Densho Digital Archive - George Uchida - Leo Uchida Interview (denshovh-ugeorge

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RP: This is an oral history interview for the Manzanar National Historic Site. Today is April 9, 2009, and we're speaking today with George Uchida. George lives at...

GU: 2811 Colby Avenue, Los Angeles, California.

RP: And also sitting in on our interview today is his brother, older brother, Leo Uchida. And Leo's from Torrance, California. And our interviewer is Richard Potashin, and the videographer is Kirk Peterson. Mr. Uchida will be discussing his experiences as an internee at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. And our interview will be archived in the Park's library. Do I have your permission George, and Leo, to record our interview.

GU: Yes.

RP: Thank you very much. Tell me first your birthdate and where you were born.

GU: I was born on March 14, 1929, in Florin, near Sacramento, California.

RP: And Leo, your birthdate?

LU: June 15, 1926.

RP: Also in Florin?

LU: Yes.

RP: Were you, do you know if you were born at home or a local hospital?

GU: Neither. I was just outside the hospital when I was born in a car. [Laughs]

RP: Didn't quite make it.

GU: Didn't quite make it.

KP: Do you remember the make and the model of the car? No. [Laughs]

GU: It was an old Ford.

RP: It was an old Ford, okay. Well, we have that on the record. What was your given name at birth, George?

GU: It was a Japanese name, Sei, S-E-I.

RP: And where did you acquire the name George?

GU: When I started school, because the name Sei was very similar to the word "S-A-Y," when people would talk and they'd say the word "S-A-Y," I would answer, thinking it was, they were talking to me. One of my sister's names was actually Sumi. She suggested I have another name, and she picked George for me. It's been ever since. But it's never been entered in my birth certificate or anything like that.

RP: On your birth certificate it says Sei?

GU: Just Sei, yeah.

RP: Leo, what was your, did you have a Japanese name, too?

LU: No, at first... yeah, it was a Japanese name only, R-Y-O.

RP: R-Y-O?

LU: Yeah, Ryo.

RP: Ryo, yeah.

LU: And I guess, like him, at school, when they say my name, I have to correct them because people think it was L-E-O. And also I think somehow I adopted the name L-E-O. So I didn't have to explain the difference.