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AL: So when you're talking about your mother and father, as far as your interactions with them, because you're pretty far down the chain, right, you're nine out of ten? What was your relationship like, for instance, with your father as compared to your older brothers? Were you close to him?

GW: You know, when I think about it, at the beginning when I was young, I wasn't close at all. Just after when I got out of the service, and he started raising strawberries in San Jose, and I got out of the service and I stayed in San Jose, and I helped him on the farm. And when he... normally they leased the land for four years and raised strawberries for four years, and they get another plot, they lease another plot and grow for four years. At that time, my father had a plot, and he was growing strawberries and I was helping him. And then when I got out of the service there, I said, "Dad, I don't want to be a farmer." But he wanted to lease another plot. And because I didn't want to farm, he couldn't lease another plot. So that's when I think his goals decreased, and he no longer was a head of the household, like to keep money or to keep the family together. But then I was the only one left to stay with them. Jeanne got married and I was the last one left, and I really didn't want to become a farmer.

AL: How did he take that?

GW: I think he took it pretty bad, really bad. Because that's when this house went down, it was maybe three or four years later that he passed away.

AL: Did he ever say anything to you about it?

GW: No. In fact, we never thought about it or him demanding that I help him do farming or help him with the farm.

AL: What was your relationship with your mother like?

GW: I guess I was her pet, because me and Jeannie I guess were her pets because we were the last ones, last ones around. And more or less she would do anything for us, we would do anything for her.

AL: What characteristics as an adult do you think you have of your dad? What part of you is your dad, what part of you is your mom?

GW: I think my personality is my mom. Because she was the quiet one, and my dad was the very strong and demanding one, and I didn't have that characteristic. So I think I took after my mom. In fact, I probably picked up all her DNA genes that are not too good, like I got diabetes now, high blood pressure. But as far as my dad goes, his personality, I think Jeanne has picked up more of his personality than I have.

AL: That's very interesting. So when you were a kid, where did you go to school? Like when you were living in Ocean Park, where did you attend school?

GW: We went to... I can't remember the elementary school's name, Dunbar? Maybe that was in East L.A. I don't remember too many of the elementary schools. The only thing I remember is when we had to leave Terminal Island, and right after Pearl Harbor, it wasn't too long that we had to leave there, and we moved into East L.A., Boyle Heights area. And I remember going to school, and that's when I, first time I felt the pain of being discriminated against because of the kids calling me "Jap" or "go home," or being picked on by the kids. And I think we stayed there about three or four months, and then they said that we had to relocate and go to camp. So we'd leave from Boyle Heights, because my sister Eleanor, oldest sister, was living in West Los Angeles, the family wanted to be together so we left Boyle Heights, I remember, about three o'clock in the morning on a truck. So driving down to West L.A. and then stopping at the Buddhist church there, and that's where we got on the bus and drove to Manzanar.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.