it's not because I wanted to move here. I said, "I like it." Tucson was a great place. I mean, the first day I go to work, I'm wearing a suit. July the 16th, this was the old welfare department, I worked there for about five months. And I knock on the supervisor's, "Mrs. Bartlett? George." She jumps up, grabs my wrist, pulls me out. And all the caseworkers' desks were together, six of them. "All right you guys, this is the way I want you guys to start dressing." I see cowboy boots, Levis, bolo ties. And I thought, boy, they must think, "What kind of monkey?" I said, "Oh, no, you're never going to see me wear the suit again." And those guys invited me to lunch, I said okay. And then monsoon starts about a week later, I'm comfortable now. I've been in Korea and Japan, I saw how stupid the GIs looked, all drenched, wet, and the Japanese guys are wearing getas and, you know. So I come to work and these damn cowboys, they go, "What the hell?" I had galoshes, raincoat, umbrella. And they insisted that I can't wear those galoshes, I'm not going to, "You're not gonna go to lunch with me." I said, "Damn cowboys." That was funny. But they were great.

KL: Yeah, you've been around.

GM: But anyway, yeah. So people are nice, yeah, I think.

KL: Are you part of any kind of Japanese American cultural groups or anything?

GM: No.

<End Segment 39> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.