From War in Korea to Retirement in Hawai’i
I interviewed a couple for this story, who took turns sharing memories from their lifetimes. The story is formatted similar to a dialogue. Taye is in bold, Kenneth is in italics.
I grew up in Monterey, California, back when it was a little fishing village. My father worked on a fishery with a lot of Japanese men who needed jobs. When WWII came, that kind of wiped out the whole project. My father passed away before the war. Then we went to an internment camp. For three years, we were in these camps in Monterey. Then we came out of the camps and resumed our lives. When we returned to the fishery, all the sardines were gone because the ocean water had warmed up. After school and college, I ended up becoming a licensed marriage family-child counselor…it’s a long name! I mostly worked in a community mental agency and helped people there. I had to go to college and get my Masters degree, then get 1500 hours of free work in counseling before I became a counselor. I enjoyed it.
I was born in Los Angeles. I lived most of my life there before WWII started. We had to evacuate from LA, and we moved to a small town in California called Del Rey. My uncle and aunt had a store there, back then Highway 99 divided California. The west of the 99 was where you had to evacuate from, the east was called the Free Zone because you were free to live there. Then the government declared the Free Zone no longer free! So my family moved to Arizona, I was there for approximately two years. My dad was a nisei, he volunteered for the 442nd Battalion. He was 37 years old at the time, but he didn’t have to go. He was in the anti-tank company, a sergeant in his company. We are very proud of all the Japanese-American soldiers during WWII. The following year in 1944, my mother arranged for me to go to Minneapolis to stay with my aunts and uncles. I left the camp on March 28, 1944. Then I went to high school in Minneapolis, and in 1946 my dad came back from overseas. We moved to North Carolina on my uncle’s estate, he encouraged us to move to the East Coast. We visited the camp where we had been interned.
I then finished high school in Los Angeles, graduated in 1947. My dad encouraged me to join the Army to get the GI Bill. I joined in 1947 and volunteered for three years. I graduated from the Japanese language school. They had to get a security clearance for me to be able to graduate. Then I decided I wanted to go to Japan, so finally in September 1949 I got security clearance to go. I was sent to Tokyo, Kokura, and Beppu. Then in June 1950, the Korean War broke out. So Uncle Sam gave me another year, a total of five years! I went to Korea on July 4, 1950. Fourth of July! I got assigned to Osaka, Japan, then got sent home for Thanksgiving in 1951.
I remember I was waiting for the bus to go to Del Rey when I arrived in the U.S. I got on the bus, and I noticed several passengers, and they were my mother and sister!
They didn’t know he was coming home!
Then I went to North Carolina, they assigned me to the 589th Military Intelligence. I stayed there and went to maneuvers in Fort Worth, Texas. I stayed there until discharge in May 1951. Then I went up to NYC because my cousin was graduating from Parson School of Design, waiting three weeks to take my cousin home. I ran out of money, of course! Finally we went back to California, moved to Monterey in 1952. I went to junior college for two years, UC Berkeley. I graduated there, and the following year I went to San Jose State College to get a credential in education. That summer, we got married, 1957. We knew each other from Monterey, and I started teaching in the Monterey School District, Santa Cruz County Office of Education. I ended up teaching in special education for 29 years. At that time in California, teachers did not have social security. I had to get social security by working three years as a custodian for a Catholic Church. I found it enjoyable because I didn’t have to deal with the students!
When we first vacationed here, we said “Let’s go retire in Hawai’i!” We lived on the Big Island and learned a lot of hula and songs, we learned to play the ukulele.
We volunteered for various organizations on the Big Island, all this time I had been doing volunteer work. We still are volunteering. One day a week we go to Palahia State Hospital, she and I would be in a group. I play ukulele and she would dance. Then we go to a class at Lanakila Senior Center, from there we go once a month to play at a residential hospital to entertain residents there. My wife and I teach an ukulele class twice a month.
Doing music is important to us. It’s really been a gift. The church put on a talent show a while back, and that’s how it started with us performing. That’s the funnest part of retirement. We get to go and help others write music.
