<Begin Segment 17>

LT: Let's talk about college. Because after you returned, you applied for further education. Can you talk about that?

SA: Well, I wanted to use my GI Bill, you know. So they used to pay for my tuition, so much for room and board, and I used to work as a dishwasher at Pacific, paid for spending money, you know. But I enjoyed school, most of it fascinating. That time it was ex-vets, you know, they were veterans, so used to be a freshman in our dorm there, he was not a veteran, and man, he had trouble adjusting to being away from home. I felt sorry for the guy, he just, he'd be crying sometimes. He just couldn't adjust.

LT: Well, you graduated from Pacific.

SA: Yeah.

LT: How did you use your degree?

SA: How did I use it?

LT: Uh-huh.

SA: Oh, I had the practice, optometry practice.

LT: And where did you begin practicing?

SA: Huh?

LT: Where did you begin practicing?

SA: When?

LT: Where?

SA: Hood River. Oh, I worked at the clinic in Wheeler, Nehalem for five years, four years. Then I heard about this place going to sell, so through detail man, you know, who comes around, different supplies to sell and so forth, you pick up all these little news. Yeah, that's a long time ago.

LT: Okay. And considering what happened to you and your family after the war, did that affect your thoughts about returning to Hood River to practice?

SA: Yeah, it did some, but I feel there is a pretty good chance to make it, you know. So it worked out pretty good.

LT: Okay. And you brought a wife.

SA: Yeah, I had two kids by then.

LT: Okay. And Betty is Caucasian.

SA: Yeah.

LT: Can you talk about life as a couple when one is Japanese American and one is not?

SA: Yeah, I thought of that, but it seemed to work out pretty good. I mean, I think you're gonna have discrimination one way or another regardless, whether you're both same race or not, you know. So I don't know. Maybe it could have been much better. [Laughs]

LT: Were there any particular challenges in Hood River?

SA: Huh?

LT: Were there any particular challenges in Hood River because of that?

SA: Any...

LT: Any particular challenges in Hood River because of that?

SA: I don't remember.

LT: Okay. And you have four daughters. So what have you told your daughters about your experiences during the war?

SA: I don't remember talking much about it.

LT: Well, you know, I realize that many Nisei do not talk to their families about camp and what happened to them during the war. Can you talk about your thinking about that?

SA: I don't know. I think maybe growing up, at home, you don't talk much about family environment, maybe... well, like my dad, he'd just do it and don't ask questions. So I think we didn't have much conversation at the dinner table. I think if we talked too much, he would say, "Now, let's stop talking and eat so we can go out and work." I mean, that was his thought. So I think we're not adjusted to much conversation.

LT: Have your daughters learned more about your experiences now that they are adults, or do you want them to know more about what you experienced?

SA: Well, we talk about it some, but maybe not as much as we should. I think that was one of the things about the third generation bringing things forward, evacuation and discrimination. I think Nisei as a whole is more reluctant to talk about those things.

LT: And why do you think that is?

SA: I mean, Nisei wouldn't do something like this, like the way you folks are doing. You folks are all Sanseis, aren't they?

LT: Okay. How do you think the wartime experience changed you, or did it?

SA: That's a good question. Did it? I don't know what I was like before the war.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.