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AL: So your family, after the war, could you give us just sort of a quick synopsis of what they went on to do in their lives? I know there are so many it would take you probably ten hours, but just sort of the quick synopsis, we talked about Bill was a singer, just who they were and when they left us.

GW: Well, Bill, being the oldest, let's say that he went from Seabrook, he came out, he's a refrigeration expert, he got some first-time jobs of putting up new plants. He put up plants in Sanger for processing fruit and stuff, and then they moved to Los Angeles and came to work for Carl's Jr. He became more of a consultant in L.A., and he passed away with prostate cancer when he was seventy-two years old. And next in line is Eleanor, who is now ninety-two years old.

AL: She's still alive?

GW: Yes. In fact, we saw her this last weekend because we went to the memorial service together. So Eleanor left camp with her husband Shig, and they lived in Reno for a while. Then after they moved to... they came to San Jose, too, and worked on a strawberry farm. But Shig was also drafted in the army out of camp. And Shig passed away maybe about ten years ago with old age, I guess you might call it.

AL: What is Eleanor's married name?

GW: Nishikawa. She's the one that had Gary who was born in camp. And next in line is Frances, who was married right before we went to camp, her husband was named Babe Nishida, and they went to Seabrook. After Seabrook they moved out to Hawthorne, California, he worked as a welder, she never did work, she was a housewife most of the time. And I'm not sure when they passed away. Anyway, next in line after Frances is Martha. Martha was married right before war started to a Terminal Island guy, Kaz Takade. So they were, lived in Block 9. They went to Seabrook also, and after coming back from Seabrook, they relocated to Long Beach and they lived in one of those housing projects from there. Kaz died of cancer, I don't know what year, I don't know what year, but maybe twelve years ago. And Martha is still living. But she's pretty old now where she can't remember anybody anymore at that age. And after Martha there's Lillian. No, no, I forgot Woody in there, didn't I? Woody is before Martha. Woody was drafted in the army, Georgie and... right before went in camp, Patty was born. And Georgie was born in camp. He served in the service, I don't know, maybe three or four years.

And they moved to San Pedro or close to San Pedro, when we got out of camp. He's the one that they had a boat, the Waka. No, not the Waka. He had the Waka before the war, but after the war, in 1947, him and his brother-in-law would go out and fish off the Santa Monica pier. The guys would hire them, they'd go on as, take a boat out and they'd fish for mackerel and come in. And one time they went out, they caught so much fish, they sank the boat. Yeah, they were scooping the mackerel up, and the boat started settling, and the water came over the gunnel, over the sides. And it sank up to the top of the cabin, they sat on top of the cabin yelling for help because they fish at night. And that story made Look magazine as a big joke, fishermen go out and catch so much fish they sink the boat. [Laughs] Then they got offers by all kinds of people to come fish for them, they want their boat sunk. [Laughs] But anyway, Woody was the, became famous. In the 1960s, there was a wrestling, Japanese wrestler called Mr. Moto, and they'd travel around the United States wrestling. But he was a villain at that time, Mr. Moto was, but he had his assistant called Professor Tsugi, that was my brother Woody. He would have on this these wooden slippers, the getas, and a robe, and he was always the one that throws salt on the ring, sterilize the mat and stuff. But he was the one that was always hitting the other wrestler over the head with this wooden shoes and stuff, and he's the one that gets thrown in the ring and thrown out of the ring. So he was the traveling partner of Mr. Moto.

AL: It's kind of like the modern World Wrestling show?

GW: Yeah.

AL: Is there any video of that? Do you know if it was ever filmed?

GW: I haven't seen it, but it must have been on video because we could watch it, we watched it on video in those days. You could probably find it.

AL: So when did he pass away?

GW: You know, on these death things, I'm not really sure, but it's been quite a few years maybe. He died before Bill died, so that's maybe twelve years ago, maybe more than that. Then his wife Chizu passed away. Woody had seven kids, and it was surprising when we went to this memorial service for Patty, who is Woody's daughter, and she was married twice, but they had all these kids lined up on the side. We had to go ask each one, "Who are you?" "Who are you?" We didn't know that she had that many offsprings that had offsprings. And she had offsprings, offsprings, offsprings, so she was like a grandma times over.

So Woody... and I talked about Martha, didn't I? After Martha is Lillian. Lillian also was living in San Jose with her husband, Tok had... they had one daughter, one daughter and a son. And they did strawberries, and then after strawberries they went to Oxnard and raised strawberries in Oxnard. And since then, Lillian passed away, her husband Tok passed away. Their daughter happened to marry Ray. Ray married Hatsu, which is Lillian and Tok's daughter.

AL: Ray your brother married his niece?

GW: I guess you'd call it that, huh? No, no, no.

AL: Wait, I'm getting confused.

GW: No. Hatsu is Tok's sister, sister-in-law.

AL: Okay, that's a little better.

GW: Okay, yeah, there you go. [Laughs] See? That's what happens when you get old.

AL: So brothers married sisters.

GW: Yeah.

AL: And what was Lillian's married name?

GW: Katayama.

AL: Katayama?

GW: Katayama. And then after Lillian came Ray, and then Ray married Tok's sister. He has a son, three sons and a daughter. Most of them live in Oxnard, and are no longer farming, though, they don't farm. And after Ray came Mae, she's the one that happened to... I introduced her to her husband, and passed away, May passed away pretty young. She was like forty-five or so, she got cancer and passed away fast. And then after May comes myself, and we're talking about myself already, then Jeanne.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.