Densho Digital Archive - Carol Hirabara Hironaka Interview (denshovh-hcarol-01-0025)

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RP: And how did you meet your husband, and tell us a little bit about him.

CH: Well, my sister married his brother, and that's where I first met him. But then we had these go-betweens, they always had to be around. So they came over while I was gone. They couldn't get my answer because I wasn't there. So I don't know when it took place, but I said, "Yes." So they were... it's like, what is it? John Smith was asking for marriage in hand for one of the... you know the history, he sent somebody else? That's what it was like.

RP: Did you actually meet your husband before you married him?

CH: Yeah, oh, yeah.

RP: So, "This is the man that we want you to marry, go out with him."

CH: Yeah. One of the go-between was my, his uncle, my husband's uncle. So it was not a total stranger. So we had four kids, two boys and two girls, and all those grandchildren.

RP: Did your husband have a camp experience?

CH: No. He was in the 442. He was up on the mountain in Germany where they had to rescue the Texas battalion. That's where he was. And he was fortunate to be able to come back whereas so many hundreds of soldiers died, that conflict.

RP: So he, had he been drafted before the war began?

CH: Yeah.

RP: So he was in the army for a while.

CH: Yeah. I was so stunned to hear my uncle Harry, who had a family, and they drafted him in those days. I guess because they had the draft.

RP: Uncle Harry was drafted, and where did he serve?

CH: Gee, I don't know. He didn't go overseas, I know. He had one son at that time.

Off camera voice: He was over forty, wasn't he?

CH: Yeah. That's the strange part of it. Why would they want a soldier that old? [Laughs]

RP: Now, was it Uncle Harry or...

CH: Uncle Harry.

RP: Is he the one that went to Chicago?

CH: No, he's the one that went to UC Berkeley. [Laughs]

RP: He went to UC Berkeley and then he went to Amache.

CH: Yeah. And then from Amache, I don't know where he went, then he was drafted.

RP: Did your other uncle who went to Chicago ever come back?

CH: Yeah, I think he went, he did come back to a camp once. 'Cause I remember my cousin going to school there. Then he, they went back, I think, to Chicago, 'cause they have great job opportunities, yes.