<Begin Segment 12>

TR: And did your husband, did your husband go to camp?

AN: No, uh-uh. He was in the army before that.

TR: Was he in the army before December 7th, '41?

AN: Uh-huh.

TR: He was in the army when the war broke out?

AN: Uh-huh, yeah, so he didn't go to camp with his family. They were in Minidoka as I said. In fact, he was in the army, he came to see them at Minidoka. Because he was in the army, they wouldn't let him in, so they let the people, his relatives, come out, and they met out of the camp, strange.

TR: Yeah. I want to talk about that when we, I want --

AN: That's all I know.

TR: I want to elaborate on your husband's career too. So what date were you married?

AN: As I say, I don't know.

TR: Okay. Let's see if we can establish the chronology here. So he was in the army before the war broke out?

AN: Uh-huh.

TR: And had you been dating or seeing each other before the war?

AN: Yeah, uh-huh, off and on.

TR: I'm trying to establish how you got married in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

AN: Oh, he was, he was in, with the 442 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and we were engaged at that time. And so let's see, actually, he wanted me to come, and I think the idea was to say goodbye since he was going overseas with the 442. But instead of that, we got married. Yeah. And then my brother was in Washington, D.C., as an economist, and he came the very last minute, typical of the Hashitani capers. [Laughs] He decided to come, and that was, oh... oh, he came in, his bus came in just at the time I was at the church, I was in the back, and I was ready to come on, and he came in without his suit, without a shave. And he said, well, when the preacher says something, you say I will and so we changed. Let's see, who was going to give me away? Was it Major White, I think it was, either Major White or Joe Saito. I can't remember which one was going to give me away. But anyway, we had to change all of a sudden, put them away, and then my brother Ray came, and he gave me away, so that was settled.

TR: How long were you in Hattiesburg before the actual wedding ceremony?

AN: Oh, just a few days, I think it was.

TR: And how long after your wedding ceremony did he ship out?

AN: Oh, I imagine about a month or so.

TR: So you did have a little time together before he went overseas?

AN: No. I don't know. I don't think it was a month.

TR: But some time?

AN: Uh-huh, yeah. Then I went on to, after he left, then I went on to New York on the way to Washington, D.C., oh, yeah. I went first to Washington, D.C. to see my brother, and he showed me around town. And I remember on the train, I talked to some man there on the train, and he introduced me to fried apple pie. Ever heard of that? It was fried apple pie. And then from there after I had visited in Washington, D.C., then I went on to New York and stayed with my singing teacher and his wife, Bud Rimley and his wife, and so I really had a good time visiting with them. I mean, I had known them well in Nampa where he was my teacher. So then he went to that New York at that university there across the river from Harlem. I can't remember.

TR: Columbia?

AN: Yeah, must, yeah, that's where it was, Columbia. Oh, yeah.

TR: I want to go back just a little bit. You were in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

AN: Uh-huh.

TR: And this was during the time of the Jim Crow Laws in the South where blacks and whites were separated. But of course, Asians are neither black nor white.

AN: Uh-huh.

TR: Did that cause any difficulties for you --

AN: No.

TR: -- or was it unusual?

AN: No. Nothing, nothing happened.

TR: So your husband went overseas with the 44nd?

AN: Uh-huh.

TR: And do you remember when that was, what month and year, approximately?

AN: We were married in the spring in March.

TR: Of forty --

AN: It isn't coming. You can't persuade it. [Laughs]

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.