<Begin Segment 19>

LP: So fast forwarding a little bit, at what point did you meet your wife?

RM: [Laughs] Well, see, Masako and I are first. We met here, we were the first couple to meet here and get married, we met here as volunteers and got married, we were the first couple to do that. She's the first museum volunteer, number one.

LP: And what year did you meet, then?

RM: See, I started here in 1994, and I probably met her in about '95 sometime.

LP: Was that your first and only marriage?

RM: No. You don't see my other marriage. [Laughs]

LP: Do you have any kids?

RM: No.

LP: I was going to ask about redress.

KL: I wondered if there was anything memorable from the museum, though. Are there any real memorable experiences -- I guess meeting and marrying Masako is probably pretty memorable.

RM: Memorable experience? Well, events... I guess the one event, well, got several events, but the event that I remember the most, and I forget what year it was, and when we had an event out here, men from the 100th and the 442, we had an event come here. And people who were rescued in Dachau concentration camp, one lady came here, and she met the 442 guy that rescued her here, they met. I mean, talk about something very emotional, that was it. That's something. And they remembered each other. I'll never forget that.

LP: Is there anything that we didn't ask you or anything that you would like to bring up in the last, I hate to say this, but like two minutes? I feel like we covered a lot, but there might be things that we missed.

RM: Well, one thing, I believe in the mission of this museum. And I say this, before I followed, see, when I decided to retire, I knew I was gonna volunteer somewhere. I believe in community service, so I volunteer here. And before I came here to volunteer, when the Rafu Shimpo, the Japanese paper, said the museum is going to have an exhibit on the Japanese concentration camps, you know what I said, "What the hell are they doing that for?" That's exactly what I said, because I didn't want to think about that. Until I came here and really started thinking about it and all that, now, turn around, I'm a big supporter of what we do here and want to tell the people our story and what happened. And in that way, I'm a supporter of telling our story. Because too many people do not know our story, so that's my one thing. So I tell people, I admit that when I first came here, that no. Why, but a complete turnaround.

LP: Thank you so much for your time and for sharing all of that, I appreciate that.

RM: Oh, thank you.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.