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HH: Today is October 23rd, Sunday. We're recording this interview today in Medford Lees, New Jersey. Hello. What is your full name?

GO: My full name is on the birth certificate it's Mitsuyasu Oye, but the teacher couldn't pronounce my first name, so I've been known as George M. Oye.

HH: George M. Oye. And what is your wife's name?

GO: My wife's name is Kazuye Yasumoto Oye.

HH: I see. And how many siblings do you have?

GO: I have siblings, four, some of them are deceased. Do you want all the names?

HH: Yes.

GO: Okay. My older sister, Kikuye, female, she's eighty-one. And then younger sister Mitsuye Tamae, and brother, younger brother Yoshinobu. And another sister deceased at the time of my mother's birth, her birth, died at five months. And my half sister -- because my mother died at the same year -- my half sister died at the age of fifty-three.

HH: And as far as order of birth was concerned, where did you fall in?

GO: I was second.

HH: Second born.

GO: Yes.

HH: Let's see. And where were you born?

GO: I was born in Florin, California.

HH: I see. At this point, could you give a brief history of how your family came to the United States?

GO: My father first came to Hawaii, and then decided to come to the States in 1902, I believe he said, he came to America. And after ten years, went back to Japan, got married, came back another ten years. There were four of us born in this country and we all, he decided to go back in 1922, so all of us went back to Japan at that time.

HH: I see.

GO: And I was seven years old.

HH: Seven years old. Obviously you didn't remain in Japan. How did you get, return to the United States?

GO: Well, I still remember some part of America. Of course, it's a materialistic [inaudible] and that kind of thing, probably. But I always wanted to come back to America. So after finishing middle school, high school in Japan, my father encouraged me to get further education, but I wanted to come back. So it was not a good time to come back, but my father allowed me to come back in. So I came back in 1932, ten years, after ten years in Japan.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1994 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.