Miyasaki, Lucile

              Eric Walz History 300 Collection
Lucile Miyasaki – Life during WWII
By Lucile Miyasaki
March 7, 2003
Box 2 Folder 11
Oral Interview conducted by Joel Miyasaki
Transcript copied by Maren Miyasaki December 2005
Brigham Young University – Idaho
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JM: Okay, this is Lucile Miyasaki. She’s from Rexburg, Idaho, and I’m Joel Miyasaki and I’m doing the interview. We’re going to talk a little bit about World War II. Okay, where did you live when World War II started?
LM: We were living up in Newdale.
JM: How long had you been living in Newdale?
LM: About three years.
JM: Were you married to Grandpa by then?
LM: Oh yeah. Yeah, I was married. That’s when we moved up to Newdale, after I got married.
JM: So 1938 or 1939?
LM: In 1939 I was married, until then I lived in Burton.
JM: Where exactly in Burton?
LM: West of Rexburg.
JM: And Newdale is a little bit north.
LM: Newdale is fifteen miles to our place east.
JM: What did you think about World War II when it happened?
LM: Everything got to be different after Pearl Harbor struck. Some people got to be different.
JM: Different in what way?
LM: Oh, I don’t know. I guess they distrusted the Japanese. They thought them enemies. Some of them you know, not all of them. Some people thought we were enemies, but we were Americans. We did everything American. But still, I guess we were considered Japanese by the white people.
JM: What did the Japanese people think about the war? What did you think about the war?
LM: It was something we didn’t want, you know. We were Americans. We were born here. We were raised here so we were Americans. For us, we were Americans; they weren’t considered enemies to us. The white people considered us part of the enemy.
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JM: Did you still have any relatives in Japan? Or people that you communicated with?
LM: Grandma, my mother had a sister. But she wasn’t able to communicate. Once the war started they couldn’t communicate.
JM: Did the white people do anything to the Japanese during that time around here?
LM: We didn’t get hurt or anything. There was a lot of people that got suspicious at everything the Japanese people did. My brother and them, they lived out in Burton. And the people there used to be real good friends, I think neighbors and everything. There was some that every little thing they watched to see what they did. And they had, I know that my brother had spotlight on his truck. He worked, we farmed, you know he farmed on the farm and then at night time he used to go haul coal, to supplement the income. And then, so he had a spotlight on his pickup and then sometime he put it out in the yard and turned the spotlight on and a neighbor called into the sheriff. And said, “ They’re signaling the Japanese.” I don’t know how they could think that they could signal the Japanese out in the country there to Japan.
JM: They were suspicious and paranoid?
LM: Uh- huh, an’ they were neighbor there. They lived just across the road. Up in Newdale there were some of the people that we knew. They were real nice to us, and then all of a sudden when the war started and after Pearl Harbor they got so they wouldn’t even talk to us. Then after the war turned and United States started winning, they turned around and they were all good friends again.
JM: Did you understand why the people were treating you that way?
LM: No, we. just that we were Japanese. They thought us as Japanese enemies I guess. But we weren’t you know, we were just as much Americans as the rest of them. We did everything.
JM: Were most of you born in the United States?
LM: Oh yeah. All the younger ones were all born in the United States. Most born around Rexburg or Sugar City.
JM: Did you have any friends or relatives that went off to serve in the war?
LM: Yeah. Daddy’s, your Grandpa’s brother went right away. He got called. And then my brother John got drafted right next. He got drafted. And then there was quite a few others. Tatsami, he got drafted. The first one of the Japanese was Tat, Uncle Tat Miyasaki. They got drafted first and then I think John, John and Toguhikita they got drafted. Then there was the others. They all got drafted.
JM: Did they serve in Europe? 4
LM: My brother John and Tat Miyasaki. The’ both went, Tat went first. He went to the military intelligence, and then John went to the military intelligence. He was in the army and then he started, they needed I guess military intelligence.
JM: So they ended up interpreting Japanese?
LM: Yes.
JM: And where did they serve at?
LM: Well, Tat I think he went all over, Australia, the Philippines. And then John went to the Philippines. He was an interpreter there.
JM: Did they serve in Japan after the atomic bombs?
LM: Yeah, they went to Japan. And then by that time Jack and Tarao my brothers, two other brothers went to war.
JM: So they were translators in the occupation of Japan?
LM: I think they were in the Philippines, but Jack he translated in the Philippines.
JM: So they spoke both Japanese and English really well?
LM: Yeah. At least they were supposed to. They were supposed to. They didn’t know how to translate. They went, there were three of my brothers that went to Japan during the war as military intelligence.
JM: So they didn’t do a lot of actual fighting? More translating?
LM: Yes.
JM: Do you remember having to do any rationing or anything like that?
LM: Oh yeah, we had to, rationing: sugar was rationed. We only got so many pounds I think. So we didn’t have much sugar.
JM: Anything else?
LM: Well— I don’t think so. Sugar, that was it.
JM: Any gasoline or anything like that?
LM: I think. Well they wouldn’t let the Japanese go anywhere. So, Japanese I think we had enough gas. The Japanese, they wouldn’t let them go anywhere at nighttime. They 5
got their radios taken away and cameras and guns. They all got their guns back after the war, they got…
JM: So they got their radios and guns taken away?
LM: There wasn’t many that had cameras, but if you had cameras it got taken. Guns and radios we didn’t have it. In Newdale we didn’t have anything like that. My brothers did. They all, my brothers all had guns because they all went hunting. They were hunters. They all had guns.
JM: How long did that last? How long did they take away their guns for?
LM: Until after the war. They got it back.
JM: Four or five years?
LM: Yes.
JM: Who took the guns away?
LM: I think they had to bring it. I don’t know for sure, but I think that’s how it happened.
JM: So it was voluntary? They asked them to do that?
LM: Yeah, the Japanese, whatever they told them to do they did it you know. They didn’t resist it. They didn’t resist anything at all. They did what they were told to do.
JM: Were some people still kind to the Japanese during the war?
LM: Oh yeah, there were a lot of them. A lot of people were kind. There were just some. But a lot of people were still nice to the Japanese.
JM: How was it out in Newdale?
LM: Up in Newdale and everything. There was only just a couple of families that acted like they didn’t like us. The rest of them they didn’t care. Out in Burton it was worse than in other places.
JM: Why do you think it was worse out there in Burton?
LM: The people were more poor. Well the ones that didn’t have as much.
JM: So did you have to farm anything special during the war? Did they want you to farm anything special?
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LM: No, no we farmed the same thing: potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, peas, we had peas. We used to raise peas.
JM: Did you have to do any collecting, like metal collecting?
LM: I can’t think of any. I don’t know whether we did or not. After the war? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t think so, not in the war. We didn’t throw things away. I don’t know. I can’t remember. That was a long time ago, Joel.
JM: I understand that. I can’t remember yesterday ( Laughter). So how did you feel about the internment camps?
LM: Oh, I guess that was really something. Those people that got interned, I guess they got everything taken away. All they got to take was what they could carry. Your Aunt Pansy, Aunt Pansy and Aunt Sachi, they both went to camps. Aunt Pansy and them, their father was a cook at a restaurant and so they weren’t in the camp too long. There was an advertisement in the camp newspaper that they wanted a cook in Rexburg. It was a Japanese man that ran a restaurant, and he wanted a cook. And this, Pansy’s father was a cook back in Seattle and soon as he saw the advertisement he came down and got the job. Then he took his family out of the camp and cooked at the restaurant. And they lived in Rexburg for quite a few years, quite a few years. Then he got sick and Pansy, she worked as a waitress in the restaurant. With her wages she couldn’t support the family: mother, father, and a brother and herself. She couldn’t support the four of them. Her, had gone on to Chicago to work you know with her husband and everything so she went to Chicago to work. I think she only stayed in the camp for about six months until her father got the job. Got a job and as soon as he got a job he got his family out.
JM: Did they talk about it at all as far as the conditions?
LM: I think they lived in a one room, tar paper. They all ate together in the dining room, I guess. But she said, Pansy was saying that they ate pretty good because her father was a cook in the cafeteria. He cooked in the cafeteria.
JM: Did they eat Japanese food or American food?
LM: Probably American food.
JM: Was it hard to get Japanese food?
LM: Yes.
JM: Did you eat a lot of Japanese food during the war?
LM: No, we had rice; we had rice, so rice and soy sauce. We didn’t have good soy sauce; we couldn’t get the one from Japan at that time you know. Now days they all make the 7
soy sauce in America, so you can get the soy sauce and everything. In those day I think you had to get it from Japan. So we didn’t get the good soy sauce during the war.
JM: What did you do for entertainment? Did you go out and visit family?
LM: No, they had to stay in the community, they couldn’t leave.
JM: So did you guys hang out with your brothers and sisters or mostly just stay on the farm?
LM: We stayed on the farm; I think everybody else stayed on the, well they didn’t go out very much. There was a gas ration at that time you know. Gas was rationed at that time. They couldn’t go out anyway and then they wouldn’t let the Japanese out at night. They had a curfew.
JM: Did you have a curfew as well?
LM: Oh, we didn’t go out so it was okay. All the Japanese, we had a curfew.
JM: What time was the curfew at?
LM: It wasn’t very late. It must have been like eleven o’clock.
JM: Was there a difference between your generation and the older generation? Did they treat you differently?
LM: No, I don’t think so. I think we were all treated the same.
JM: But most of you spoke English pretty well didn’t you?
LM: Oh yeah, all the younger ones they all spoke English, they all went to school. But then they all spoke Japanese to you know at that time. Because their parents, you know we all had parents at that time so we all spoke Japanese to them.
JM: Did the Japanese kids have any problems? Did the Japanese kids all go to school back then?
LM: During the war, they closed up the Japanese school. They had a Japanese school in Rexburg, but they closed it up. But you know they still had parents so they all spoke Japanese. They had to speak Japanese to the parents.
JM: Did they go to English school during that time?
LM: Oh yeah. They went to school, they all went to school. My brothers, they all went to Madison, after they graduated. They went out to Burton for grade school. In those days up to eighth grade was called grade school and then from freshman in high school 8
they went to Madison. They rode the bus to Madison. To go to grade school we all walked.
JM: Was it a long way to walk?
LM: Yeah, it was about two or three miles, but everybody else walked to. In winter time they used to have a sleigh coming from the sheep camp and we used to catch a ride on that.
JM: Did they bus you out to the high school?
LM: High school? When we started to go to high school they had a bus for all of us.
JM: You already graduated by the time the war started anyway.
LM: Oh yeah, my brother were all going to high school. They had a hard time some of them. But the bus driver, I know Tee said I could never have made it in high school if it hadn’t been for the bus driver. He was such a good man. He was, he stuck up for everybody. You know some of the kids were so mean, but the bus driver was a good man. And he was a big men just like a big bear, but they said he was a nice guy. If it wasn’t for him there were some boys who would cause trouble.
JM: How many families were up here at that time?
LM: Do you mean Japanese? I think there were about fifty families.
JM: Wow, fifty families, so there were more back then than there are now probably?
LM: Oh yeah, right now, there’s Japanese, in Rexburg there’s only a few not even a dozen now, but in those time there were fifty families.
JM: Why were there so many Japanese families in Rexburg?
LM: Well, they all farmed. The fathers all farmed. They all come, I think the fathers come to work on the railroads or the sugar beat factory. There were all kinds of workers for the railroad or sugar factory, and they all started farming and having kids. Everyone had lots of kids.
JM: Were there almost as many Japanese families here as American Families?
LM: Oh no. No there were fifty Japanese families and two Hispanic families that were permanent. There were mixed people and people that came to work seasonally. I think there were two families that lived here, Mexican families that lived here. One family, the girl and boy still live here, I saw the girl the other day in the grocery store, Delores Madrigal. She lived out in Burton. She went to school with my sister. But there were 9
two families of Mexicans that were permanent ones that were settled you know. But the Japanese they all started moving after the World War. All the younger ones moved out.
JM: Why did they move?
LM: So they could better themselves.
JM: Did most of them do pretty well after the war?
LM: I think so. Yeah they did well. Even if they farmed they farmed big farms, not like the tiny ones their fathers farmed here. The kids all had bigger farms.
JM: What did your brothers do after the war?
LM: Oh, John went to Blackfoot. He farmed in Teton for about three years. Then he moved out to Blackfoot and went big. He farmed real big until he retired. He made good money there. And the others they all moved to California then they started there. My oldest brother he’s dead now, but he stuck with farming. But the rest of them Jack, went into real- estate. Tee went to work for the government with HUD, that’s what he did. He worked for the HUD for I don’t know how many years. Then he retired from the HUD. And Harold, he worked for Roar Aircraft, he quit farming and went to work for Roar Aircraft. He worked there for twenty- something years I think and he retired from there. And Tarao he farmed then he went into trucking for quite a few years and then he quit that and went into landscaping and gardening, landscaping. And Fred, he made the military his career. And he stayed there for twenty- five years.
JM: He fought not only in World War II?
LM: He went with the occupational forces of World War II in Japan and then he served two years and then he come out. He volunteered when he was seventeen and then he stayed in there for three years and then he come out. I don’t think was out for a year or so, I don’t think it was even a year when the Korean War started and he got drafted again.
JM: So he fought in the Korean War?
LM: I think he was a pilot there. And then so he just stayed in. And then when Vietnam comes then he served in Vietnam.
JM: Was he a pilot in Vietnam too?
LM: Yeah, but I think he flew helicopters in Vietnam. And then so he stayed in there and he made it a career. And he retired as Lieutenant Colonel. So I think he gets quite a good retirement now. That’s why now all he does is go fishing.
JM: That’s the life.
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LM: He goes fishing, he goes fishing, that’s all he does. All summer long stays in Montana; he stays in Montana for the summer. Then he goes to Alaska and Canada and then he goes back to Las Vegas, Nevada. Boulder City Nevada, he says it’s just a little outside Las Vegas.
JM: During World War II did you guys hear very much as far as the news or what was happening?
LM: No.
JM: Did anyone else here hear very much either?
LM: Well, there’s a lot of them that went off to the war. There’s lots of Japanese boys from Rexburg that had to go to war. Just about every family had some. The Miyasakis had some. Well, Tommy went but then he got blinded so he didn’t go overseas. And the rest of them they all went in the Korean War.
JM: Did they try and draft Grandpa?
LM: No. The married people didn’t draft them at that time during World War II…
JM: You didn’t have any kids back then.
LM: Not yet.
JM: So was that farm originally Great Grandpa Miyasaki’s.
LM: Ours? No. It was your Grandpa and Uncle Tat. They bought it together. And then Grandpa bought it from Tat.
JM: So was the farm very successful during the war?
LM: It made us a living. It was a good farm. I kind of miss it yet, I don’t miss the work. I miss the farm. But none of the younger kids stayed on the farm. They had grown up there, I miss those days.
JM: How did you guys feel when the war was over? What was your reaction to the end of the war?
LM: I think everybody was relieved.
JM: Did life change around here a lot?
LM: No. I don’t know. They all come home but they all left. During the war a lot of Japanese from California and Washington they come here to work because some of them didn’t want to go to that internment camp, so they hurried up and moved out and come 11
over here. There were a lot of those. Soon as the war ended and they were able to go back to California and Washington and Oregon they all moved back.
JM: Why did they move back?
LM: They didn’t like it. I guess they’d rather stay in California and Washington. A lot of them had property back in Washington and California. They went back to do what they were doing before the war.
JM: What made our uncles go back there too? Why did they go back to California?
LM: California? They wanted a change. My oldest brother wanted a change so he wanted to go to Californian so the rest of them go there as when. When they went, they all went on a farm. They went here and there. It’s not a big farm like here. My oldest brother, he stayed with farming, but the rest of them all quit farming. One went Roar aircraft and one went.
JM: Did he farm in California?
LM: He farmed in California.
JM: What did he farm in California?
LM: Vegetables, tomatoes, and peppers but he farmed big. He farmed big again. Then he quit that. He died young. He was fifty something. He died young.
JM: Probably there were a lot of girls during the war around, a lot of the Japanese girls right, because all of the guys were at war?
LM: Not really. Well, the ones that come from California but they all went back. None of them stayed around except Eleanor Sakota. Now she married a Sakota, and she stayed and she’s the only one who stayed.
JM: She was from California?
LM: Her brother was here and her father was here but after the war her brother went back and her father went back, and she got married so she stayed here, Eleanor Sakota. Right now she [ is] the only one from California that stayed here in Rexburg and all.
JM: They all came here during the war and they left right after?
LM: Yes. That’s what happened.
JM: That probably affected the population quite a bit.
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LM: Well, I think they count those as the families when we had fifty families here. They count them as part of the community and we still about fifty families out here.
JM: So was the Japanese population [ at] that time really close knit? Did you communicate a lot?
LM: Yeah they did everything together. We did everything together. They used to have parties for all the people here. They had school and other things to get together. They were, yeah, close knit. Once the war started then they all went to war and then they all come back they all went their own ways.
JM: So after the war it wasn’t as close knit as it was before the war?
LM: At least some of them left. It seemed like the first one left and then the next one left and the next one left. And people who used to live here all moved away to.
JM: What do you think about the war now? As you think about it way back then?
LM: I don’t think about it very much.
JM: You don’t think about it very much? Are there some of the Japanese people that think about it, do you think?
LM: I don’t think so; I think they all like to forget. Well, if you read in the Japanese- American newspaper, the JACL, the Japanese- American newspaper back in California a lot of them still talk about it. But around here there isn’t very many Japanese people around here anyway, but then you know that their all assimilated with the white people society. They get treated just they same now. They don’t say you’re a Jap. We used to get called a Jap all the time.
JM: Was that hurtful when they called you a Jap?
LM: Oh yeah, it was hurtful to be called a Jap. At school you know. Now days there is only one person who still calls me a Jap. Then after the war the one that called us a Jap were the older ones. The younger ones now I think they’re more educated you know the younger kids they don’t calls us Japs, they all say Japanese. The Hispanics, they call them Hispanics. They don’t call us Japs.
JM: Did you think of yourselves basically as Americans?
LM: Well, we were born here and we were educated here so we all thought we were you know.
JM: Did your parents still think of themselves as Japanese?
LM: No, they all made us go to school. So they wanted us to be Americans. 13
JM: When did the people start to leave after the war was over?
LM: Oh, about one or two years after they all start. And as the kids grew older, you know, the younger kids they all went to school and then they transferred to other places. There aren’t many left.
JM: What year did Grandma leave?
LM: She went in forty- seven.
JM: Forty- seven, huh? So she left after the war?
LM: It was after the war. My brother went out to California to see how things were and then I think he bought a farm, it’s a truck farm you know that he has in San Diego, you know. He bought a farm there was a house on it. And then he come back and then that was for the family. And then he bought another farm, he was married so he bought another home for himself and his wife. And then the family lived in one home. That was about forty- seven or something like that.
JM: Do you have any good memories about that time, really?
LM: No, okay, it was all right. It was nice you know, it was getting better after that they didn’t call you Japs. Oh yeah there was some that were ornery anyway, it doesn’t matter.
JM: Did you have anybody apologize for the way they treated you during the war?
LM: No, we didn’t get treated that bad, because you know we were out in Newdale. And we were what you call. And there was people you know, I think it was older people that got the worst of it.
JM: The older people?
LM: Yeah, because they didn’t speak English. But on the whole I don’t think they got treated too badly.
JM: Around here anyway.
LM: Yeah, you know it was too far out in the country. There was some that was bad you know. Out in Burton there was some that was real bad and that’s why the Miyasaki kids, they all joined the Mormon Church during the war. Because they thought that maybe if they joined the Mormon Church they would be treated better.
JM: Is that why a lot of Japanese joined the church?
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LM: That’s what the Miyasakis did. They went and joined the Mormon Church. Out in Sugar City the’ all joined the Mormon Church. They joined the church. They thought they would be treated better.
JM: So did all of them join the church?
LM: Miyasakis? The younger ones all did. Kats and Roy and Yucki and John: that was the four that were at home.
JM: Did Tommy join the church?
LM: He had joined the church a long time before that.
JM: Oh, really. So he was the first to join the church?
LM: Yeah, he was the first one to join the church, for the Miyasakis. There was a lot of people from Sugar City who had been in the church a long time, a long, long time ago. I think the Hakitas, well they’re not here anymore. They moved away to, but they, they were members of the church a long, long time ago.
JM: Did they get treated better because they joined the church?
LM: I don’t know. I don’t know whether they got treated better or what, but the mother thought if the kids joined the church then…
JM: So did Great- Grandma Miyasaki join the church as well?
LM: No.
JM: But the kids all did?
LM: She made the kids.
JM: They were all really young then, mostly?
LM: Not too young. Kats was; Roy was. They were in the, their teens. They were older, they were not real young.
JM: Was the influence of the Mormon Church pretty heavy back then?
LM: It was still, yeah, Mormon. I think everybody if they weren’t Mormon. My brother Jack, he played basketball with the church team, you know, out in Burton there. They said they won the regional and they had to go to Salt Lake to play, and then they told him you’re not a church member so you can’t go. They wouldn’t let him play. They let him play when they were here, but he couldn’t go to Salt Lake, he couldn’t play.
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JM: Did any of your brothers ever get baptized?
LM: No, no, they all got baptized, in different churches. What it called, jack got baptized a Methodist. My sister she was baptized as a Methodist, but then she got baptized as a Congregationalist, just a couple years back. But John’s kids while they lived, they lived in Teton for quite a few years and the older ones, they got baptized Mormon but once they moved out to Blackfoot they didn’t go to church anymore. There was so many different denomination they didn’t know, so they didn’t go. They were baptized members and I think the mother was baptized. Donna was baptized when she was a little girl.
JM: Was there a lot of pressure for the Japanese people to get baptized?
LM: No.
JM: Just if they wanted to or not.
LM: Yes. When I was little, went to primary when I started school at six. I went to Cedar Point, I went to primary all the time. They come to school. They had primary right after school.
JM: So you stayed and went to primary?
LM: I stayed. And so ‘ til fourth grade I went to primary all the time. Then when we moved out to Hibbard and then nobody, I guess they had the primary and everything. But nobody said anything so I never did know when they were having primary. Then we moved to Burton. I know they had mutual and things. But they had it right after school I think. But they never, I didn’t anybody at that time. They never invited me so I never went. But when I was in elementary school I used to go to primary. People would come to school and right after school we would have primary. We learned primary songs. I knew “ Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam.” We learned Primary songs.
JM: Did they have missionaries around too back then?
LM: They probably did, but we didn’t know them. I know that after we moved up here they did. The Mormon missionaries would come over here. I had one pair that would come, and they wouldn’t go. They just stayed here and stayed here. Grandpa would get so that he was tired of having them here. They came for quite a few months. They were argumentative so Grandpa didn’t like them. He was raised in Japan so he was more Buddhist you know.
JM: Were there a lot of the Japanese that were still Buddhist?
LM: The older, the parents were still. They had a Buddhist service.
JM: Really? 16
LM: Yes.
JM: I didn’t know that either.
LM: The’ had, they had, what do you call; they didn’t have no church or anything. They had just so many times a year a priest would come from Ogden you know. So when Grandma, Great Grandma was here. They used to come here once a month. Then they would go to the Fujimotos’ house. He had a house, and they would go to his house and have a service there. There was lots of different places they used to come. And then after that, after the war they used to have a veteran’s hall here in Rexburg and they used to, they rented that one little room. They used to have a Buddhist service once a month. They had it until about ten years ago.
JM: Now most of the Japanese have moved away though.
LM: Yeah once they died or something, there wasn’t any Japanese left. It was all the older ones you know. Grandpa went every once and a while. When he felt like it. His brother Tat went all the time. He went once a month and his wife went once a month; Debbie Tanami and the two Fujimois and some ladies from Saint Anthony, widow ladies, Japanese ladies. There was about ten of them that the minister from Ogden would come and hold services.
JM: Did the Japanese people talk a lot about the war after it got over?
LM: No.
JM: They tried to put it behind them?
LM: Yeah. Most every one of the families around here had a son in the service.
JM: Did any of them die?
LM: Yeah some of them died. Some people died. Hashito, Hashito, his mother and father they come from California during the war and then he got drafted. And he went to, I think Italy. He died. I think he was on his way back home and then he died, on a ship. He got lost at sea? I don’t know what happened there. Some other got killed as well. The ones that were killed went to Germany or Italy.
JM: They didn’t go to the Pacific.
LM: The ones that went to the Pacific all went as military intelligence.
JM: So the ones that died all went to Germany?
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LM: Yeah the ones that died, Germany. The ones that went to the Pacific they all went as military intelligence.
JM: So do you know very much about what was happening in Europe either?
LM: No, none of the Miyasakis were in that area.
JM: Did the one that go, you brother and stuff write home letters about what was happening?
LM: No, they didn’t. When they were going they couldn’t even tell us where they were going.
JM: They just had to go.
LM: They were in the military intelligence.
JM: Were they treated different than the other soldiers? Were people suspicious of them?
LM: I don’t know if they were or not. They were, they couldn’t say anything they were in different groups with different soldiers.
JM: It would be interesting to talk with one of them about it, I don’t know if they would want to talk about it.
LM: They’re all gone too. Tat stayed around. Tat was in the military, he was in the military intelligence for a long time. He was gone the longest because from around here because he was one of the first that got drafted from around here.
JM: Did they have big parades once the war got over?
LM: I didn’t see any.
JM: At least not out in Newdale.
LM: No, I don’t think they had anything like that. I guess they were all glad they had come home in Hibbard.
JM: Safe in Idaho.
LM: I guess they had, in New York they had parades. Harold was saying to walk so many blocks it took so many hours. He happened to be there when the parades started after the war was over. He couldn’t move I guess.
JM: He was over there in New York.
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LM: He was in New York for something. He didn’t go overseas. He was the only one of the five brothers that didn’t go overseas. They all went. Fred went all over because he made it career in the Army.
JM: So was your mom worried about them when they were over there?
LM: Oh yeah, all the time. Especially Fred because he was the youngest one I think. He just about got killed I think in Vietnam.
JM: She’d always be worried about him?
LM: But then he got a medal for that from the Vietnam government. He got a medal for something he did. But none of them, they don’t talk about the war.
JM: They just got on with their lives?
LM: Yeah.