<Begin Segment 22>

RM: What do you remember about coming home?

JY: I was happy I was coming home. But we were coming home about a month later, because we stayed in France until these guys were released. I know we threw all our dishes overboard, all the underwear, dirty underwear, we threw overboard, we got new issue as soon we came back to the States. We threw everything away. And we had to use our mess kid, you know, on the ship, you have to stand up to eat, and you have to put your bayonet on your mess kit so the damn thing doesn't slide all over. But we ate. All the air crew members ate and didn't get seasick.

RM: Where did your ship dock?

JY: Camp Shank, New York, that's where they took us after we docked. We docked right next to the Queen Mary or Elizabeth, and from our top deck, we looked at the lowest window. Can you imagine, they took off two weeks later and came in one day ahead of us? I got proof, people can't believe me, I said, "Well, look at that." That's the ship's log right there. I'm not lying to you. So after that, they believed everything I tell them. [Laughs]

RM: What was the mood like in the States when you got back here?

JY: Oh, everything was over. All the celebration was over, we just walked in, and nothing.

RM: Did anyone say anything to you?

JY: No, no. I went to New York Chinatown and had a Chinese dinner. The thing I missed when I went to England was just a plain bowl of white rice. I said, "What the hell, why am I missing that? I used to hate rice." [Laughs] It's a funny thing. But when I went to London, the Chinese people were real kind to me. They saw I was a flier and also a Chinese. They offered not to take my money, but I paid them anyway. I said, "No, you guys need it more than I do." We get good money, we get twenty percent overseas, plus fifty percent flying pay, so we get paid twice a month, the first and the tenth. So the American soldier, any fliers are loaded with money.

RM: How did you get back to Los Angeles?

JY: I flew from Camp Shank to Long Beach Ferry Command without a parachute. I told you I was shaky all the way back, I thought, god, first time I flew without a parachute. 'Cause I used to hug that parachute, I mean, that was my security blanket.

RM: When did you see your wife for the first time?

JY: Oh, right away. They let us all go home and come back and get our three hundred dollar discharge pay. Oh, they were good about that way.

RM: What was it like to see her?

JY: Pardon?

RM: What was it like to see Kay and your daughter?

JY: Oh, wonderful. I saw them not too long ago, about a year ago, right before I went overseas.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.