<Begin Segment 14>

RP: So, (1956) is, was that the year that your family began the process of coming back to America? When did, when did...

LY: We left Japan December, I think 27th on the Wilson, the ship, big ship. And it, and that was the only way to travel.

RP: Your, who was the first member of your family to come back to the United States?

LY: 1952, I think it was March, my oldest brother, David, and then my older sister, Carol came back to stay with grandparents and uncle and a few aunties who were not married yet. So they stayed in Florin. And this was the house that was purchased after the internment camp.

RP: Oh, after the war.

LY: 'Cause the first house they didn't, they weren't allowed to go back to. They lost the house.

RP: Can you tell us about the process involved in trying to get back to the United States from Japan?What did you have to do?

LY: My uncle, Uncle Alvin, he became our sponsor. And then of course grandparents and other aunties helped too. But mainly Uncle Alvin is the one became sponsor and send the money to us so we can come back. And it's surprising, those days, six hundred something. It was, I was really shocked to see that. And I still have it.

RP: That's for one person?

LY: Uh-huh. One person. So it's very, very expensive ship, right. And it took Yokohama, Japan, to Honolulu was five, seven days. And then five days from Honolulu to San Francisco.

RP: Can you tell us why the family decided to come back to the United States and leave Japan?

LY: Well, economy was so bad in Japan. And then of course our grandparents, my mother's side, are all here. And then they help us. And in getting back to what my grandparents said, who are my mom's parents and siblings, according to my aunt they stop, they said, "Don't go to Japan," you know, when they were in Manzanar. That's what my auntie told me about a year ago.

RP: They tried to convince them not to go to Japan.

LY: Not to go. But, I guess my father and my mom was very determined to take care of the mother, especially you know, he was away for so long. So...

RP: Now your mother was a citizen.

LY: Yes.

RP: And did she have, did she have to reinstate her citizenship after being in Japan?

LY: Right, she has to lose a citizenship.

RP: She lost her citizenship?

LY: Uh-huh, right. So when she decided to come back she has to reapply and I think Mr. Collins is the one that helped. In the, I guess a lawyer in San Francisco those days?

RP: Oh, Wayne Collins?

LY: Yes.

RP: Oh.

LY: And I still have the letter.

RP: The letter that he wrote?

LY: Wrote.

RP: Oh, do you have it with you?

LY: [Nods] And anyway, what else?

RP: Who came next after...

LY: My father, March, 1956 he came back. 'Cause if he comes back he can go work and earn money and send the money to come back for rest of us.

RP: So that's what he did?

LY: Uh-huh. And then, you know, of course my oldest brother and sister growing up and they need a father or mother, the family, so that's the reason he came. And the same year my brother, Francis and Paul came back in September. 'Cause my mother said, "Oh, the sooner they go back they can go to school." Then very last my mother and my sister, Joan, and I came back in, we left Japan December, 1956, and arrive January 2, 1957.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.