Mamoru Masuda interview
Item
Title
eng
Mamoru Masuda interview
Description
eng
Talks about his life and family history prior to World War II, his experiences with incarceration and serving in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during the war and life after the war.
Creator
eng
Masuda, Mamoru
eng
Kirihara, James
Relation
eng
JACL-CCDC Japanese American Oral History Collection
Coverage
eng
Livingston, California
Date
eng
5/27/1999
Format
eng
Microsoft Word 2003 document, 23 pages
Rights
eng
Copyright has been transferred to Fresno State
Identifier
eng
SCMS_jacl_00011
extracted text
NARRATOR:
MAMORU MASUDA
INTERVIEWER:
JAMES KIRIHARA
DATE:
May 27, 1999
JK:
Okay, this is an interview with Mamoru Masuda, a Nisei man, age eighty-two. This
interview is taking place in the interviewer’s home at 12209 West (inaudible),
Livingston, California on May 27, 1999. The project is being carried out by LivingstonMerced Chapter of the JACL which is working on a project sponsored by the Central
District of the JACL. The project is being done through Cal State University and will be
used by students at Cal State in research. Now we’ll start with the questions, with
questions dealing with your family and home life. Where were you born?
MM: I was born in Livingston on the present residence where I still live.
JK:
Date of birth?
MM: January 12, 1917.
JK:
Now will you tell us a little bit about the family’s line of work?
MM: My dad was a farmer. He came to Livingston when the Yamato Colony was organized
and he bought forty acres here along Walnut Avenue which is now Walnut Avenue.
JK:
Can you tell us a little bit about your mother?
MM: My mother is formerly from Nagoya, my dad and mom met at a Christian Church in
Oakland where they were married and before they came here to Livingston. She is—she
was a registered nurse.
JK:
How many siblings did you have?
MM: I had five, my brother who was the oldest in the family and then I had three older sisters,
Tomoye, Aiko, Eiko and our younger sister Hannah, Kazuo was my older brother.
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JK:
MASUDA
When was he born?
MM: From what I understand he was born in 1908 and I understand he was the first Nisei born
in Livingston.
JK:
So you were the fourth in that.
MM: I was fifth.
JK:
Fifth in the family. What do you remember about family life?
MM: Oh not too much. My mother passed away when I was just two years old and we were
raised by our grandmother from our, who was my mother’s mother. And I don’t
remember too much about our early days except that, well you know having three older
sisters, I was quite pampered when I was a little kid, well which I enjoyed very much
(pause). And no, I don’t remember too much about what happened in my early
childhood.
JK:
Yeah, I do recall that your older sister was pretty much the one who brought you up.
MM: Yeah, yeah.
JK:
What did you do for entertainment during the early years when you were still a young
boy?
MM: Of course in those days there wasn’t too much in the way of entertainment. After I got
older, around 6 or 7, dad brought me a bicycle which I rode quite a bit and we used to go
swimming in the canals which there were plenty of in our area in (inaudible). That’s
about the size of it.
JK:
Yeah, let’s see, do you remember anything about hardships? Did you have a hard time or
did you have a fairly easy time of growing up?
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MASUDA
MM: I had a fairly easy time. I wasn’t asked to work too hard on the farm after I grew up and
so probably in seventh and eighth grade I used to do quite a bit. But the big thing I can
remember is that every time dad would irrigate, we’d have nothing but open canals,
ditches to farm, to irrigate with and I was the one asked to patrol the open ditches to see
that the gopher holes don’t break the ditches down. I can remember that. And I can
remember getting up real early in the morning and putting the sulfur machine on my back
and sulfuring the vineyards before it got too hot. And taking care of the horses because
we didn’t have a tractor. My dad farmed with a pair or horses and I didn’t have it hard
but boy, looking back now, I think my dad really worked to make a living for all of us.
JK:
What about family expectations? Did your father expect a lot from you?
MM: No my father didn’t expect too much from me. He was probably very easygoing maybe
too easygoing as far as I am concerned because I used to get away with murder with him.
But being raised with a grandmother who was really strict, I really had to toe the line with
her. And I think that helped me a little bit.
JK:
Did your grandmother come to Livingston immediately after your mother’s death?
MM: No, my mother came, I mean my grandmother came along with my mother before she
was married.
JK:
So you lived with your grandmother most of your life? I mean your early life.
MM: Yeah.
JK:
Your early life?
MM: Yeah and I lived—she lived with us until she passed away sometime in 1928.
JK:
And as I understand your father was not a strict disciplinarian?
MM: No he wasn’t.
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JK:
MASUDA
What were your responsibilities and duties in the family?
MM: Well it might be interesting here to bring up some historical facts. When I was growing
up, we didn’t have paved roads, it was just dirt roads and we didn’t have electricity until I
don’t know when it was but I remember all of us here in Livingston had tank houses
where we had a tank sitting on top of a three story building, which was our water supply.
And if the wind didn’t blow, the windmill didn’t turn and so we used to run out of water
and one of my chores I remember is I used to pump water up into the tank. And the other
thing is like I say before, I used to take care of the horses, feed the horses and water the
horses and not real, you know, hard work but it was something that had to be done and I
guess they figured I could do it.
JK:
Did you have a furo?
MM: A what?
JK:
Did you have a Japanese bath, a furo?
MM: Oh yeah, yeah we had one outside and yeah that is another job I had was to burn brush
under the bath tub to make hot water.
JK:
What were the values that your parents taught you?
MM: Well they—they didn’t really teach me personally too many values but they did take us to
church to Sunday school and I think I learned from that the ten commandments and to
love—to love God and to love people and I think that—that is the thing the values that I
followed during my growing-up days.
JK:
What kind of family affairs did you used to participate in as you were growing up?
MM: Family affairs?
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JK:
MASUDA
A, for instance did you have a group that used to, that maybe make mochi or things like
that, you know that different groups within the community used to have these affairs
where they would make, pound rice and stuff like that. Do you recall?
MM: I don’t recall any groups like that.
JK:
Did you participate in church and scouts and picnics and et cetera?
MM: Yeah, that is one thing we looked as a youngster we looked forward to every year is an
annual community church picnic which at first was held at the church itself and then later
when I had kids of my own, I used to take care of the games for the kids and you know
play games and award them prizes for winning races or whatever. My wife and I, Violet
and I, helped Reverend Aratani organize a Sunday school after we came back in 1946 and
I can remember that we only had two students to start with and that was Ronald Yoshino
and Susan Kishi as a Sunday school class but we helped organize the Sunday school and I
was the superintendant and my wife was the Sunday school teacher for quite a few years.
JK:
We will deal with that in just a while. In the meantime, were you in the scouts?
MM: Yes, I was in the scouts. I can remember Joe Carpenter was our scout master and we
had—we had quite a troop. A lot of Japanese boys and I think you were one of them and
I can remember that I forgot how many of us were awarded the Eagle Badge one night at
a Eagle Award Ceremony and there were quite a few of us, six or seven or so.
JK:
Did you used to go on outings with the Boy Scouts?
MM: Yeah the scouts used to do— Joe Carpenter, our scout master, used to borrow a truck
from some farmer in the area and we would take a trip I think the only trips I can
remember were all to Yosemite and we had a great time because being out and exploring
and hiking around. Yeah that was something that I looked forward to every year, too.
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JK:
MASUDA
Did you participate in Kendo?
MM: No, I never did.
JK:
What school did you go to—begin from the beginning and tell us about school life?
MM: Well I went to Livingston Elementary School and I lived about a mile and a half out of
town and we used to, before they had bus service, we used to walk to school and we
would have a group of kids that lived along Walnut Avenue and walked to school and
walk home from school and that lasted I think about—well we went to one school which
was for kindergarten through third grade. That was the B Street school. No, that wasn’t
the B Street school. I forgot what they called that school, anyway and then they had
another school across the railroad tracks and that was from the fourth, fifth grade to the
eighth grade and we went there and I played on the school band. I played the clarinet
with the school band. And we had a band teacher from Merced by the name of Spud
Boralis and he played the clarinet and I played the clarinet and we used to play duets
together at the school functions and I think that is why I got my nickname Spud from
him. That is the only thing that I can recall and remember. People think that I got the
name Spud because my dad grew sweet potatoes but I can’t—
JK:
Did you have fun at school?
MM: Yeah, yeah I had fun at school. I remember I went out for the baseball team my last year
in school and the only trip that I can remember is the one we took to play a team in
Hilmar. Yeah I wasn’t too, not a very serious scholar. I just did enough to get by and I
didn’t do to well in Math but I just did enough so that I could graduate.
JK:
Before we go on to college, let’s talk about some—who were your playmates say when
you were in the grammar school?
7
MASUDA
MM: My playmates, well of course, you were my classmate and E.J. and Kashiwase who lived
next door to you was my classmate and I can remember there were two fellows that I can
remember that I paled around with they were Portuguese names, Fred Corabello and a
Caucasian name Glen Plaster and I think Glen was also in the scout troop with us but I
am not sure of that. But anyway Fred and I used to play baseball at the high school and
Glen played baseball at the high school. And we got along real well together.
JK:
Did you take any classes of Japanese cultural things?
MM: Yeah, I went to Japanese class but I don’t know maybe a couple of years at the Methodist
Church over here. But I don’t remember learning too much because I think I just went
because my dad wanted me to go.
JK:
Were you invited to the homes of Caucasian children?
MM: Well not very often. The only place that I can recall that I used to go quite often was the
home of Stoddard Whitten who was one of my classmates and his dad was our Sunday
school teacher and that’s the only home that I can really recall that I attended regularly.
They invited us over and they treated us real well.
JK:
In high school what did you do? You did mention that you played baseball.
MM: Yeah, I played baseball and I played in the high school band in the orchestra. I played
the clarinet.
JK:
Now did you have any teenage problems?
MM: No, I didn’t have any serious teenage problems.
JK:
The question is—
MM: There wasn’t too many things we could get in trouble with when we were growing up.
We didn’t have drugs or stuff like that to worry about.
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JK:
MASUDA
Was there—during your time, was there much interracial dating?
MM: No, I can’t—I can’t remember too many interracial dating.
JK:
What did you think about racism or injustice at that time—at this time you were in high
school? Did you spend much time thinking about these?
MM: No, we didn’t spend—I didn’t spend too much time thinking about interracial issues. It
just didn’t occur to us in those days that we did have a problem. I know I didn’t.
JK:
Well as I recall when we were growing up, we didn’t do any—like you said we didn’t do
any interracial dating. How did—why did—how do you think that that was that it
happened that way that we were taught this or was it something that you—
MM: Well no I think it happened because my wife used to ask our boys to date young ladies of
their race and they used to tell my wife, “Well the Japanese girls are just not any fun you
know.” They used to say that the Caucasian girls or the other race women just enjoyed
life more. They weren’t laid back like the Japanese girls are. They didn’t—well, what I
mean is that the Japanese would tend to be more, oh what do you call it? Well anyway
that is what they used to say that it wasn’t any fun dating Japanese girls because they
didn’t enjoy life like the other young ladies did.
JK:
Now that would be with the third generation. How about yourself? Did you have some
feelings like that, you know?
MM: No, I didn’t even think of dating Caucasian women. Well I think maybe it was because I
didn’t think that I was good enough for the white folks.
JK:
What about teachers in your school life starting from grade school on up? Did you have
any outstanding teachers and do you have any bad memories of teachers during this time?
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MASUDA
MM: Well I can remember—I loved my kindergarten teacher and I didn’t want to go to the first
grade so they let me stay in kindergarten for about a week before they transferred me
back up to the first grade. But anyway, yeah I had that love for that kindergarten teacher
and I don’t know if you—you probably remember Mrs. Razer. She was a pretty strict
third grade teacher and she towed—we had to tow the line with her.
JK:
Does your parents have any contact with the schools?
MM: No, no they didn’t.
JK:
Were they very strict about your school grades and stuff like that?
MM: No, my dad wasn’t. He wasn’t really interested in what kind of grades I was getting.
JK:
So I guess by the time you went to high school, your mother was gone.
MM: Yes.
JK:
When did she pass away now again?
MM: She passed away in 1919 when I was two years old.
JK:
Oh you were only two years old yeah. Okay, okay let’s see. I don’t suppose you had any
thoughts about marriage? Not at that time.
MM: No.
JK:
Okay. Who did you talk to if you had problems?
MM: Well the only person that I remember I used to talk to my sisters about problems but that
was very rare. I didn’t—we didn’t talk too much about it.
JK:
How would you describe your childhood and teenage years in your home, at school, and
in the community? By and large happy years or—?
10
MASUDA
MM: I had a pretty happy childhood growing up because I wasn’t pressured by my parents, my
dad didn’t put too much pressure on me about grades and he pretty much let me grow up
as a kid and so yeah, I enjoyed life. I liked to have a good time.
JK:
Did you encounter racial prejudice at any time when you were growing up?
MM: No, no I never did.
JK:
What type of work did you do during the growing up years up to high school?
MM: Besides working on the farm, I remember I started work at the, at our Livingston Co-op,
Livingston Food Exchange. I used to go over there and work and I don’t know if it was
you or somebody else but I used to go label there. You and I were the ones, huh? And I
used to label box ends there and I used to make boxes to pack the food, grapes, and
peaches in and after I got strong enough, I used to truck the food off of the trucks into the
shed and feed the food into the packers. And I can remember we did that for about
twenty-five cents an hour. I forgot how much we got paid for labeling but that was by
piece work.
JK:
Now did you attend college?
MM: Yeah, I went to Modesto JC for two years. And took up science and ag and in thirty-six
and thirty-seven and then I transferred to UC Davis in thirty-eight and graduated with a
non-degree course in Horticulture in 1939.
JK:
Okay that is—what did you do at Modesto and Cal Poly—I mean U.C. Davis?
MM: I played in the MJC Band and I also sang in the men’s choir, the men’s glee club at
Modesto J.C. And I can remember that the glee club, the men’s glee club and the
women’s glee club got together and put on the Operetta Chocolate Soldier that we
performed at the State Theater there in Modesto for the people to come see. And over at
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MASUDA
Cal Aggies, I played baseball my two years over there. I played second base. And I can
remember we played teams like UCLA and Cal.
JK:
So you graduated from Davis with a—?
MM: I just took a non-degree horticulture—
JK:
A non-degree?
MM: Just practical, practicing agriculture.
JK:
Okay, when did you graduate from UC Davis?
MM: Thirty-nine.
JK:
Thirty-nine okay. Now after graduation what did you do?
MM: I came home and worked on the farm. Well, for about a year I guess and then in March
of 1941 I was drafted into the US Army. I was among the first drafted. I was among the
first group drafted out of the Merced County in March of 1941 and I think your brother
David was also in that group.
JK:
So tell us a little bit about Army life in those days? You know, where did you train?
You know?
MM: Well we were inducted at Presidio Monterey and then we took our basic training at Camp
Roberts, that’s over there by Paso Robles along Highway 101 and I was in the—I took
my basic training in the artillery. We had one 155 howitzer that we trained with. And we
were—since we were so early in the draft we got to Camp Roberts and they had barracks
there, but hardly anything else. We had to pitch in and we dug our own trenches to—we
didn’t have running water so we had to dig trenches for our latrine and oh, it was a mess
there for a while.
JK:
After basic training?
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MASUDA
MM: After basic training I forgot what unit that was but they had a combat unit of 155
howitzers across the highway called East Garrison of Camp Roberts. And I was stationed
with them. I was a clerk in the battery. And I was with them until Pearl Harbor and
following Pearl Harbor I don’t remember how many months it was but soon after Pearl
Harbor, they transferred all of the Nisei soldiers from the Western Defense Command
into an area inland and I was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where there was already a
group of Japanese soldiers already there and we were stationed into a sort of a receiving
company processing recruits coming through Fort Sill, Oklahoma. So we were
transferred from a combat unit to a non-combat unit and like I say we were just issuing
clothes to the recruits and then after a while, I was transferred into a company clerk job
processing papers as these recruits came through Fort Sill.
JK:
How long did that last?
MM: That lasted until—gosh when was it that they formed the 442nd combat team and I was
recruited out of Fort Sill to become a cadre for the artillery unit of the 522nd Fuel
Artillery unit of the 442nd combat team.
JK:
So did you go to Camp Shelby?
MM: We went to Camp Shelby and we took a course there on the 105 howitzer and then we
trained with them and they taught us how to operate the 105 and all about the basic firing
of the field artillery until the recruits came in and then we were assigned to train them in
the field artillery process. So I was among the hundreds of men who were trained to train
the recruits. But I had this field artillery background so it wasn’t difficult for me to catch
on to.
JK:
Now did you ship overseas about the same time the 442nd went overseas?
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MASUDA
MM: Yes, we went as a group and it took us a month to get over there because we had to dodge
a lot of U-boats and stuff. And that was quite a trip I’ll tell you.
JK:
And where did you land when you got to Europe?
MM: We landed in Naples.
JK:
Naples? And you went into action at—?
MM: We went into action north of Rome. And then we went up north as far as north part of
the north point that I can remember is Leghorn and then they brought us back and they
sent us into France after that. Wherever they needed the troops, they sent us. We all
went as a unit the 442nd and we had a company of engineers.
JK:
And then when you got to the European theater you were attached to-
MM: We were attached to all different divisions. Yeah I can remember we were a member of
the Third Division, the 101st Airborne, and wherever they needed us that is where they
sent us.
JK:
So you were there until the war ended in Germany or in—
MM: We were in—I don’t know why but they split the infantry and the field artillery up after
the few months in France. The infantry and engineers went back into Italy and we stayed
over there in Germany.
JK:
Okay, was there anything unusual or interesting in your experiences after they split the
regiment you were in?
MM: Well there are two things and of course there are a lot of things that happened but I don’t
remember too much of what happened because I was a chief of section which is a fellow
who takes charge of an artillery unit and we were always about five miles behind the
front lines and we—we all of us back at the guns didn’t really know what was going on
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MASUDA
ahead of us because we had what we called forward observers from our unit and they
would go up with the infantry and then they would send back orders to fire at a certain
target and we are shooting back there but we don’t know what we are firing at, whether it
is artillery or infantry or tanks or whatever. But the two of the outstanding things that I
can remember are the 442nd was the rescue of the lost battalion over in the Voges the
mountains in France and which caused quite a few casualties. I don’t remember the exact
amount but it was about well I had better not give any figures because they might not be
right. And then the other thing was they gave me the Battery C which I was a member of
the Field Artillery Battery credit for liberating Dachau. But it was really the forward
observers from our outfit that were with the infantry that from what I understand they
shot the locks off the gates of Dachau and went into the camp there and gave them their
food and stuff. And so here about five years ago when we had our reunion and the
Battery C 552nd at their reunion in San Francisco, they have a holocaust memorial there
in San Francisco and they invited us to go over there and we had quite a celebration with
them.
JK:
Now let’s go back a little bit there. How did you hear about Pearl Harbor? What were
you doing when the—
MM: Well I was visiting in San Francisco on December the fourteenth when I heard about it. I
heard about it over the radio and yeah, that is the only thing I can remember. I had a car
in camp and I took a group of fellows to San Francisco and that’s where I was when Pearl
Harbor.
JK:
What did you think? Did you have any feelings at that time what is going to happen to
my family? You know?
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MASUDA
MM: No, I never thought about that.
JK:
Yeah, I think that the infantry unit in the service your experience is a little different from
those that were here during that time when Pearl Harbor—
MM: I didn’t have to worry about my future because I was already in the service and I knew
that whatever happened, I would have to follow whatever I was ordered to do.
JK:
Were any of your—your fellow GI’s discharged after that? Some were discharged as I
recall.
MM: I don’t know of any that were discharged but a lot of people don’t know that we Nisei
soldiers in the Western Defense Command were evacuated, well they call it transferred
but actually we were evacuated from the West Coast before civilians were.
JK:
Okay, so you were in Europe during the war. You weren’t married at that time, were
you?
MM: Yes, my wife and I we were married at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She had to come out to Fort
Sill because of course they wouldn’t let me come into California to get married and so I
guess she wanted to get married pretty bad because she left—
JK:
She was in Arkansas?
MM: No.
JK:
Heart Mountain?
MM: No. Right up here at Amache.
JK:
Oh, Manzanar?
MM: Not Amache, but Manzanar, yeah she was in Manzanar and she wanted to get out of
camp I guess so she came out to Fort Sill. She had to have a matron escort past the
California border and yeah she came to Fort Sill and we got married there. Her brother
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MASUDA
happened to be at Camp San Luis Obispo and he was transferred out to Fort Sam
Houston, Texas and so he came to the wedding and that was the only member of the
family there.
JK:
Now when was this?
MM: This was December 14, 1942.
JK:
Okay.
MM: About a year after Pearl Harbor.
JK:
Okay and let’s see, so you were discharged where?
MM: I was discharged in the East Coast at ,was it Fort Harrison, Pennsylvania? Yeah, because
my wife, Violet, was with her folks. I mean her folks were in Toledo, Ohio and so she
went to Toledo before I left for overseas and she found a job in a home in Toledo and so
when I got discharged, I came to Toledo and about a month later, I forget, November, I
got discharged in November of forty-five and about a month later we came back here to
Livingston to farm.
JK:
Okay, now so we got into resettlement or moving back to Livingston so okay. So, you
came back to Livingston then and came back to the family farm?
MM: Right.
JK:
Okay and what—you ran—were you farming there?
MM: Yeah, my brother and I were farming there until he took a job at the Livingston Food
Exchange as a manager. And I ran the farm and then I bought it, I bought the farm from
him in 1946.
JK:
And you farmed that farm from 1946 on until—
MM: Until just recently.
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JK:
MASUDA
Just recently?
MM: Just recently I sold the farm. I didn’t want to give up everything so I kept, I own still one
acre and the house that we live in which will remain in the family. I think our son Chris
will probably live there after we’re gone.
JK:
You didn’t do like this life estate business?
MM: No, we didn’t do life estate business, just Merced County has an ordinance whereby if we
sell our property to an adjoining neighbor, we can split off acreage. So we decided to
split off one acre that the house sits on and we will be able to keep that property.
JK:
Now you didn’t have to go through this business of when you start life again after the
service, a lot of people had an awful hard time getting started but you had the farm and
you just went there.
MM: Yeah, I was fortunate that we had this farm to come back to and also I struggled trying to
make a living for our family on the farm with forty acres. And so I started a—I started as
a part-time rural mail carrier in the Postal Service in 1958 or so and worked there at the
post office part-time for about ten years and then when they started city delivery in the
City of Livingston, I went on full time. And I worked as a city carrier there for about, oh
thirteen years and well about fifteen years I guess and which gave me a total of as a parttime and full time of thirty years service of Postal service so and I really happy now that I
did this because now I continue to carry the medical insurance and I also receive the
Federal pension which is quite helpful.
JK:
Do you recall any special persons who helped you out when you were getting yourself
reestablished in Livingston besides your brother?
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MM:
MASUDA
No, I can’t think of any person as an individual that helped but I really got a lot of help
from the Merced Production Credit Association when I needed finances to operate the
farm.
JK:
Many of these questions deal with people who didn’t have property and returned and had
many problems getting jobs and I guess this doesn’t, your situation didn’t require that.
MM: No.
JK:
It says many Nisei moved many times after leaving camp and since you were in the
service, you didn’t have that problem. Let’s talk a little bit about your children. Were
they part of an extended family? No, I don’t think they were in your case were they? An
extended family would mean—I don’t know what that—
MM: No.
JK:
But they were part of the Japanese-American community, weren’t they?
MM: Oh yeah, oh yeah they were definitely part of the Japanese community. My wife and I
had two boys and let’s see, when our sons were about eight and five, we adopted a mixed
daughter. She was Japanese and Caucasian and yeah they were definitely a part of the
Japanese community. They went to Sunday school, to church and sang in the church
choir and of course that is the way I was brought up in the church and so I wanted my
kids to be brought up that way, too.
JK:
Did they learn any Japanese?
MM: No, they did not. Of course, we didn’t after Pearl Harbor and after the war, we didn’t
want the Japanese to show too much in our family. So no, they didn’t learn any Japanese.
JK:
How did they do in school? Your children?
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MASUDA
MM: Well, they did fairly well. The oldest son I think took after my wife and he was
determined to go to school to make a lot of money and that was the oldest son. He went
to high school here in Livingston and went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and graduated
with a degree in Industrial Engineering and he has done real well. He receives salaries in
the six figures now and he’s got two sons of his own now so he knows what we went
through. Anyway the second son is more like me. He is easy going and laid back and
doesn’t worry too much about anything. He works for Bob Marimoto, another classmate
of mine who owns about three thousand acres of almonds and he’s making a good living.
And our daughter is a, works at the Livermore Lab as an assistant in research so she has
two daughters and she is—she is doing real well also.
JK:
Do you still have a very close relationship with your family?
MM: Oh yeah.
JK:
Have you ever discussed your war experiences with your children?
MM: Pardon?
JK:
Have you ever discussed your war experiences with your kids?
MM: War experiences? Yeah, we discussed it and I bought several books that were written on
the 522nd Field Artillery and the 442nd Combat Team and we bought them books so that
they could read.
JK:
Do you think that they have gotten some of those so called Nisei traits you know, namely
things like inhibition, lack of spontaneity, and difficulty in articulating, s push for
education, a sense of responsibility. These are what so many people call Nisei traits. Do
you think your kids have acquired these traits?
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MASUDA
MM: They have some but they don’t have as many as we used to have. I think they are more
Americanized than we were at that same age.
JK:
Do your children feel a part of the community?
MM: Well, yeah. My oldest son’s wife is a member of the high school board at Morgan Hill.
My daughter has two daughters, five and seven who are taking dancing lessons and she
goes to school and helps them out and Chris, who lives here in Atwater, has been active
in the JACL. Yeah I think they are community oriented.
JK:
Now in recent years what are the most important things that have happened to you in
recent years?
MM: Most important things that have happened?
JK:
I suppose they talk about things like being retired?
MM: Yeah, being financially self sufficient and after working let’s see forty-six, fifty years on
the farm and in the Postal Service and being able to supply our family, my family with a
roof over their head and clothes on their back and food to eat yeah. I think it’s, yeah, I
feel that I have accomplished what most people would like to have accomplished.
JK:
Does your family live near you?
MM: Pardon?
JK:
Does your family live near you?
MM: Well, they are all here in California. So, yeah I would say they are. We see each other
about two or three times a year, so yeah I have a son living in Atwater about six miles
away and Livermore is about seventy-five miles away and Morgan Hill is about a
hundred miles from here, so yeah they are all living fairly close.
21
JK:
MASUDA
How did the war experience affect you and your life? Do you think it made a big
difference in your life?
MM: No, I don’t think it made a big difference in my life.
JK:
How do you feel about redress and reparations? You got—you did get—you were a
member of the service so you did get redress?
MM: Yes I did, yeah. Well I didn’t believe that I could ever get redress because I felt that, well
I did whatever the Army ordered me to do so what would I—why could I ask for redress
but when they said that I was denied individual rights, I felt that yeah I should deserve it
because I couldn’t come into California. This was my main reason, I couldn’t come into
California to marry Violet in front of her family yeah. Because they denied my entrance
into California so that was the main beef that I had.
JK:
How are you spending your time now?
MM: Oh every morning, well most every morning if I don’t have to take my wife because she
doesn’t drive anymore so I have to be her chauffeur, and if I don’t have to take her some
place shopping or whatever, every morning I walk a mile and a half into town to meet
with about five or six fellows at a coffee shop and we get there around ten o’clock and we
talk around there for about an hour and then I usually go have lunch over at Cherry’s at
the Livingston Community Center. This is the lunch program for the elderly and it is
only a dollar and a half for lunch for a square meal and very good food sometimes. And
then I walk home and I leave about nine thirty in the morning and get back home around
twelve thirty, one o’clock. And then in the afternoon I take it easy for a couple hours and
watch TV or take a snooze and then I got out and work in my garden or yard, I have one
acre to putter in.
22
JK:
MASUDA
Are you active in the Japanese-American Community at the present time?
MM: No, not—not there usually.
JK:
What do you do for recreation?
MM: For recreation, my wife and I go ballroom dancing about every weekend. This weekend
we are going to go to a dance in Fresno and usually we find some place to go.
JK:
Okay, and have you ever thought about—well you didn’t go through this eviction since
you were in the service so the question would not probably be pertinent to you. It says if
there was another evacuation notice, how do you think you would react but I don’t
think—would you like to—do you have any ideas of how you would react if something,
if they told you you had to leave and all?
MM: Well personally I would fight it. And I think most Japanese that went through the last
evacuation would really fight against another eviction. I think we’ve learned from the
last one that we have to stand up for our rights.
JK:
Now what kind of life do you see for our children and grandchildren? Do you see—what
kind of life do you see for them?
MM: It’s going to be a tough life I’m afraid with all these things that you hear on the radio and
TV with all the drugs and shootings and muggings and all these different things that are
going on. I think it will be a difficult life for our kids.
JK:
We are nearing the end of this interview. Do you think of anything you would like to add
or is there something we didn’t cover about in your life or upbringing and all that or do
you feel pretty much that we have covered your history pretty well?
MM: Yeah, we covered everything pretty well. One thing that I would like to mention when
our boys especially when Chris got older and he became furious about the evacuation and
23
MASUDA
what all the Isseis and Niseis had to go through when he heard from his mother what they
had to go through and he was active in the JACL, he wanted her to go out and talk to the
public and tell them what she had to go through. And so she did. She didn’t think she
was much of a speaker but she went to Fresno to Modesto Junior College and to high
schools in the Modesto and Turlock area and she told them what she had gone through
actually. And I give her a lot of credit to have the courage to do this because there were
times when she was—she once was on a talk show on Modesto radio and she was really
bombarded with questions and she is the kind of person that will tell you like it is and so
she says, “Yeah I was there and I know what I am talking about.” And so it really
brought things forward to high school kids especially who never heard of it before.
JK:
Okay, I guess that is about the extent of the questions that we have. Thanks Spud for
sharing your story with us.
MM: You are welcome.
MAMORU MASUDA
INTERVIEWER:
JAMES KIRIHARA
DATE:
May 27, 1999
JK:
Okay, this is an interview with Mamoru Masuda, a Nisei man, age eighty-two. This
interview is taking place in the interviewer’s home at 12209 West (inaudible),
Livingston, California on May 27, 1999. The project is being carried out by LivingstonMerced Chapter of the JACL which is working on a project sponsored by the Central
District of the JACL. The project is being done through Cal State University and will be
used by students at Cal State in research. Now we’ll start with the questions, with
questions dealing with your family and home life. Where were you born?
MM: I was born in Livingston on the present residence where I still live.
JK:
Date of birth?
MM: January 12, 1917.
JK:
Now will you tell us a little bit about the family’s line of work?
MM: My dad was a farmer. He came to Livingston when the Yamato Colony was organized
and he bought forty acres here along Walnut Avenue which is now Walnut Avenue.
JK:
Can you tell us a little bit about your mother?
MM: My mother is formerly from Nagoya, my dad and mom met at a Christian Church in
Oakland where they were married and before they came here to Livingston. She is—she
was a registered nurse.
JK:
How many siblings did you have?
MM: I had five, my brother who was the oldest in the family and then I had three older sisters,
Tomoye, Aiko, Eiko and our younger sister Hannah, Kazuo was my older brother.
2
JK:
MASUDA
When was he born?
MM: From what I understand he was born in 1908 and I understand he was the first Nisei born
in Livingston.
JK:
So you were the fourth in that.
MM: I was fifth.
JK:
Fifth in the family. What do you remember about family life?
MM: Oh not too much. My mother passed away when I was just two years old and we were
raised by our grandmother from our, who was my mother’s mother. And I don’t
remember too much about our early days except that, well you know having three older
sisters, I was quite pampered when I was a little kid, well which I enjoyed very much
(pause). And no, I don’t remember too much about what happened in my early
childhood.
JK:
Yeah, I do recall that your older sister was pretty much the one who brought you up.
MM: Yeah, yeah.
JK:
What did you do for entertainment during the early years when you were still a young
boy?
MM: Of course in those days there wasn’t too much in the way of entertainment. After I got
older, around 6 or 7, dad brought me a bicycle which I rode quite a bit and we used to go
swimming in the canals which there were plenty of in our area in (inaudible). That’s
about the size of it.
JK:
Yeah, let’s see, do you remember anything about hardships? Did you have a hard time or
did you have a fairly easy time of growing up?
3
MASUDA
MM: I had a fairly easy time. I wasn’t asked to work too hard on the farm after I grew up and
so probably in seventh and eighth grade I used to do quite a bit. But the big thing I can
remember is that every time dad would irrigate, we’d have nothing but open canals,
ditches to farm, to irrigate with and I was the one asked to patrol the open ditches to see
that the gopher holes don’t break the ditches down. I can remember that. And I can
remember getting up real early in the morning and putting the sulfur machine on my back
and sulfuring the vineyards before it got too hot. And taking care of the horses because
we didn’t have a tractor. My dad farmed with a pair or horses and I didn’t have it hard
but boy, looking back now, I think my dad really worked to make a living for all of us.
JK:
What about family expectations? Did your father expect a lot from you?
MM: No my father didn’t expect too much from me. He was probably very easygoing maybe
too easygoing as far as I am concerned because I used to get away with murder with him.
But being raised with a grandmother who was really strict, I really had to toe the line with
her. And I think that helped me a little bit.
JK:
Did your grandmother come to Livingston immediately after your mother’s death?
MM: No, my mother came, I mean my grandmother came along with my mother before she
was married.
JK:
So you lived with your grandmother most of your life? I mean your early life.
MM: Yeah.
JK:
Your early life?
MM: Yeah and I lived—she lived with us until she passed away sometime in 1928.
JK:
And as I understand your father was not a strict disciplinarian?
MM: No he wasn’t.
4
JK:
MASUDA
What were your responsibilities and duties in the family?
MM: Well it might be interesting here to bring up some historical facts. When I was growing
up, we didn’t have paved roads, it was just dirt roads and we didn’t have electricity until I
don’t know when it was but I remember all of us here in Livingston had tank houses
where we had a tank sitting on top of a three story building, which was our water supply.
And if the wind didn’t blow, the windmill didn’t turn and so we used to run out of water
and one of my chores I remember is I used to pump water up into the tank. And the other
thing is like I say before, I used to take care of the horses, feed the horses and water the
horses and not real, you know, hard work but it was something that had to be done and I
guess they figured I could do it.
JK:
Did you have a furo?
MM: A what?
JK:
Did you have a Japanese bath, a furo?
MM: Oh yeah, yeah we had one outside and yeah that is another job I had was to burn brush
under the bath tub to make hot water.
JK:
What were the values that your parents taught you?
MM: Well they—they didn’t really teach me personally too many values but they did take us to
church to Sunday school and I think I learned from that the ten commandments and to
love—to love God and to love people and I think that—that is the thing the values that I
followed during my growing-up days.
JK:
What kind of family affairs did you used to participate in as you were growing up?
MM: Family affairs?
5
JK:
MASUDA
A, for instance did you have a group that used to, that maybe make mochi or things like
that, you know that different groups within the community used to have these affairs
where they would make, pound rice and stuff like that. Do you recall?
MM: I don’t recall any groups like that.
JK:
Did you participate in church and scouts and picnics and et cetera?
MM: Yeah, that is one thing we looked as a youngster we looked forward to every year is an
annual community church picnic which at first was held at the church itself and then later
when I had kids of my own, I used to take care of the games for the kids and you know
play games and award them prizes for winning races or whatever. My wife and I, Violet
and I, helped Reverend Aratani organize a Sunday school after we came back in 1946 and
I can remember that we only had two students to start with and that was Ronald Yoshino
and Susan Kishi as a Sunday school class but we helped organize the Sunday school and I
was the superintendant and my wife was the Sunday school teacher for quite a few years.
JK:
We will deal with that in just a while. In the meantime, were you in the scouts?
MM: Yes, I was in the scouts. I can remember Joe Carpenter was our scout master and we
had—we had quite a troop. A lot of Japanese boys and I think you were one of them and
I can remember that I forgot how many of us were awarded the Eagle Badge one night at
a Eagle Award Ceremony and there were quite a few of us, six or seven or so.
JK:
Did you used to go on outings with the Boy Scouts?
MM: Yeah the scouts used to do— Joe Carpenter, our scout master, used to borrow a truck
from some farmer in the area and we would take a trip I think the only trips I can
remember were all to Yosemite and we had a great time because being out and exploring
and hiking around. Yeah that was something that I looked forward to every year, too.
6
JK:
MASUDA
Did you participate in Kendo?
MM: No, I never did.
JK:
What school did you go to—begin from the beginning and tell us about school life?
MM: Well I went to Livingston Elementary School and I lived about a mile and a half out of
town and we used to, before they had bus service, we used to walk to school and we
would have a group of kids that lived along Walnut Avenue and walked to school and
walk home from school and that lasted I think about—well we went to one school which
was for kindergarten through third grade. That was the B Street school. No, that wasn’t
the B Street school. I forgot what they called that school, anyway and then they had
another school across the railroad tracks and that was from the fourth, fifth grade to the
eighth grade and we went there and I played on the school band. I played the clarinet
with the school band. And we had a band teacher from Merced by the name of Spud
Boralis and he played the clarinet and I played the clarinet and we used to play duets
together at the school functions and I think that is why I got my nickname Spud from
him. That is the only thing that I can recall and remember. People think that I got the
name Spud because my dad grew sweet potatoes but I can’t—
JK:
Did you have fun at school?
MM: Yeah, yeah I had fun at school. I remember I went out for the baseball team my last year
in school and the only trip that I can remember is the one we took to play a team in
Hilmar. Yeah I wasn’t too, not a very serious scholar. I just did enough to get by and I
didn’t do to well in Math but I just did enough so that I could graduate.
JK:
Before we go on to college, let’s talk about some—who were your playmates say when
you were in the grammar school?
7
MASUDA
MM: My playmates, well of course, you were my classmate and E.J. and Kashiwase who lived
next door to you was my classmate and I can remember there were two fellows that I can
remember that I paled around with they were Portuguese names, Fred Corabello and a
Caucasian name Glen Plaster and I think Glen was also in the scout troop with us but I
am not sure of that. But anyway Fred and I used to play baseball at the high school and
Glen played baseball at the high school. And we got along real well together.
JK:
Did you take any classes of Japanese cultural things?
MM: Yeah, I went to Japanese class but I don’t know maybe a couple of years at the Methodist
Church over here. But I don’t remember learning too much because I think I just went
because my dad wanted me to go.
JK:
Were you invited to the homes of Caucasian children?
MM: Well not very often. The only place that I can recall that I used to go quite often was the
home of Stoddard Whitten who was one of my classmates and his dad was our Sunday
school teacher and that’s the only home that I can really recall that I attended regularly.
They invited us over and they treated us real well.
JK:
In high school what did you do? You did mention that you played baseball.
MM: Yeah, I played baseball and I played in the high school band in the orchestra. I played
the clarinet.
JK:
Now did you have any teenage problems?
MM: No, I didn’t have any serious teenage problems.
JK:
The question is—
MM: There wasn’t too many things we could get in trouble with when we were growing up.
We didn’t have drugs or stuff like that to worry about.
8
JK:
MASUDA
Was there—during your time, was there much interracial dating?
MM: No, I can’t—I can’t remember too many interracial dating.
JK:
What did you think about racism or injustice at that time—at this time you were in high
school? Did you spend much time thinking about these?
MM: No, we didn’t spend—I didn’t spend too much time thinking about interracial issues. It
just didn’t occur to us in those days that we did have a problem. I know I didn’t.
JK:
Well as I recall when we were growing up, we didn’t do any—like you said we didn’t do
any interracial dating. How did—why did—how do you think that that was that it
happened that way that we were taught this or was it something that you—
MM: Well no I think it happened because my wife used to ask our boys to date young ladies of
their race and they used to tell my wife, “Well the Japanese girls are just not any fun you
know.” They used to say that the Caucasian girls or the other race women just enjoyed
life more. They weren’t laid back like the Japanese girls are. They didn’t—well, what I
mean is that the Japanese would tend to be more, oh what do you call it? Well anyway
that is what they used to say that it wasn’t any fun dating Japanese girls because they
didn’t enjoy life like the other young ladies did.
JK:
Now that would be with the third generation. How about yourself? Did you have some
feelings like that, you know?
MM: No, I didn’t even think of dating Caucasian women. Well I think maybe it was because I
didn’t think that I was good enough for the white folks.
JK:
What about teachers in your school life starting from grade school on up? Did you have
any outstanding teachers and do you have any bad memories of teachers during this time?
9
MASUDA
MM: Well I can remember—I loved my kindergarten teacher and I didn’t want to go to the first
grade so they let me stay in kindergarten for about a week before they transferred me
back up to the first grade. But anyway, yeah I had that love for that kindergarten teacher
and I don’t know if you—you probably remember Mrs. Razer. She was a pretty strict
third grade teacher and she towed—we had to tow the line with her.
JK:
Does your parents have any contact with the schools?
MM: No, no they didn’t.
JK:
Were they very strict about your school grades and stuff like that?
MM: No, my dad wasn’t. He wasn’t really interested in what kind of grades I was getting.
JK:
So I guess by the time you went to high school, your mother was gone.
MM: Yes.
JK:
When did she pass away now again?
MM: She passed away in 1919 when I was two years old.
JK:
Oh you were only two years old yeah. Okay, okay let’s see. I don’t suppose you had any
thoughts about marriage? Not at that time.
MM: No.
JK:
Okay. Who did you talk to if you had problems?
MM: Well the only person that I remember I used to talk to my sisters about problems but that
was very rare. I didn’t—we didn’t talk too much about it.
JK:
How would you describe your childhood and teenage years in your home, at school, and
in the community? By and large happy years or—?
10
MASUDA
MM: I had a pretty happy childhood growing up because I wasn’t pressured by my parents, my
dad didn’t put too much pressure on me about grades and he pretty much let me grow up
as a kid and so yeah, I enjoyed life. I liked to have a good time.
JK:
Did you encounter racial prejudice at any time when you were growing up?
MM: No, no I never did.
JK:
What type of work did you do during the growing up years up to high school?
MM: Besides working on the farm, I remember I started work at the, at our Livingston Co-op,
Livingston Food Exchange. I used to go over there and work and I don’t know if it was
you or somebody else but I used to go label there. You and I were the ones, huh? And I
used to label box ends there and I used to make boxes to pack the food, grapes, and
peaches in and after I got strong enough, I used to truck the food off of the trucks into the
shed and feed the food into the packers. And I can remember we did that for about
twenty-five cents an hour. I forgot how much we got paid for labeling but that was by
piece work.
JK:
Now did you attend college?
MM: Yeah, I went to Modesto JC for two years. And took up science and ag and in thirty-six
and thirty-seven and then I transferred to UC Davis in thirty-eight and graduated with a
non-degree course in Horticulture in 1939.
JK:
Okay that is—what did you do at Modesto and Cal Poly—I mean U.C. Davis?
MM: I played in the MJC Band and I also sang in the men’s choir, the men’s glee club at
Modesto J.C. And I can remember that the glee club, the men’s glee club and the
women’s glee club got together and put on the Operetta Chocolate Soldier that we
performed at the State Theater there in Modesto for the people to come see. And over at
11
MASUDA
Cal Aggies, I played baseball my two years over there. I played second base. And I can
remember we played teams like UCLA and Cal.
JK:
So you graduated from Davis with a—?
MM: I just took a non-degree horticulture—
JK:
A non-degree?
MM: Just practical, practicing agriculture.
JK:
Okay, when did you graduate from UC Davis?
MM: Thirty-nine.
JK:
Thirty-nine okay. Now after graduation what did you do?
MM: I came home and worked on the farm. Well, for about a year I guess and then in March
of 1941 I was drafted into the US Army. I was among the first drafted. I was among the
first group drafted out of the Merced County in March of 1941 and I think your brother
David was also in that group.
JK:
So tell us a little bit about Army life in those days? You know, where did you train?
You know?
MM: Well we were inducted at Presidio Monterey and then we took our basic training at Camp
Roberts, that’s over there by Paso Robles along Highway 101 and I was in the—I took
my basic training in the artillery. We had one 155 howitzer that we trained with. And we
were—since we were so early in the draft we got to Camp Roberts and they had barracks
there, but hardly anything else. We had to pitch in and we dug our own trenches to—we
didn’t have running water so we had to dig trenches for our latrine and oh, it was a mess
there for a while.
JK:
After basic training?
12
MASUDA
MM: After basic training I forgot what unit that was but they had a combat unit of 155
howitzers across the highway called East Garrison of Camp Roberts. And I was stationed
with them. I was a clerk in the battery. And I was with them until Pearl Harbor and
following Pearl Harbor I don’t remember how many months it was but soon after Pearl
Harbor, they transferred all of the Nisei soldiers from the Western Defense Command
into an area inland and I was transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where there was already a
group of Japanese soldiers already there and we were stationed into a sort of a receiving
company processing recruits coming through Fort Sill, Oklahoma. So we were
transferred from a combat unit to a non-combat unit and like I say we were just issuing
clothes to the recruits and then after a while, I was transferred into a company clerk job
processing papers as these recruits came through Fort Sill.
JK:
How long did that last?
MM: That lasted until—gosh when was it that they formed the 442nd combat team and I was
recruited out of Fort Sill to become a cadre for the artillery unit of the 522nd Fuel
Artillery unit of the 442nd combat team.
JK:
So did you go to Camp Shelby?
MM: We went to Camp Shelby and we took a course there on the 105 howitzer and then we
trained with them and they taught us how to operate the 105 and all about the basic firing
of the field artillery until the recruits came in and then we were assigned to train them in
the field artillery process. So I was among the hundreds of men who were trained to train
the recruits. But I had this field artillery background so it wasn’t difficult for me to catch
on to.
JK:
Now did you ship overseas about the same time the 442nd went overseas?
13
MASUDA
MM: Yes, we went as a group and it took us a month to get over there because we had to dodge
a lot of U-boats and stuff. And that was quite a trip I’ll tell you.
JK:
And where did you land when you got to Europe?
MM: We landed in Naples.
JK:
Naples? And you went into action at—?
MM: We went into action north of Rome. And then we went up north as far as north part of
the north point that I can remember is Leghorn and then they brought us back and they
sent us into France after that. Wherever they needed the troops, they sent us. We all
went as a unit the 442nd and we had a company of engineers.
JK:
And then when you got to the European theater you were attached to-
MM: We were attached to all different divisions. Yeah I can remember we were a member of
the Third Division, the 101st Airborne, and wherever they needed us that is where they
sent us.
JK:
So you were there until the war ended in Germany or in—
MM: We were in—I don’t know why but they split the infantry and the field artillery up after
the few months in France. The infantry and engineers went back into Italy and we stayed
over there in Germany.
JK:
Okay, was there anything unusual or interesting in your experiences after they split the
regiment you were in?
MM: Well there are two things and of course there are a lot of things that happened but I don’t
remember too much of what happened because I was a chief of section which is a fellow
who takes charge of an artillery unit and we were always about five miles behind the
front lines and we—we all of us back at the guns didn’t really know what was going on
14
MASUDA
ahead of us because we had what we called forward observers from our unit and they
would go up with the infantry and then they would send back orders to fire at a certain
target and we are shooting back there but we don’t know what we are firing at, whether it
is artillery or infantry or tanks or whatever. But the two of the outstanding things that I
can remember are the 442nd was the rescue of the lost battalion over in the Voges the
mountains in France and which caused quite a few casualties. I don’t remember the exact
amount but it was about well I had better not give any figures because they might not be
right. And then the other thing was they gave me the Battery C which I was a member of
the Field Artillery Battery credit for liberating Dachau. But it was really the forward
observers from our outfit that were with the infantry that from what I understand they
shot the locks off the gates of Dachau and went into the camp there and gave them their
food and stuff. And so here about five years ago when we had our reunion and the
Battery C 552nd at their reunion in San Francisco, they have a holocaust memorial there
in San Francisco and they invited us to go over there and we had quite a celebration with
them.
JK:
Now let’s go back a little bit there. How did you hear about Pearl Harbor? What were
you doing when the—
MM: Well I was visiting in San Francisco on December the fourteenth when I heard about it. I
heard about it over the radio and yeah, that is the only thing I can remember. I had a car
in camp and I took a group of fellows to San Francisco and that’s where I was when Pearl
Harbor.
JK:
What did you think? Did you have any feelings at that time what is going to happen to
my family? You know?
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MASUDA
MM: No, I never thought about that.
JK:
Yeah, I think that the infantry unit in the service your experience is a little different from
those that were here during that time when Pearl Harbor—
MM: I didn’t have to worry about my future because I was already in the service and I knew
that whatever happened, I would have to follow whatever I was ordered to do.
JK:
Were any of your—your fellow GI’s discharged after that? Some were discharged as I
recall.
MM: I don’t know of any that were discharged but a lot of people don’t know that we Nisei
soldiers in the Western Defense Command were evacuated, well they call it transferred
but actually we were evacuated from the West Coast before civilians were.
JK:
Okay, so you were in Europe during the war. You weren’t married at that time, were
you?
MM: Yes, my wife and I we were married at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She had to come out to Fort
Sill because of course they wouldn’t let me come into California to get married and so I
guess she wanted to get married pretty bad because she left—
JK:
She was in Arkansas?
MM: No.
JK:
Heart Mountain?
MM: No. Right up here at Amache.
JK:
Oh, Manzanar?
MM: Not Amache, but Manzanar, yeah she was in Manzanar and she wanted to get out of
camp I guess so she came out to Fort Sill. She had to have a matron escort past the
California border and yeah she came to Fort Sill and we got married there. Her brother
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happened to be at Camp San Luis Obispo and he was transferred out to Fort Sam
Houston, Texas and so he came to the wedding and that was the only member of the
family there.
JK:
Now when was this?
MM: This was December 14, 1942.
JK:
Okay.
MM: About a year after Pearl Harbor.
JK:
Okay and let’s see, so you were discharged where?
MM: I was discharged in the East Coast at ,was it Fort Harrison, Pennsylvania? Yeah, because
my wife, Violet, was with her folks. I mean her folks were in Toledo, Ohio and so she
went to Toledo before I left for overseas and she found a job in a home in Toledo and so
when I got discharged, I came to Toledo and about a month later, I forget, November, I
got discharged in November of forty-five and about a month later we came back here to
Livingston to farm.
JK:
Okay, now so we got into resettlement or moving back to Livingston so okay. So, you
came back to Livingston then and came back to the family farm?
MM: Right.
JK:
Okay and what—you ran—were you farming there?
MM: Yeah, my brother and I were farming there until he took a job at the Livingston Food
Exchange as a manager. And I ran the farm and then I bought it, I bought the farm from
him in 1946.
JK:
And you farmed that farm from 1946 on until—
MM: Until just recently.
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JK:
MASUDA
Just recently?
MM: Just recently I sold the farm. I didn’t want to give up everything so I kept, I own still one
acre and the house that we live in which will remain in the family. I think our son Chris
will probably live there after we’re gone.
JK:
You didn’t do like this life estate business?
MM: No, we didn’t do life estate business, just Merced County has an ordinance whereby if we
sell our property to an adjoining neighbor, we can split off acreage. So we decided to
split off one acre that the house sits on and we will be able to keep that property.
JK:
Now you didn’t have to go through this business of when you start life again after the
service, a lot of people had an awful hard time getting started but you had the farm and
you just went there.
MM: Yeah, I was fortunate that we had this farm to come back to and also I struggled trying to
make a living for our family on the farm with forty acres. And so I started a—I started as
a part-time rural mail carrier in the Postal Service in 1958 or so and worked there at the
post office part-time for about ten years and then when they started city delivery in the
City of Livingston, I went on full time. And I worked as a city carrier there for about, oh
thirteen years and well about fifteen years I guess and which gave me a total of as a parttime and full time of thirty years service of Postal service so and I really happy now that I
did this because now I continue to carry the medical insurance and I also receive the
Federal pension which is quite helpful.
JK:
Do you recall any special persons who helped you out when you were getting yourself
reestablished in Livingston besides your brother?
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MM:
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No, I can’t think of any person as an individual that helped but I really got a lot of help
from the Merced Production Credit Association when I needed finances to operate the
farm.
JK:
Many of these questions deal with people who didn’t have property and returned and had
many problems getting jobs and I guess this doesn’t, your situation didn’t require that.
MM: No.
JK:
It says many Nisei moved many times after leaving camp and since you were in the
service, you didn’t have that problem. Let’s talk a little bit about your children. Were
they part of an extended family? No, I don’t think they were in your case were they? An
extended family would mean—I don’t know what that—
MM: No.
JK:
But they were part of the Japanese-American community, weren’t they?
MM: Oh yeah, oh yeah they were definitely part of the Japanese community. My wife and I
had two boys and let’s see, when our sons were about eight and five, we adopted a mixed
daughter. She was Japanese and Caucasian and yeah they were definitely a part of the
Japanese community. They went to Sunday school, to church and sang in the church
choir and of course that is the way I was brought up in the church and so I wanted my
kids to be brought up that way, too.
JK:
Did they learn any Japanese?
MM: No, they did not. Of course, we didn’t after Pearl Harbor and after the war, we didn’t
want the Japanese to show too much in our family. So no, they didn’t learn any Japanese.
JK:
How did they do in school? Your children?
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MM: Well, they did fairly well. The oldest son I think took after my wife and he was
determined to go to school to make a lot of money and that was the oldest son. He went
to high school here in Livingston and went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and graduated
with a degree in Industrial Engineering and he has done real well. He receives salaries in
the six figures now and he’s got two sons of his own now so he knows what we went
through. Anyway the second son is more like me. He is easy going and laid back and
doesn’t worry too much about anything. He works for Bob Marimoto, another classmate
of mine who owns about three thousand acres of almonds and he’s making a good living.
And our daughter is a, works at the Livermore Lab as an assistant in research so she has
two daughters and she is—she is doing real well also.
JK:
Do you still have a very close relationship with your family?
MM: Oh yeah.
JK:
Have you ever discussed your war experiences with your children?
MM: Pardon?
JK:
Have you ever discussed your war experiences with your kids?
MM: War experiences? Yeah, we discussed it and I bought several books that were written on
the 522nd Field Artillery and the 442nd Combat Team and we bought them books so that
they could read.
JK:
Do you think that they have gotten some of those so called Nisei traits you know, namely
things like inhibition, lack of spontaneity, and difficulty in articulating, s push for
education, a sense of responsibility. These are what so many people call Nisei traits. Do
you think your kids have acquired these traits?
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MM: They have some but they don’t have as many as we used to have. I think they are more
Americanized than we were at that same age.
JK:
Do your children feel a part of the community?
MM: Well, yeah. My oldest son’s wife is a member of the high school board at Morgan Hill.
My daughter has two daughters, five and seven who are taking dancing lessons and she
goes to school and helps them out and Chris, who lives here in Atwater, has been active
in the JACL. Yeah I think they are community oriented.
JK:
Now in recent years what are the most important things that have happened to you in
recent years?
MM: Most important things that have happened?
JK:
I suppose they talk about things like being retired?
MM: Yeah, being financially self sufficient and after working let’s see forty-six, fifty years on
the farm and in the Postal Service and being able to supply our family, my family with a
roof over their head and clothes on their back and food to eat yeah. I think it’s, yeah, I
feel that I have accomplished what most people would like to have accomplished.
JK:
Does your family live near you?
MM: Pardon?
JK:
Does your family live near you?
MM: Well, they are all here in California. So, yeah I would say they are. We see each other
about two or three times a year, so yeah I have a son living in Atwater about six miles
away and Livermore is about seventy-five miles away and Morgan Hill is about a
hundred miles from here, so yeah they are all living fairly close.
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JK:
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How did the war experience affect you and your life? Do you think it made a big
difference in your life?
MM: No, I don’t think it made a big difference in my life.
JK:
How do you feel about redress and reparations? You got—you did get—you were a
member of the service so you did get redress?
MM: Yes I did, yeah. Well I didn’t believe that I could ever get redress because I felt that, well
I did whatever the Army ordered me to do so what would I—why could I ask for redress
but when they said that I was denied individual rights, I felt that yeah I should deserve it
because I couldn’t come into California. This was my main reason, I couldn’t come into
California to marry Violet in front of her family yeah. Because they denied my entrance
into California so that was the main beef that I had.
JK:
How are you spending your time now?
MM: Oh every morning, well most every morning if I don’t have to take my wife because she
doesn’t drive anymore so I have to be her chauffeur, and if I don’t have to take her some
place shopping or whatever, every morning I walk a mile and a half into town to meet
with about five or six fellows at a coffee shop and we get there around ten o’clock and we
talk around there for about an hour and then I usually go have lunch over at Cherry’s at
the Livingston Community Center. This is the lunch program for the elderly and it is
only a dollar and a half for lunch for a square meal and very good food sometimes. And
then I walk home and I leave about nine thirty in the morning and get back home around
twelve thirty, one o’clock. And then in the afternoon I take it easy for a couple hours and
watch TV or take a snooze and then I got out and work in my garden or yard, I have one
acre to putter in.
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JK:
MASUDA
Are you active in the Japanese-American Community at the present time?
MM: No, not—not there usually.
JK:
What do you do for recreation?
MM: For recreation, my wife and I go ballroom dancing about every weekend. This weekend
we are going to go to a dance in Fresno and usually we find some place to go.
JK:
Okay, and have you ever thought about—well you didn’t go through this eviction since
you were in the service so the question would not probably be pertinent to you. It says if
there was another evacuation notice, how do you think you would react but I don’t
think—would you like to—do you have any ideas of how you would react if something,
if they told you you had to leave and all?
MM: Well personally I would fight it. And I think most Japanese that went through the last
evacuation would really fight against another eviction. I think we’ve learned from the
last one that we have to stand up for our rights.
JK:
Now what kind of life do you see for our children and grandchildren? Do you see—what
kind of life do you see for them?
MM: It’s going to be a tough life I’m afraid with all these things that you hear on the radio and
TV with all the drugs and shootings and muggings and all these different things that are
going on. I think it will be a difficult life for our kids.
JK:
We are nearing the end of this interview. Do you think of anything you would like to add
or is there something we didn’t cover about in your life or upbringing and all that or do
you feel pretty much that we have covered your history pretty well?
MM: Yeah, we covered everything pretty well. One thing that I would like to mention when
our boys especially when Chris got older and he became furious about the evacuation and
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what all the Isseis and Niseis had to go through when he heard from his mother what they
had to go through and he was active in the JACL, he wanted her to go out and talk to the
public and tell them what she had to go through. And so she did. She didn’t think she
was much of a speaker but she went to Fresno to Modesto Junior College and to high
schools in the Modesto and Turlock area and she told them what she had gone through
actually. And I give her a lot of credit to have the courage to do this because there were
times when she was—she once was on a talk show on Modesto radio and she was really
bombarded with questions and she is the kind of person that will tell you like it is and so
she says, “Yeah I was there and I know what I am talking about.” And so it really
brought things forward to high school kids especially who never heard of it before.
JK:
Okay, I guess that is about the extent of the questions that we have. Thanks Spud for
sharing your story with us.
MM: You are welcome.