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RP: This is an oral history for the Manzanar National Historic Site. This morning is April 11th, Saturday, and we're interviewing Cabbie Iwasaki.

SI: Right.

RP: And the interview is taking place at 2136 Vista Mesa.

SI: Right.

RP: In, would this be Orange, California?

SI: It's Orange, right.

RP: Okay, Orange, California. And our videographer is Kirk Peterson. The interviewer this morning is Richard Potashin. And we'll be talking with Cabbie about his experiences as an internee at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, as well as his life before and after camp. Our interview will be archived in the site library. And, Cabbie, do I have permission to go ahead and record our interview?

SI: Oh, yes. Uh-huh.

RP: Okay. And I'm gonna refer to you as Cabbie.

SI: That's fine.

RP: Okay. All right, thank you again. Cabbie, first of all, tell me your date of birth and where you were born?

SI: 6/18/27.

RP: And where?

SI: On Terminal Island. And my home address was 617 Tuna Street.

RP: Tuna Street. Were you born at home or was there a hospital on Terminal Island?

SI: That I don't know.

RP: How about your given name at birth?

SI: Pardon?

RP: Your given name at birth. Did you have a Japanese name?

SI: Oh yes, uh-huh. My real... actually, my name is Susumu.

RP: Uh-huh. Could you spell that for us?

SI: S-U-S-U-M-U.

RP: Okay. And your last name, Iwasaki?

SI: Iwasaki.

RP: I-W-A-S...

SI: S-A-K-I. Right.

RP: How did you acquire the nickname Cabbie?

SI: Everybody asks me that. I still don't know to this day how I got that name. But it stuck to me ever since I was little. And that's how it went all through my life.

RP: Do you, do you know what your Japanese first name, Susumu, means?

SI: "Susumu" means to advance, to go forward.

RP: How about your last name, Iwasaki?

SI: Iwasaki is, it's a tip of a rock or a boulder.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.