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KL: Yeah, you started to say that she was very talented in many ways. Tell us how, tell us about those ways.
UN: Because during the war, we all got incarcerated in the camp. And right away, my mother realized that people in camp were suffering, and so she volunteered and became a social welfare worker. She actually worked for Mrs. Deal, and she wrote reports in English. Here a Japanese school teacher, you know, writing reports in English. Of course, my father did the same thing, he worked for Mrs. Deal in the social welfare department so that they could get bassinettes and whatnot for people who were pregnant and had babies. You know, whenever there was somebody sick, they took procedures to get additional funding for them.
And then when I got my high school degree in camp, and I got scholarship from different colleges, the government didn't want us to go to a major university because they were having problems. And so they recommend that we go to smaller colleges, and I had a scholarship, and we relocated to Milwaukee. And so my mother decided to come out to Milwaukee, and when the government found out that she was going to Milwaukee, they asked her to start, you know, one of these homes, relocation homes in Milwaukee. And my mother became supervisor of the hostel, and she went to the mayor's Monday morning meetings, and she wrote reports, and then after the camp closed, the war ended, and they decided to disperse the people. There was no longer a need for a hostel. And so my mother closed it down, and the government said, "You did such a wonderful job for us, what would you like to do?" And so my mother said she would like to visit the thirteen colonies before she went back to California. Well, the government paid her way, and she visited the thirteen colonies before she went home.
KL: Did she go alone?
UN: Yeah.
KL: What did she tell you about that trip?
UN: She said she had a wonderful time. [Laughs]
KL: Where did she go? I mean, did she see historic sites or visit people?
UN: Yeah, she went to all the historic sites. And then, by then, my brother was in the U.S. Navy. And I have an interesting family. They gave him, he was applying for first class, so the whole, it was after the war, and they didn't have any, very many promotion sites for the sailors, so the whole fleet took an exam for that one position, and my brother came out number one. And so the navy said, my goodness, this kid's pretty smart. They sent him to Annapolis to teach the plebes fire control. And my brother went there and started teaching the plebes fire control. Well, fire control is an officer, you actually integrate the guns with the, all the electronics involved in tracing the airplanes. And he was doing this, and the commandant in Annapolis called him into his office and offered him to become a plebe. And my brother refused because we're Christians. So they sent a psychologist with my brother back to interview my mother, and they came to...
KL: Was this still in Manzanar, where was your mother?
UN: She was in Los Angeles at the time. And they came over to interview my mother. They couldn't believe that this kid would refuse to just, they promised him education. And then they found out that my grandfather was a minister, my uncle was a minister in New York, my cousin's a United Methodist minister in Chicago. [Laughs] And we had a Free Methodist minister in California.
KL: So there's precedent.
UN: And I was sent to become a minister from my family.
KL: Okay. Were you guys... well, actually, let me back up. I have a few more questions about before the war. You said that when your parents met each other they fell in love, and I wanted to hear a little bit about sort of what their relationship with each other was like, how they interacted with each other, and maybe what drew them to each other.
UN: Well, it's before my time. [Laughs]
KL: But when you were a kid growing up, did you have a sense of especially what they liked about each other?
UN: Well, my mother was a beautiful woman in her younger days. She was actually pretty, and very athletic. She was an ice skater, and I guess my dad just went over, head over heels for her.
Off camera: Did she play a traditional role in the family? Was she a very strong, independent woman, like more of an equal relationship with your father?
UN: Well, my mother was so smart that she almost ruled the roost, you know, in a nice way. She never, she would never oppose my father, but I could tell that... and when, like I believe, loved my mom, because every time Dad would be on us, my brother and I, Mom would come to rescue us, you know? In a typical Japanese Oriental family, the father is very strong. And you know, Mom would come to our rescue, and pretty soon, it's an argument between my mother and my dad rather than...
KL: Can you give us an example of something that was important to him where this would come up?
UN: Well, it's so long ago, but when my mom died, I cried because she... and she's always helped me in my schoolwork. Dad was like one step above us, but Mom was always there. If I'm not reading well, she would make sure that I do my lesson and help me read.
<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.