<Begin Segment 7>

RP: Let me guess. Was Sumi next?

GU: No. Had two brothers before that. Had Daniel.

RP: Daniel?

GU: And he never married. Also, he had problem with his eyes, he eventually became blind. And, but he, before he became blind, he was, after we came out of the camp, he did work as a gardener. And he was able to save some money, that he bought his own, had his own home. And he lived in that home by himself, and he died there.

RP: Where did he live?

GU: On Purdue Avenue. I don't know the exact number, it was in the 1900 block on Purdue Avenue. And I remember my wife would make dinners for him, the sisters took, the family took turns making dinners for him. So I would take it when, after my wife made the dinner for him. And one thing is, that he liked was playing... what's that other game besides checkers?

RP: Chess?

GU: Chess. He liked playing chess. And I would play chess, too, and he'd always get mad at me because I would beat him. [Laughs] But he and I were the only ones that played chess.

RP: Another brother?

GU: Then after that, had David. He's also deceased now, but his wife is still living. He was very interested in health. Like drinking, you have to drink milk, things like that. He raised, he was in the Future Farmers when he was going to high school, and he raised his own goat. Nobody liked the goat milk there, they're terrible. But he drank goat milk. And the only way we could drink, have any goat milk was when my mother made pancakes out of the goat's, with the goat's milk. That's the only way I could take the goat's milk.

RP: You couldn't drink it straight.

GU: No, I couldn't drink it straight.

RP: So he was into nutrition.

GU: Yeah, and he was very conscious of all these vitamin pills, too.

LU: I think he, I think one time he had a touch of TB, too. Yeah, I think that's the reason he, you know this book, the Charles Atlas? I think he, I think from that he really started to watch his health. And so he exercised and kind of built his body up some, too. And then like you said, was real careful about the nutrition. I remember when we were fishing, he used to take a lot of pills. And then this drink he used to drink.

RP: Oh, like a special drink?

LU: Yeah, to keep his health up. So I guess he was pretty healthy after that, I mean, health conscious.

RP: What did he do for a career or a job?

GU: Oh. When we came out of camp, he also went into gardening. He didn't have any education beyond high school like most of the...

LU: Besides us, too, all the brothers and Dad, they all went into gardening after the war. Came to L.A. Because I guess being a farmer, it's kind of a natural to be a gardener. And it was easy to get into, too. So I guess they were good gardeners, too.

GU: Okay, after David was Sumi. Sumi and I were fairly close, I don't know. I kind of took her as a favorite sister. And, of course, after camp, they moved to Denver, and that's where she is now. She's always lived in Denver after the camp. So I visited her several times in the past. I used to take an airline, but because of all the difficulties going through the airport and things, that I, the last couple times I went by train. And I think the two, the last time I visited her was two years ago. She's about, what, six years older than I am? And she's getting down in her... health-wise, she's pretty good, but her memories are not as good as it used to be. She repeats a lot of things when I talk to her. [Laughs]

RP: She used to babysit you, too, or take care of you?

GU: Well, I think everybody babysat me. [Laughs]

RP: How about after Sumi?

GU: Then that was May. She... I don't remember too much about her. Sorry to say that. What I know is that she's always there, but there wasn't too much going on between...

RP: Did she marry eventually?

GU: Huh?

RP: She married?

GU: Yes. She married and she had...

LU: After we moved from Maryland, we moved to L.A., then she got married in L.A., West L.A.

GU: She had five children. She also had cancer. I imagine that's eventually what took her.

LU: The cancer was in the cheek area, and the doctor had misdiagnosed it for something else, and eventually, by the time they found out, I guess she lost part of the bone in here and then her one eye. They had to take it out. But she was able to survive after that.

RP: Who came next?

GU: Then Leo.

RP: Leo, we got to Leo.

GU: What I remember about him, although I don't know whether he realized it or not, but when we were small, before the war, he liked to draw. And one time he sent his drawing to the, was it Sacramento Bee newspaper, you had it printed? They print children's drawings, and so I wasn't gonna let him beat me on this, so I drew a picture and sent it in. I also had it printed in the paper. But mine was a lot easier because I drew a comic character that had a, wore a mask, so he didn't have the details of the, you know, drawing a nice face. [Laughs] Anyway... and I was more or less in a competition with him. Anything he did, I'd try to do better. But I think we generally got along okay.

RP: Leo, what do you remember about this guy growing up?

LU: I don't know, he was always there getting in the way. [Laughs]

RP: Did you ever talk each other into some kind of trouble?

LU: Oh, once in a while we get into a fight, but usually he was pretty good.

RP: Did you say there was another sibling between...

GU: Yeah, Eileen.

RP: Eileen?

GU: Yeah, E-I-L-E-E-N. She was married. I can't remember what she died of. Anyway, her husband is still living.

RP: Did she also settle in the West L.A. area?

GU: Well, she was with the family in camp, in Maryland, and then coming back here. She also married fairly late. Do you remember how old she was when she got married?

LU: Huh?

GU: Do you remember how old she was? She was like forty, in the forties, wasn't she, when she got married?

LU: I guess mid-thirties, I guess.

RP: And then there were the two adopted...

GU: Pardon?

RP: Then the two adopted cousins?

LU: Oh, the two adopted cousins, the older one, he passed away about, several years before evacuation, of heart attack. He used to get up early in the morning and used to feed the horses. And I guess, I can't... I didn't realize exactly what happened, but I heard that, I guess, after feeding the horse, I guess, he had a heart attack and he collapsed in the barn. That's what I remember. And the younger one, he got married before the war, and he moved to, his bride, the family had a store in Chico. I don't know if it's a dry good or grocery store, but anyway, so he lived over there and helped them run their business. Then after Pearl Harbor... where did they...

GU: I think it was in Colorado or somewhere. Amache, I think.

LU: Well, anyway, they went into camp, and then after the war, he moved to, he came to L.A., to live in L.A. And he started to do gardening. That's where he passed away, in West L.A. over here.

GU: Yeah, he had only one son.

RP: Well, thank you both for going through all the members of the family, give us a little insight into each one. I know it takes a while.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.