<Begin Segment 15>

SG: So growing up here in Oregon, when looking back at childhood up through high school, do you remember some of the, one of the most difficult times for you and your family?

BO: Well, we ate though. You always go out in the field and get cucumber or corn or whatever you want, bring it in and eat. That part was all right. But other than that, informal, I guess. But in Gresham like Dad says, even during the war, he says, "Oh yeah, come on in but don't come through the front door." That's Gresham. We go in all trucks and tractors and cars through them. You come to the back door and we'll help you out.

SG: Why didn't they want you to go through the front door?

BO: It says "No Jap Allowed." So you just come right to the back door and they'll help you out. Mr. Zimmerman at Zimmerman's Corner, he had a fruit stand there, and he says, "Oh, yeah. We get you anything you want, rice, I get you lots." So he set up lots of rice and lots of this that the Japanese like. He had them to help the Japanese, and he sold it. He made money. That's how he grew.

SG: So was there discrimination like that before the war?

BO: Maybe there was a little, but I didn't go out too much, so I don't know. I got out of that one.

SG: So looking back, what, as a Japanese American growing up here in Oregon, what did you most enjoy about growing up here?

BO: Well, one of the things is trips. You know, you can see all kinds of different countries, all the falls, farming. You get to see all that wide open country. But then again, it takes time to do that. You go fishing. Why the fishing, the hired man used to take us out to go fishing, crappie fishing in Lake Oswego. But other than that, smelt; otherwise, you just have to just stay home.

SG: So what happened after high school for you?

BO: After high school, I kind of felt lonesome because, see, after going through grade school then high school, twelve years, and then all of a sudden, no school. So you look around, everybody's going to school, and you're home. So you stay home and you work hard, do everything you can, and get, you all done. Then all of a sudden my mom says, "This year, you're going to go to school," just like that. So I looked at her, said, "You learn mechanics," so she sent me to Oregon Tech over there on Fourteenth and Taylor. So I take a bus and streetcar go down, down Fourteenth and Taylor and then go back. Three years I did that. Then drafts come out and, actually, we studied mechanical to go in service and help in the [inaudible]. That's what Mom said. I didn't, I get, didn't do too much at home, but I've jumped the gun again.

SG: Did you want to go back to something else?

BO: No, no, no, no.

SG: So were there other Japanese at the technical school?

BO: Oh, yes. There was... let's see, what was his name? He used to work for Freight Line. He worked there one year, and then I look around for him, he was gone. So then I said, "What happened to that guy?" He's from Parkrose and take care of, just a mechanic. But the parents, they sent him to Japan, then he get caught over there in Japan Air Force and served there, then he got married there. Then he comes back. He worked for Freight Line, transportation man. He's pretty sharp. I think, there was Issei was trying, but that's about all. Me, I worked gas engines and worked a diesel. I put the electrical and finish that, then I tried to stay home one year, then the draft got me.

SG: Why did your parents want you to study at --

BO: Mechanical?

SG: Mechanical?

BO: Because we are, you're buying more and more mechanical cars, trucks, tractors, more mechanical things, and someone has to be home to take care of them. And she says, "When you're farming or anything like that, you are actually working hard to support the mechanical equipment." That's where all the money are going into. You had to pay for it, then you have to maintain it. It all costs. So I didn't do too much mechanical work at home because everything was new yet.

SG: So your parents wanted you to stay on and help on the farm?

BO: Oh, yeah. They refused me to get drafted. He says, "Well, you're going in first? You go in and try to wind the road for the others that is coming in." What do you mean, wind the road for others? I thought he was telling them that they could do it themselves, but then I told them I'm going to be a private. I got to, I haven't got a chance to go anyplace else, help, but I did go. They tell me so and so is coming in. I said, okay. Then I would walk mile something, mile and a half to a service center and find them and talk to them, you know. It's almost like a Boy Scout, a lot of horseplay going on, but you got to listen to sergeants that never goes to bed. Eleven o'clock, they turn the light on or 6 o'clock, wake you up. "When do these guys go to bed?" we used to say. Oh, they were really a loudmouth at first. But after you get used to it, there's nothing to it, you know.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.