<Begin Segment 13>

LT: So you have a daughter Sheri, and can you tell us about family life and your family?

SI: Oh, yeah, she was adopted, and she was, went through Dee school and Wyeast school. I guess when she graduated, she was from Wyeast, I think. I don't remember. But she was... yeah, Mary was, had a Girl Scout at Dee, so the neighbors' kids all got together. She socialized quite a bit with the neighbors.

LT: That's great. So what have you told Sheri about your wartime experiences, and how do you involve her in that telling?

SI: No, I don't think I told her too much about it. You don't talk about, I didn't talk about evacuation because I wasn't involved. But a lot of Niseis didn't want to talk about that 'til later.

LT: Yeah, that's what I notice. Why do you think that is?

SI: I don't know why. Just want to forget it, I guess. [Laughs]

LT: You think so?

SI: Yeah, especially ones that went through the camp and all that. 'Cause I was in the service, I didn't go to the camp.

LT: You served our country and you served proudly and honorably.

SI: Yeah. I was a little different 'cause I was in the service a month after Pearl Harbor. So other Niseis weren't drafted 'til about '43 or '4, I think. They were, they didn't know what to do with the Nisei, so they didn't draft 'em until about '43 or '44, I think. Then they started to be in the draft, 'cause they had a draft going.

LT: So I'm wondering, if Nisei are reluctant to talk to their children and other children about experiences during the war, how will other people find out, and what should we be doing so that others, including the Yonsei and the Gosei, and others learn about what you've done?

SI: Well, Sanseis, Yonseis and Sanseis are finding that their parents didn't talk about it, so now they're asking questions. I see in the JACL publication that it's all over in California that they're really finding that Nisei didn't want to talk about what happened during the war.

LT: So should we shut down and not talk about it at all, or should we do something different to help others learn about what you've done?

SI: Well, they're doing, Sanseis and Yonseis are doing quite a thing, is like Yasui's, Robert Yasui's daughter made a video of what happened during the war and all that. So it's, they showed that here one time, didn't they? At the art center. It's being shown that Sansei and Yonseis and public is being educated a little more.

LT: And actually talking about the Yasuis, how were the Yasuis involved in Hood River, and did they have an effect on your life?

SI: Well, I don't think they had any effect on us. But they had their own problems, too. But then they, being... I heard they had, like their store was just practically confiscated, and lost everything. They had a big acreage, land up there at Mosier, they just lost it. Not much they can do. But just like all these Sanseis intermarrying, like Yasui's Flip marrying Maya... her last name was Annela, I guess, things really, more generation, other people, nationality, get in, so they were finding out a lot of things. All the intermarriages are really, really nice things, I guess. But then eventually there will be no "pure" Japanese. There's very few "pure," what they call "pure" Japanese and Japanese marrying. Very few.

LT: Is that okay?

SI: Yeah, they're all intermarriage now.

LT: Is that okay?

SI: Well, it's gonna happen. I mean, we're in America, you can't help it.

LT: And if the Nisei don't talk about it, but if the Yonsei and the Sansei do, is that okay, to talk about Nisei during the war and military?

SI: Yeah, it's a good idea for them to really, not discard all the Japanese things that they know about, they should take the good part.

LT: Just a couple more questions. Did your wartime experiences change you in any way?

SI: Well, I don't know. I don't think so. As we go through life, well, we got to adapt to whatever's come to you. I guess I've done pretty good, just like I learned to smoke in the army. About ten years of that, smoking, and one morning I decided with all the hacking I was doing every morning, it was enough for me. So I just smoked every stick I had the house and that was the last of it. I haven't smoked since, so I kind of think that when I quit smoking, that was the best thing to happen to me. And then I don't get drunk like some people do. I never touched alcohol. So that's why I'm still living, I think.

LT: And very healthfully at ninety-three. You participated in a number of recognitions and commemorations of Japanese American veterans. Can you talk about what it's like to attend an event and represent Nisei veterans?

SI: Yeah, it's pretty honor to represent 'em, but then just I'm lucky that I'm still living. [Laughs]

LT: You definitely are. What should we learn about what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II? What should the next generations learn about us?

SI: Oh, I don't know. Well, I think every one of us just made the best that we can, what we come up against, just kept going. We're doing okay so far. A lot of the Sanseis and Yonseis are in good jobs, even good politicians. [Laughs]

LT: What's important in life?

SI: I guess to be liked by everybody, anybody or everybody. And if you're a fair person, well, they'll treat you fair, same way.

LT: Thank you very much.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.