<Begin Segment 20>

LT: I do have a few more questions about you. And the first is, how did your wartime experiences change your view of yourself as a Japanese American?

GT: Well, you know, I think, being a Japanese American, I'd come to the point, not come to it, but I just want to be a good citizen of this country, I really do. I just want to be a good citizen, do the right things... well, I still think, regardless of what goes on in this country, this is the greatest country in the world to live in. I really feel that, Linda. Others will disagree with me, but all the things go wrong in this country, all the things we, mistakes we make, I still think this is the greatest country in the world. I still believe that, and I always will. I always want to just get along with people, I don't want to get in arguments, things like that. I just want to be a good citizen of this country, and I'd like to raise good kids to be good citizens, especially Tim, that's getting out for, he's coming back tomorrow morning back from Fort Benning, Georgia. And I've been preaching to him, he and I have been writing letters back and forth, and I've been writing the letter about my life from the time I was born until, I think right now I'm at the high school stage, about seven or eight stages. And he says, "Gee, Grandpa, these are great." The kids want them, he's going to make an album on it, some of that stuff we're talking about right now.

LT: Did the wartime experience change you at all as a person?

GT: Yes, I think so. I'll tell you what it did do, it made you a stronger person. Made you a very stronger person, you know that there's nobody going to give you a hand out there, you've got to earn it. And it really made me a stronger person. Everything I did has made me a stronger person, whether it's farming or retail, everything, but I just wanted to be stronger, get involved in more things where the money is. I think that's what made you a stronger person all the way around.

[Interruption]

LT: Last question. What's important in life?

GT: What's important in life, huh? I think, for me, it's good health, get along with kids, get along with people, other citizens. It's just to be a good citizen. Don't raise heck out there, don't do things that are not popular. I just want to be a good citizen of this country, whatever it takes to be that, but I would like that to be done that way. (Narr. note: I repeat, this is the greatest country in the world.)

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.