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RM: So this is tape three of an interview with George Oda. Today is July 22, 2014, we're in Las Vegas, and George was just telling us about the big caravan his family took from just outside Denver, Colorado, all the way back to the San Fernando Valley. And George, could you just tell me where you were headed and what you did when you got there.

GO: Well, we was headed for North Hollywood, but we got there. So where was that, a cousin's... well, anyway, they found a place for us to stay, so we stayed there, and then from there we were, started working for, our farm had green onion, so we started bunch green onion. Then there was another two or three other families that was there because this farmer had a big land. So we all got there and we started working for him. And as months go by, you got money, so my father started, he went to start another farm. So he started another farm, and that was it.

RM: What did it feel like to see the San Fernando Valley, you know, your home? And you'd been gone for six years at that point. What was it like to see it?

GO: Yeah, that's a long time. Well, I tell you one thing, before we went to camp, we went to this one store. We bought things, we probably went out and bought him out. After we came back, he won't service, so we don't go back anymore. That was the only point we had trouble with, the rest of it was all right.

RM: So tell me a little bit about your parents. They just moved easily back into the farming life after camp? Because you compared Manzanar for them to the first real vacation they'd ever had. So what was it like for them to be back farming?

GO: It's easier, it was much easier for them, because we helped out more, we did more things, and they didn't have to do it. So it turned out all right. And then my older brother took over. So in other words, it's turned out that they were sort of an advisor. And then Mother does all the cooking, so they were happy that we...

RM: I'm curious, this is going to sound like a weird question, but what kinds of foods did your mom cook?

GO: Oh, regular Japanese stuff. Some of the things that Dorothy said, "Eew." [Laughs]

RM: Like what?

GO: I don't know. You know, in them days, like fish, they eat almost the whole thing. I remember my mother used to eat the eyes. I can't...

RM: You weren't a big fan of fish eyes?

GO: Not fish eyes.

RM: Did your parents speak both English and Japanese?

GO: No, that's one thing, they didn't speak English, but they understood what we were saying. But we knew a little bit of Japanese then, so it'd mix up. Or going back, way back, was wondering how did my dad go to the store and buy groceries because they couldn't speak English? I think I heard some said they want egg or something, so they said, "Cock-a-doodle-do," or crack like a chicken so they get their eggs. This is what I heard, somebody. So they didn't speak a bit of English.

RM: But they could understand it well enough to communicate with you guys.

GO: Oh, yeah, now, after we got back, they know what we're talking about.

RM: Did your parents ever, after 1952 when it was legal, did they ever become U.S. citizens?

GO: No, they just left it just like that.

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