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LG: So you went, made trips to Hawaii growing up.

MR: A couple of trips, yes, just a couple.

LG: Did you ever make a trip to Japan?

MR: No, never did. I think Louise went to Japan quite a bit. I think she went to visit the old family farm at one point. I think there were some pictures around somewhere, I don't have them. Maybe he has them.

LG: Do you know what they grew on the farm?

MR: No, I have no idea. [Laughs] Right now there's a, it's a female that's running it now, I think.

LG: Have you been to Japan?

MR: Never been to Japan. One trip we made, my mom took me on a "battleground tour," that was interesting. We went to, and that was in Europe, they had the Japanese American Citizens League or somebody did a battleground tour of all the places that the 442nd had been, that was interesting.

LG: How old were you?

MR: Oh, that was not so long ago, I don't remember exactly when. I was thirties, forties, fifties, something like that.

LG: What was that trip like?

MR: It was very interesting. I got to see where, they would point out where exactly Saburo was killed, in that little town over there. We were with a lot of other veterans, like that, but that was pretty interesting.

LR: Were you received well by the people in this town?

MR: Oh, they were wonderful, absolutely. Because they were towns that had been liberated by the 442nd. So we were all wined and dined and treated very nicely. And they did that, it was sort of a tradition in the town. Except I think some of the, there were some old guys who would sit around and sit around outside, and say, "There they go again." [Laughs]

LR: They were saying there are streets named after the Japanese.

MR: I don't remember that.

LR: In these little French villages with the Japanese names, named after soldiers.

MR: Oh, okay, could be, could be. I guess that was also part of our tour.

LG: Did you go on that trip with Louise?

MR: What I remember is there was a great big hill, and the soldiers who had to climb up that hill because they were garrisoned, a bunch of Germans in the town, I was just imagining these guys climbing up the hill under fire.

LG: So I'm curious, you said Louise would travel back to Japan, but she never took you with her? Did you ever want to go?

MR: No, it's probably because I didn't particularly want to go.

LG: Why was that?

MR: I don't know, I guess I was busy with whatever I was doing here. I think at one point, Louise would travel to Hawaii every year, I think, you said she had a timeshare or something? So I think her friend that used to, she would just go with another friend, with a friend, her friend became so that she couldn't travel, so I went a couple of times, I think. By that time, my husband would, he had had a heart attack a few years ago, I think his health was having a little trouble. And he found that, he said, "I can't take it having you be away for so long, so I couldn't do that. After a certain period of time, I wasn't able to go. And think then she stopped going every year to Hawaii after that.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2023 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.