<Begin Segment 9>

KL: Well, let's get to you, then. When were you born?

HK: I was born on April 2, 1937, and I'm kind of in the middle of my siblings. I had, my two oldest sisters are twin sisters, and then I have another sister, Esther -- I have pictures of all the siblings -- and then my brother, Elbert, was born, then I was born two years, couple years after my brother, in 1937.

KL: What were your twin sisters' names?

HK: Joan and Jean.

KL: And then after you, you said there were some other kids?

HK: Yeah, my sister Esther.

KL: Esther was younger than you?

HK: No, no. She was after the twins. Then my brother Elbert, and then I was born, and then my sister Elaine was born after me. And then after we went to camp my mother, when we were in Tule Lake she had a stillborn sister that was born while, we were in Tule Lake. And I don't even remember the name that they gave her. And then when we moved to Nebraska, I had two (sisters), Patricia and then Kathy were born in Nebraska.

KL: So you were almost the -- when was Elaine born?

HK: Elaine was born, I think 1940. And that was another thing about my father, was, is that he would say the government could take away, "They take away everything else, but they can't take away my children." That's why he liked having children.

KL: Yeah, and your mom was from a big family too, right?

HK: Yes.

KL: Well, what are your, what are some of your very earliest memories?

HK: My earliest memories of living in, actually Loomis was where my grandmother lived, and I don't know how long we lived with her, but when we were there, I remember she had a goat, and the goat would eat, if we left anything out, even our clothes, the goat would eat it. And then also she had a dog and cat, so we loved to play with all the different animals there. But I remember that, I think my parents moved, I think it was near Stockton, or Tracy, because, as I was saying, it was hard to really make a living on just the fruit trees 'cause some years there was no fruit. So my father, of course, then would, I guess you'd call rent, or I don't know how you'd call it, find a house to live in and then he would (grow) tomatoes, I remember. So he would try to grow different crops that were more dependable.

KL: What was the name of the community that he was renting in?

HK: I think it was Tracy, but as I said, this is just very vague memories. And then of course when the war broke out, then we moved back to Loomis with my grandmother because, since she was a widow and she was by herself, my father worried about what would happen to her when the war broke out.

KL: Were your aunt and uncle still with her at that time?

HK: No. Well, as I said, his older half-sister (...) were living in a separate house. And then his younger brother, I think, when by the time the war broke out he was already married and living in Stockton.

KL: Joe.

HK: Joe was, uh huh. I have information about his family too.

KL: Great.

HK: They got married on December 1, 1940.

KL: Okay.

HK: Yeah, so they got married before the war.

KL: And they were in Stockton.

HK: [Looking at photos] This was his wife, and then this is his son in the family.

KL: Great.

HK: There's a picture of Joe in this book.

KL: Good. But your dad still felt a responsibility to his mother.

HK: Yes. And so that's why we moved back to Loomis when the war broke out.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.