<Begin Segment 43>

TI: What has it meant to your, your family, like her daughter in terms of her education about what happened? Did she know about all this before?

GS: Uh-huh.

TI: So talk about that, what it meant in terms of your own family.

GS: Yeah, my family, well, she finally started learning to -- when she had to take me, my daughter finally had to... as I made speeches different places, different schools, she would drive me certain places. And we go to Washington, they made sure that she travels with me, 'cause I couldn't do it by myself. I could, I guess, but then I'm not in good health now since I've taken in oxygen, this and that. But she understands now, she knew what I went through. She, she wants me to talk about it. Like yesterday I was at a school and talked about it.

TI: And you're wearing your medal right now. Can you, can you describe the medal for us?

GS: This has, in the middle here it has thirteen stars, first one and then two, three, four across, and then two in the bottom, total of thirteen. We have, even I have a flag that has just thirteen stars, light blue background, indicating this is the medal. Below is the actual medal, is the, for the Army, then the Navy has one has an anchor that would hold the medal. And the Air Force has a burst, like a starburst, different, then the medal is underneath, holding. But that's, each unit has, the Navy and Marines are all the same, have the anchor and the medal. But to me, I just, I wanted to tell about the war, what we had to go through. So I was a "90-day wonder." After ninety days of battle, all I had the rest of the time was nine months in hospitals, basic training, and a total of eighteen months, total service. That's why I'm just a, still a recruit, I'm still a private. [Laughs]

TI: That's good.

GS: I'm going to stay a private.

<End Segment 43> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.