1 100 1 https://ndajams.omeka.net/files/original/d234e42791fff97966167c2e6c44d7d3.pdf 1037d08946e044823012b39b004762c3 PDF Text Text Go For Broke National Education Center Oral History Project Oral History Interview with Gilbert “Gil” Tanji, May 17, 2003, Merced, California INTERVIEWER: Okay today is Saturday, May 17, 2003. We're in Merced, California at the Tri College Center. On camera is Steve Wasserman, on audio catalog is Diane Sasaki, interviewing Michelle Dojiri. And today we are here with Gilbert–Gilbert Tanji and his wife Marlene is also here. First of all, thank you very much for being here. We appreciate you taking your time. So I just wanted to ask you first of all, easy question, can you tell me your full name and your date of birth.  TANJI: Gilbert Tanji. June 17, 1920.  INTERVIEWER: And did you have a middle name?  TANJI: T---Toru, I think. INTERVIEWER: Okay, and where were you born?  TANJI: Right close to Cressey, Livingston California.  INTERVIEWER: And what was the name of your father? TANJI: Oh … INTERVIEWER: That's Kuwanzo Walter? TANJI: Kuwanzo Tanji.  INTERVIEWER: And where was he from?   TANJI: In Niigata-Ken. INTERVIEWER: And do you know why he came to America?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 1 of 42 �TANJI: [01:25] There was four brothers. One stayed in Japan. The oldest one stayed in Japan and the other three came to the United States.  INTERVIEWER: They came all together?  TANJI: Uh, my dad and the older one that was older than he–he was came. And then a year later the other uncle came.  INTERVIEWER: And do you know what, what did they do when they came here?  TANJI: They worked at the Japanese newspaper place in San Francisco for a couple of years. And my dad knew English. He learned English in Japan and he could speak just like any Nisei does. And so after working in San Francisco, the two brothers came from there to Livingston. And my dad went to UCLA. And my grandmother was here too, and after talking to my dad the grandmother said you better come back and farm, help the two brothers because they couldn't speak any English. So he finally came.  INTERVIEWER: What did he study at UCLA?  TANJI: [02:51] Some kind of business I don't know what it was but uh … INTERVIEWER: So did, do you know, did he regret that having to …  TANJI: He wasn't going to be a farmer.  INTERVIEWER: [Laughs] And what did he look like, your dad? Was he tall? Short? TANJI: Yeah, I think all the three brothers were all taller than I was.  INTERVIEWER: And what was his personality? TANJI:  I don't know.  INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 2 of 42 �Was he a quiet man---Talkative …  TANJI: More or less. Oh I think all three were pretty quiet.  INTERVIEWER: And what was your mother's name?  TANJI: Michi.  INTERVIEWER: And do you know her maiden name?  TANJI: Ishizuka.  INTERVIEWER: And where did she come from?  TANJI: Tokyo.  INTERVIEWER: And do you know, was she, did she meet your father here in America?  TANJI: [03:46] My father went back to Japan and somebody introduced him to my mother and my mother speaks fluent English. Her–she went to Joshi Gakuen in Japan and they had all ladies from United States teaching there. So both my mother and father spoke English. They hardly ever spoke Japanese.  INTERVIEWER: So they spoke English to each other, or …  TANJI: Even with each other they spoke English. INTERVIEWER: So did they ever speak Japanese with you?  TANJI: A little bit. Very little.  INTERVIEWER: [04:32] Was it important for you and the other kids to learn Japanese? I mean did they emphasize that or…  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 3 of 42 �TANJI: I don't know. Most of the Japanese that lived around their parents wasn’t educated too well so they spoke Japanese and like, uh, we had cereal all the time. Well all the Japanese had you know different kind of Japanese food for breakfast you know. But we were just raised just like people in the United States.  INTERVIEWER: So I mean was your…it sounds like your family was very different I mean they were well educated they could speak English was that did they not fit into the community well or...  TANJI: No no. It helped them, it helped the community quite a bit.  INTERVIEWER: I mean were they, did they help translate for people?  TANJI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: And so you were raised in Livingston?  TANJI: No, in Cressey.  INTERVIEWER: Okay, but you were born in … TANJI:  I was born in Livingston, which is only about three miles from where I live and I've lived at my place more or less, 82 plus years. INTERVIEWER: Wow. So what, I mean … TANJI: Except for during the evacuation and during the war time.  INTERVIEWER: [05:53] So can you just compare what it was–what Cressey looked like eighty, or you know however many years ago, and what it looks like now? How has it changed?  TANJI: Cressey hasn't grown very much. It's a small place, and I think there might be 200 or 300 people there. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 4 of 42 �INTERVIEWER:  Have all those people lived there forever?  TANJI: Well all the old timers are all gone. I think I'm one of the oldest left now.  INTERVIEWER: Um, and what is it? Is it a farm town? Is it a …  TANJI: It’s more or less a farm town.  INTERVIEWER: What kind of crops do you have? TANJI: Oh, grapes and peach and almonds.  INTERVIEWER: Is it hard farm life?  TANJI: [06:40] Not much money. That's why all the third generation young people, they're practically all left who–where we live you know and Livingston and Cressey and Winton you know.  INTERVIEWER: So what is that like working on a farm? I mean what time do you wake up? You know, working all day. TANJI: [07:07] You get up five o’clock or so, and go to bed six or seven.  INTERVIEWER:  And do you … I mean is it you and your family working the land or did you hire people?  TANJI: [07:22] Oh at first my dad had to hire, but then later we did quite a bit. I did it anyway.  INTERVIEWER: And how many acres did you have?  TANJI: My dad had 40 acres and then after World War II, I came back and I bought 40 more acres.  INTERVIEWER: So you still had the land?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 5 of 42 �TANJI: [07:47] I sold the first two that, the first…not first, but the 40 acres that I bought I sold it. And so I have roughly, maybe 35 acres. INTERVIEWER: And can you tell me about your…any brothers and sisters that you have, their names?  TANJI: I have a sister, Lydia Sakurai. She passed away about four years ago. And then my brother that was 17 years younger than I was, his name was Oscar Tanji and he passed away the next day after my sister passed away. But my brother that was 4 years younger must have passed away 5 years ago. So I'm the only one left.  INTERVIEWER:  And what number child are you?  TANJI: Number two.  INTERVIEWER:  [08:56] Number two. So you were one of the older ones. So what was your responsibility in the family?  TANJI: Had to do everything.  INTERVIEWER: Everything? What does that mean?  TANJI: Work hard.  INTERVIEWER:  So you were the eldest son? TANJI: Yes. INTERVIEWER: Is that correct? So what kind of, I mean, responsibilities, or what was expected of you as the eldest son?  TANJI: [09:17] Well, like driving tractor and lot of heavy work, you know shoveling, and feel like I had to do pruning and.  INTERVIEWER: Did you have any free time on the farm? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 6 of 42 �TANJI: Oh certain. I got to play baseball quite a bit.  INTERVIEWER: What position did you play?  TANJI: I played pitching.  INTERVIEWER: How, how, what was your best pitch? Fastball?  TANJI: Oh ... Sometimes I even throw left hand. INTERVIEWER: Really? Wow. TANJI: I warmed up left hand and pitched with right hand. INTERVIEWER:  So you, I heard you were a good pitcher.  TANJI: [09:57] Pretty good, because we won most of the games. We used to call ourselves, “Livingston Dodgers”. INTERVIEWER:  And was it all Nisei or …  TANJI: All Nisei.  INTERVIEWER: And who did you, you competed against different schools? TANJI: Yeah, like Cortez, and, and all those guys. Quite a few all around Stockton, and Lodi, and French Camp, and quite a few even Fresno and different place.  INTERVIEWER: So was that thing you were saying about when you played against Cortez…?  TANJI: [10:36] We used to say that we’ll lose from any other team, but not Cortez.  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 7 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: Did you ever lose to Cortez?  TANJI: No. Never have.  INTERVIEWER: Was there a big rivalry between you or …  TANJI: Kind of.  INTERVIEWER:  [10:53] So how often did you play baseball? Every week or…?  TANJI: Just about every Sunday, during the summertime.  INTERVIEWER:  And who taught you how to play baseball?  TANJI: Well, that’s a long story. When I was about maybe 14 years old, I was a catcher and then somebody was batting and I don't know how come the mask kind of got bad, and not bad, but anyway, it was not in the right place and I lost four teeth in my mouth. And I said no more catching, and then I started pitching.  INTERVIEWER: And so how was that, was that much better?  TANJI: Oh yes, this was much better. INTERVIEWER:  Did you have any other, do anything else with your free time? TANJI:  I played a lot of tennis.  INTERVIEWER: Would you play…was it hard hardcore tennis or was it …?  TANJI: It was a regular tennis court.  INTERVIEWER:  [11:59] And how were you at tennis?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 8 of 42 �TANJI: Real good because I played left and right, and when we go, like when we play Turlock, I remember, the coach says find his weakness and the coach is telling the student that before while we were changing our clothes, he said usually their backhand’s weak so try to shoot it. So I heard that, so we start playing and he tried to put some on my left side and I used my left hand. And he got so frustrated that he finally lost.  INTERVIEWER:  So which was your favorite: tennis or baseball?  TANJI: I think about even, because I played a lot of baseball and the team used to come out a lot of times and during Sunday morning, early, and help me do some farm work so that I get off, you know, the rest of the day, so I could play. So we had a lot of fun.  INTERVIEWER:  And did you have any favorite professional players, like baseball or tennis players, that you liked? Listened on the radio to games or…? TANJI: Oh, I don’t know, I used to know a lot, but I forgot.  INTERVIEWER: [13:31] Was your dad a big sports fan too? TANJI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: So did he, did he teach you how to play baseball and tennis? TANJI: No, no. INTERVIEWER: You just learned on your own? Okay. Um, let's see. So I want to go on to talk about your community. So you said in Cressey there was only like 200 or so people. I mean how many, how much was Japanese American? Was there Caucasian?  TANJI: Oh maybe a dozen. INTERVIEWER:  And then the rest was Caucasian or were there other …?   TANJI: Caucasian, and a lot of Mexicans. INTERVIEWER:  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 9 of 42 �And did the ethnicities, did they mix or did they stick with their own group?  TANJI: [14:13] Well we stayed quite a bit. Like we'd go to Livingston and do everything, you know, go to church or where we do we, go to Livingston because we went to Livingston High School. INTERVIEWER: And so did you have friends who were Caucasian and Japanese American?  TANJI: Oh yes. INTERVIEWER: So did everyone get along?  TANJI: Yeah we got along real good. INTERVIEWER: Was there ever any discrimination that you remember?  TANJI: Not in high school.  INTERVIEWER: Was there ever any discrimination at any time that you remember?  TANJI: [14:51] Well when I was taking basic training in Florida, I got pretty disgusted because, since I had false teeth, top and bottom, and I must have been about 24 during basic training. They told me to go to, go to the Army dentist because I was going overseas. So I went there. And the first thing they did was pull the left side, all the teeth on the left side, top and bottom. And next time they pulled all this side, and I think if I was Caucasian or somebody, I don't think they had never done that. But that was the only time I think I was pretty disgusted.  INTERVIEWER: Did they say why they did that?  TANJI: Well, they said if you go overseas, the way it is with British, if you have trouble, you don't know, there's no dentist over there so you don't really have trouble. That’s the excuse they gave me.  INTERVIEWER: [16:00] So now all your teeth are false? Wow. I mean what did you think when that was happening?  TANJI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 10 of 42 �I had the teeth pulled out at basic training. I lost 10 pounds.   INTERVIEWER: Wow. TANJI: You know I just couldn't eat. INTERVIEWER: And that didn't happen to anyone else?  TANJI: Not that I know of. INTERVIEWER: [16:29] Wow. I wanted to go back a little bit, and go back to your childhood a little bit. Um you said you went to Livingston, Livingston High School. Um, and I know you played baseball. Were you on any other sports teams in high school?  TANJI: Just the tennis. INTERVIEWER: Okay. So you weren't on the baseball team?  TANJI: No.  INTERVIEWER: Is there … TANJI: Japanese were kind of a little bit, way back in ‘34, there were kind of restricted like, you know, to play. I know I could have made the baseball team, but we had enough players on there so they didn't let us play.  INTERVIEWER: Were there any other school activities or clubs that you participated in?  TANJI: Well I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Did you like school?  TANJI: Yes. I played in orchestra. I was in a band you know. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 11 of 42 �INTERVIEWER:  What instrument?  TANJI: Saxophone.  INTERVIEWER: Can you still play?  TANJI: No.  INTERVIEWER: [17:35] What about studying in school? Did you like any subjects in particular?  TANJI: Well, I liked math a lot, you know. But ah, I don't know why, I never did read too much. That’s the one bad thing about me, even as of today, I don't read you know.  INTERVIEWER: And so did you think, I mean, did you want to do something with math? Was there a career you were thinking of or..?  TANJI: [18:03] Well with math, I studied math because I wanted to fool around with aircraft, you know, airplane, and so after I finished Livingston High School in 1938, I stayed home two years and I worked all over so I could get enough money to go to Modesto Junior College. And then when I went to Modesto Junior College, I took all the aeronautics stuff, like sheet metal and designing and drafting, and even took a little airplane because of a pilot training that we could take lesson and fly it, you know. So that's one reason that, I think I was, we were the first, there were some Nisei boys in the Air Force, with very few, but we were the first 10 men that was from the G-2 to the Air Force who were transferred.  INTERVIEWER: [19:16] When did you–how did your interest in aircraft and airplanes, how did that start?  TANJI: I don't know. I just, just like to fool around with.  INTERVIEWER: Did you ever get to fly an airplane or …  TANJI: Yeah, the civil pilot training is a little plane, you know, two people plane. In Modesto Junior College, we flew a little, you know.  INTERVIEWER: [19:40] Um, were there any favorite teachers you had in high school?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 12 of 42 �TANJI: Oh, my tennis teacher. INTERVIEWER: Do you remember his or her name?  TANJI: I think it was Leon Lee.  INTERVIEWER: So he was a Chinese person?  TANJI: No no no no no he was … INTERVIEWER: Oh oh Leon. Okay. TANJI: He was a … INTERVIEWER: And what was, I mean why was he a good coach?  TANJI: [20:12] Well, he helped me a lot in tennis. Where I could play with any other people I wanted to play with, you know. Different schools, and he took me all over.  INTERVIEWER: [20:29] Um, did you go to Japanese language school?  TANJI: Not too much. My mother taught Japanese at Livingston [INAUDIBLE], like I mean, Fred Kashima went to school, but she had quite a few. And she went to the Livingston church over there and got a place where they had classes.  INTERVIEWER: Was she a teacher in Japan?  TANJI: No, but her Japanese was real good and English was good, so she was able to teach Japanese to the Nisei’s real good.  INTERVIEWER: [21:11] So you said you didn't go to school that much?  TANJI: No.  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 13 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: So they didn't make you go to school? Um, let’s see, did you have any other hobbies besides sports? Or how did you pass the time, other than sports? Did you go fishing or… TANJI: Yeah, I used to go fishing, and oh rock hunting and all kinds of stuff. INTERVIEWER: What hunting? Rock? TANJI: Rocks. INTERVIEWER: You used to go look for rocks? What kind of rocks were you looking for? TANJI: All different kind of crystal. INTERVIEWER: And what would you do … TANJI: And Mariposa. INTERVIEWER: And what would you do with the rocks when you found them? TANJI: [21:55] Bring it home. I don't have too many but. INTERVIEWER: Did you have a rock collection then? TANJI: Well, we had a few on the fish pond, but um we got rid of the fish. So the rock is still in the fish pond. I try to break the fish pond but with a big sledgehammer and it won't even budge. So we just filled up with sand. INTERVIEWER: And I know when I was talking to Howard earlier, he was talking about, you know, making his own toys and I guess he didn't have much money so he, you know, made toys and played games with, you know, sticks or things like that. Did you do things like that too? TANJI:  Well ah, I think so. I have a regular shop at home to make anything. I used to make all kind of trailers and discs, and oh just all kind of thing.  INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 14 of 42 �And so what kind of toys would you play with when you were younger? TANJI: Oh, I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Like he was talking about slingshots and … all these different, like rubber … TANJI: Yeah … INTERVIEWER: [23:13] Okay, let’s see … So um you said you went to church. Did you go to–did your family go to church every week?  TANJI: Not too much, but we went to that Japanese school, I think, you know, during the summertime. I don't know how many days a week. INTERVIEWER: And what religion was your family?  TANJI: I think it was Methodist.  INTERVIEWER: [23:38] Were most of the other Japanese families Christian also, or were they Buddhists? Was there a mix?  TANJI: Well, there were some Buddhists, but I think all went to the Methodist church. INTERVIEWER: So there was just one … TANJI: Like Cortez, they had Buddhist and Christian. They got two church there, but Livingston didn't have it.  INTERVIEWER: [23:57] So there was just one church in town? Did the church have any other like social activities, picnics or?  TANJI: Oh, I suppose maybe once in a while they would get together. Do different things.  INTERVIEWER: And who were your friends? Like did you have a best friend growing up?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 15 of 42 �TANJI: One of my friends that was real close to me was Arnold Oki. And we…and there was another friend, Shiz Tsujihara, and we volunteered for the service from camp. And we couldn't understand why Shiz was never called, but we found out later that he, his dad got mad and so he had to pull out. But Arnold went to Italy and got killed right away.  INTERVIEWER: [24:55] And he was your friend from Cressey?  TANJI: Yes INTERVIEWER: And what was, what was Arnold like? What kind of a person was he? TANJI: Well, he liked to play baseball. You know we had a lot of fun. INTERVIEWER: Um, well I want to jump ahead a little bit and talk about um, December, not December 7th, but December 6th, the day before Pearl Harbor. Do you remember what you were doing the day before? What were you doing the day before Pearl Harbor?  TANJI: I was going to Modesto Junior College. INTERVIEWER: And what were you, what were your plans at that time for the future?  TANJI: [25:40] Well, we didn't really know we couldn't even come home, you know, from Modesto. But right away, they told us that we're going to Merced camp. And all that we could take was what we could just about carry, you know. INTERVIEWER:  What was your reaction to hearing the news?  TANJI: [26:03] Well, we figured, well if that's what they want to do, well there's not much that we could do, but just to go.  INTERVIEWER: And what about your parents? What were they thinking? Were they, were they scared? Were they … TANJI:  Well I don’t know. I don't think they were scared, but anyway. They, they packed up like all the rest of us and we all went to Merced camp. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 16 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: So I know that you know they could speak English really well, and maybe some of the other families couldn't. Did they play a role in helping you? TANJI: Sure they helped, yeah.  INTERVIEWER: So what kind of things would they do to help? TANJI:  Just to make them understand what was going on and if they have any questions to ask them. And they kind of told them what was what, you know.  INTERVIEWER: And did the FBI come to your house?  TANJI: No.  INTERVIEWER: Were there any curfews of any kind?  TANJI: [27:02] I don't remember because right away we had to go to camp.  INTERVIEWER: So um, what kind of things did you take with you?  TANJI: Just the clothes that we have and shoes. Maybe one or two pair of shoes and few pants and just underwear and coat.  INTERVIEWER: Did you take maybe your baseball glove or anything like that?  TANJI: Well, I must have taken my baseball glove because we played baseball in Merced camp quite a bit. There was a big place for everybody to sit right behind the catcher you know. And so we used to play all the time so everybody would come and really holler and everything, you know. There was a lot of fun at Merced. End of Video 1 [28:02] BEGINNING OF VIDEO 2 INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 17 of 42 �Okay, so I know we were talking about, you know, going to the Assembly Center and didn't have much time. What happened to…can you talk about what happened to your land and your house?  TANJI: We were kind of lucky. There was a Jewish fellow named Gus Malmberg. And then we had, what they call Livingston Food Exchange and Livingston Farmers Tool Corporation, and he took the whole thing over, but didn't, we didn’t get any money. But some people got a few dollars, but he took care of it so that everything was, like the grapes and peaches and everything were taken care of properly.  INTERVIEWER: And what about your house?  TANJI: Well, house … Inside stuff was all more or less gone and the house was kind of, you know, they had anybody living there you know different people that would rent it. So, most of the people, the few that had pretty good renters. But most of them wasn’t too good.  INTERVIEWER: [01:12] So you pretty much had to leave everything in your house or …  TANJI: Yeah, we had to come back with buy everything. We slept on a 50 pound box and for chair we used a 50 pound box for until we got enough money to buy furniture, you know.  INTERVIEWER: But when you came back, he had taken care of the land and he gave it back to you? TANJI:  Yes.  INTERVIEWER: Did he ever send money to camp for income that you got?  TANJI: Not that I know of, but some people might have got some money. I don't know. But I know we didn't get any.  INTERVIEWER: [01:54] So then you went to the Assembly Center. Did you walk there? Did you, how did you get to the Merced Assembly Center?  TANJI: Uh, our friends took us. Caucasian friend took us there.  INTERVIEWER:  And what, what did the Caucasian people think about what was happening to you?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 18 of 42 �TANJI: [02:11] Well they didn't like it, but they said well there's no choice. All the Japanese had to go there so, it would just take them. INTERVIEWER:  And what did the Assembly Center look like? Where, where was it? TANJI:  At the fairground in Merced. And we had a little place to sleep. The, if we had four people or ten people we just about had one or two room and then they had cafeteria where everybody went and ate.  INTERVIEWER: How was that? Was that good food or?  TANJI: Well if you like lot of lamb and lot of junk food, maybe it's all right, but I sure didn’t care for the food. INTERVIEWER:  And what about was there military police there or who was staffed? TANJI: Yes, they had places where they had soldiers all over the place. Seeing that we wouldn’t run away.  INTERVIEWER: How did that make you feel seeing---I mean … Basically like a …  TANJI: Well, we didn’t like it, but there’s nothing that we could do. INTERVIEWER: [03:25] Um ... And what about your parents, did they take a leadership role in camp or? TANJI: Did they what? INTERVIEWER: Did they take a leadership role because of their English ability?  TANJI: Oh, a little bit I think.  INTERVIEWER: Did they have jobs in camp or? TANJI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 19 of 42 �Well, I think most like the wives, lot of the wife was canteen, not canteen, but where we ate there were, clean up and, you know, serve people. And then the men, the men was cook at the camp.  INTERVIEWER: [04:04] And so I, just going back to the Assembly Center, I kind of skipped. Um, you said you played baseball at the Assembly Center. What else did you do there?  TANJI: Not much of anything. Lot of time at night time they have a movie someplace, you know, someplace in the block. And so a lot of people go there. And see, see the movie.  INTERVIEWER: [04:32] What, how much, how big was the place that you were living in it? Heard it wasn't very big.  TANJI: Oh, I don't know maybe, 14 by 14, maybe the room.  INTERVIEWER: And all, all of you were in the same room? TANJI: Yeah, we had a regular Army cot, so like our family had five, six, six Army cots, I suppose. INTERVIEWER:  And did, I mean was it bare or did you try to decorate at all or had it?  TANJI: [05:05] No, it was pretty bare. No, no extra furniture or nothing to. No flowers, no nothing just...  INTERVIEWER: And did they tell you– did you know how long you were going to be there? When you were going to be leaving?  TANJI: They had no, they didn't tell us. But one day they said we're all going to Assembly Center in Colorado. So we got ready to go, and we got on a train and MP was in every train, you know, watching so that we won’t run away or do any harm you know.  INTERVIEWER: Was there ever any incidents that you saw or that you had with the MPs?  TANJI: No.  INTERVIEWER: [06:06] Um, so okay, so now you're in Amache. What does, can you describe what it looks like or what it looked like to you?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 20 of 42 �TANJI: Well, when we got there it was just bunch of building and out in a desert, like hot, and there was so many, like I don’t know if they went by letter or number, like one or two or three or four or five. And like Cortez and Livingston, I don’t know, they were some like number three or something like that I think, I don’t quite remember but. INTERVIEWER: And then um, so you're at the camp and did you get a job there or were you working? Did you go to school.?  TANJI: We had to go out of camp from Amache to get a job out on a farm. INTERVIEWER: What, which farm? Where was the farm?  TANJI: Farm ... oh, any place in Colorado. INTERVIEWER:  So they actually, they let you out of camp to work?  TANJI: Yes. INTERVIEWER: And so where, what kind of farm was it that you worked on?  TANJI: [07:26] I think they had uh kind of like uh sugar beets. I remember getting a kind of a deal and cut the roots off you know and throw ...  INTERVIEWER: Did you ever seek– so I know that there were Japanese Americans in Colorado. Did you ever see any? Not that–the ones that weren't in camp. Did you ever see any of those?  TANJI: Yes. I went to ... Amache, not Amache, but uh umm … Anyway, I went about 250 miles north. And worked on this ranch and eventually we did all kind of tractor work and just about everything irrigation and irrigating and …   INTERVIEWER: [08:40] And they were Japanese Americans? TANJI: Japanese uh huh. This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 21 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: What was that like? I mean seeing Japanese Americans who weren't in camp. Did they feel bad or were they … TANJI: No. INTERVIEWER: Were they very friendly or welcoming?  TANJI: Yeah, they were real friendly and, and I think they made us work a little cheaper than the other people, you know, because we needed to work, you know.  INTERVIEWER: [09:05] So what would you do with the money that you earned?  TANJI: Buy some clothes and ... We didn’t get, I don’t know why, but we didn’t make much money. INTERVIEWER: How would you get clothes? Was there a store in camp or? TANJI: There was a store in camp, but when we were in Rocky Ford, Colorado, I went to the Rocky Ford, Colorado store and bought some clothes. INTERVIEWER: So was it all of your brothers and sisters that were working outside of camp?  TANJI: [09:33] No. I was working. Then my other brother, they’re too young, so they didn't get to go out but my dad went to Chicago and worked in a lumber yard. And then by then I was in service and I was in Washington D.C. He got hit by a board and bled and he didn't know it, I suppose, and he got pretty weak. And I had to get emergency furlough to come and see him in Chicago. And then he could hardly walk or do anything because he lost so much blood, but he went back to Amache camp and about six months he was okay.  INTERVIEWER: Um so you're in camp. What other things did you do in camp? I know that they had dances and … TANJI: Yeah, a lot of dances.  INTERVIEWER: Did you um, I mean were you, did you like dancing? Did you go to all of those events?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 22 of 42 �TANJI: Oh, just once in a while we’d go. INTERVIEWER:  Did you date girls in camp?  TANJI: That's such a long time ago I forgot. INTERVIEWER: Did you want some water?  INTERVIEWER: And so I know you played baseball in the Merced Assembly Center. Did you play baseball in camp too?  TANJI: [11:24] A very short time because I went out to farm, then I volunteered for the service. INTERVIEWER:  So did they have organized baseball there or? TANJI: Well, we most, of most of the people from Merced went over there and some other team went there. So we had enough, like Cortez and Livingston and different ones, they must of had at least another 10 teams out there.  INTERVIEWER: So you just continued the … What about tennis? TANJI: No.  INTERVIEWER: No tennis.  TANJI: No. INTERVIEWER: So what did you think about living in camp? How was that for you? Was it good or bad did you not like it?  TANJI: Not, not very good. INTERVIEWER: Why didn't you like camp?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 23 of 42 �TANJI: [12:09] Well, it's no place for people that live, you know, free, and just we're here, you see the ‘ole MP here and there, and you can't go out like you want to go out.  INTERVIEWER:  Did you think it was unfair?  TANJI: Well, they had to do something I suppose.  INTERVIEWER: [12:36] Um, okay. Well let's talk, I mean when, when did you volunteer? How long, you were in camp, but then how, how long before you volunteered?  TANJI: Well they asked for volunteers so we volunteered right away. INTERVIEWER: So you were in the first group? How soon was that, because you were 4-C right?  TANJI: Yeah and then I don’t know.  INTERVIEWER: Within that first year or? TANJI: I think it must have been first year.  INTERVIEWER: So were they calling for volunteers for infantry or were they looking for MIS?  TANJI: Both.  INTERVIEWER: And so which did you volunteer for? TANJI: For the MIS.  INTERVIEWER: [13:18] And why did you choose the MIS instead of…? TANJI:  I didn't want to go to the infantry. By then, my friend Arnold Oki passed away, killed in Italy. So I thought well, I'll try MIS and was sent to Minnesota.  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 24 of 42 �INTERVIEWER:  So when did Arnold go overseas then? Before you were in camp?  TANJI: No, while we were in camp.  INTERVIEWER:  Okay. So he was drafted or was he a volunteer?  TANJI: No, he volunteered the same time I did. INTERVIEWER:  Okay. Oh Okay. And then he went overseas pretty quickly then?  TANJI: He was called way before I was. INTERVIEWER: I see. TANJI: So there was a small Japanese class. I don't know why we went, but anyway, we went to that to see if we could learn some Japanese, but it's kind of hard. But anyway, maybe two months before I went, I mean two months I went to that school. I didn't learn too much, but I got the MIS anyway. INTERVIEWER: [14:30] Was there a test before they would let you into MIS? Like a language test or anything?  TANJI: There must have been some kind of class because I think there was about a thirty class and I was clear down at about the 30th class.  INTERVIEWER: And what about your parents, what did they say when they heard you volunteered?  TANJI: They didn't say anything.  INTERVIEWER: Did you think they were happy or sad or worried?  TANJI: No, they didn't say anything. We told them that we, they asked for volunteers so we volunteered, you know.  INTERVIEWER: [15:02] And so what was it like leaving camp? Did they have a farewell party? Did they…  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 25 of 42 �TANJI: Yeah, they, when everybody left they kind of gave us a little farewell party.  INTERVIEWER: And then where did you go from Amache? How did you … TANJI: From Amache to Minnesota.  INTERVIEWER: And how did you get there? TANJI: Uh, train. INTERVIEWER:  Were, so you were you on a train with all MIS people or?  TANJI: No no just uh. I think when I went, there was another boy from…Smile Kamiya was the one that went with me from Cortez.  INTERVIEWER: And so who else was on the train? Was this a regular…?  TANJI: Two or three people. Every so far---every day two or three was leaving.  INTERVIEWER:  [15:58] And so you got to Minnesota. So where, what city were you in? Do you remember? Or what fort you were at?  TANJI: We were at…you mean in Minnesota? INTERVIEWER: In Minnesota. TANJI: They put us Camp Savage. That's where the language school was. Then later, they moved it to… closer to town, but for a while it was a pretty rough place.  INTERVIEWER:  Why do you say that? What do you mean, rough?  TANJI: [16:29] Well there was some barracks and everything wasn’t very good.  INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 26 of 42 �And you, this is Savage that you’re talking about? TANJI: Yeah, Camp Savage. INTERVIEWER: So what did, I mean what did it look like? Was it grassy, hilly?  TANJI: Oh yeah, it was grassy and dirty and…but the later people really got into uh, Minneapolis and they got into a real nice place. When I went to basic training and come back they were all in Minnesota then.  INTERVIEWER: [17:05] So how long were you at Savage ‘til you left for basic training?  TANJI: Uh maybe ... two month I figure. INTERVIEWER:  And what were the classes like? The language classes?  TANJI: Pretty hard. Especially when you don’t know too much Japanese. I think I was, class of maybe, from the bottom, maybe second or third.  INTERVIEWER: Were the teachers hard? TANJI: Well ... They spoke a lot of Japanese and sometimes you couldn't understand what they were saying.  INTERVIEWER: [17:40] So what, I mean were there tests every day? Was there homework every day or?  TANJI: I don't know. They gave us a book and were supposed to read the book, and it was rough.  INTERVIEWER: So did you, I mean I know some guys, you know, they stayed up late to do the homework with. TANJI: Oh, that’s … A lot of, we had to stay in the toilet and study.  INTERVIEWER: How could you see, I mean?  TANJI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 27 of 42 �Well the toilets, you know, lights are on, but, in the barracks the lights go off around, I think it was 10 o'clock.  INTERVIEWER: So how late would you stay up? TANJI: Long time, midnight. INTERVIEWER: Did you study on the weekends too or?  TANJI: More or less yeah.  INTERVIEWER: So after the two months, did you feel like you learned a lot?  TANJI: I don't know.  INTERVIEWER: [18:37] Were they teaching you just regular Japanese or was it military?  TANJI: More or less military.  INTERVIEWER: So how was, I mean, is that very different?  TANJI: Quite a bit. INTERVIEWER:  Did they tell you anything about the Japanese army or the soldiers or what to expect?  TANJI: I don’t remember that.  INTERVIEWER: Um, so you go to basic training. And where did you go for basic?  TANJI: Camp Blanding in Florida. INTERVIEWER: What's it like in Florida?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 28 of 42 �TANJI: Well it's kind of nice. But then I got all my teeth pulled out. INTERVIEWER:  How, was that right away that that happened?  TANJI: Oh must have been after a month, and I was there only two month.  INTERVIEWER: Were you with, were you training with other Nisei or?  TANJI: All Nisei.  INTERVIEWER: [19:34] And so what um, what kind of things did you do in basic training?  TANJI: A lot of hard work.  INTERVIEWER: Was it, I mean like hikes and …?  TANJI: A lot of digging a hole and hiding and this and that, oh and just crazy. INTERVIEWER: [20:00] Were there other units there training, besides the Nisei? Were there Caucasian units? TANJI: No, no, no, just Japanese.  INTERVIEWER: And was it all MIS? TANIJ: Yes. INTERVIEWER:  Okay. Um and who were, were there Caucasian officers training you?  TANJI: Yes.  INTERVIEWER: And how did they, I mean how were they?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 29 of 42 �TANJI: Pretty good.  INTERVIEWER: Did you think they were fair? TANJI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go into town in Florida or do anything fun?  TANJI: Yeah, we never got treated bad.  INTERVIEWER: What kind of things did you do in Florida, like on, on pass?  TANJI: Mostly go eat.  INTERVIEWER: What kind of food?  TANJI: Any kind of good food. INTERVIEWER:  What was your favorite kind of food to eat?  TANJI: Oh I don’t know, anything that can fill your stomach.  INTERVIEWER: Okay. Um, so you spent two months at basic training and then where did you go? TANJI:  Back to Minnesota. And then, um, right away there was ten of us that was picked to go to the Air Force.  INTERVIEWER: [21:15] How were, how did it, how were they picked?  TANJI: I think they look through our records. And I knew a little bit more about, some were just draftsmen or somewhere just engine. Some are, you know, this or that. But I knew little bit and then I took a little fly and did a little fly. So that helped me. And we went to crash inspectors school in Washington D.C. And at that time they chose me to stay there in Washington. And I was at Boeing Field, and then, This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 30 of 42 �the rest of the boys went overseas, and they start sending things, and they sent everything to the U.S. Naval Air Station in Anacostia. And then, I'd go there in the morning, and then, they bring things and so I check it and see the serial number and this and that and see where they were made, and then, I take all that record to the Pentagon and the boys over there. They know Japan pretty well, so they know exactly, oh this place or this place, well after that bomb here or. But three or four days later, we get that they bombed, you know, a certain place.  INTERVIEWER:  And so do you know why you were chosen to stay in D.C?  TANJI: Well, I think I knew a little bit more about everything, and I was just lucky too. INTERVIEWER: [23:04] So did you, I mean, did you want to go overseas or? TANJI: No. INTERVIEWER: So um, what did you, what was it like in D.C.? To be there and, I mean, as a Nisei, also was there any discrimination?  TANJI: No, it wasn't too bad. See, when we got, just before we left Minnesota, there were about ten of us commission. That failed.  INTERVIEWER: What happened? TANJI:  I don't know. They said the boys will do without giving them commission. All, like all the people out was working in Washington D.C., they're all commission. I'm the only one. There was a Buck Sergeant.  INTERVIEWER: For those people who don't know, can you just talk on, what is, what's so important about getting a commission? Or what does that mean?  TANJI: [23:58] Well, they figure that we should know so much and that they should give us a commission, so they said they're going to give us commission, but it never did work out because they figured, just be, most won't, most everyone was Sergeant and they got paid so much a month instead of be in commission. I think if you're any…those people in there that knew less Japanese than I did, and being Caucasian, they all had second or first Lieutenant or Captain. And every time I go to the Pentagon back and forth, I go with somebody and they were all officers.  INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 31 of 42 �And then you were talking about before um, the discrimination of the, the blacks and the segregation in Washington D.C. Can you talk about that a little bit?  TANJI: Well at that time uh, if you want to go through a town, it's kind of like, uh, they live in a circle like and then there's a spoke, like this, wherever you want to go. And you can't go, like this to L.A. or this way to San Jose. You have to go through this deal, and so when a bus goes through there’s so many would go through a colored district, and we pick up so many color districts and they all had to get on the back of the bus. Then you go to the White and the White get or Oriental, they get to sit right in front you see. But as you go again to colored people, they all have to go back. I think now it's probably not that way no more.  INTERVIEWER: [25:59] So was it segregated, like also with bathrooms and things like that too? Or was it …  TANJI: Uh, some places. Bathroom, but, uh, most of places, I don't know I never did see any black people in the bathroom, so I don't know. I never thought about that.  INTERVIEWER: And what about restaurants and?  TANJI: A lot of restaurant. Maybe some colored people over there, and all the rest on this side, you know.  INTERVIEWER: So, um, you as a Japanese American, what, where did you, where did you go?  TANJI: We got to go with all the, all the, every, all the white people go. INTERVIEWER: Did you think that was strange or?  TANJI: No. I thought well, we're lucky.  INTERVIEWER: [26:49] Was it like that in Florida too when you were in Florida?  TANJI: Not too much.  INTERVIEWER: Okay. TANJI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 32 of 42 �I don't know why, but we didn't see too many…only stay there two month, and I didn't see too many colored people.  INTERVIEWER: And what about, what other things did you do in D.C. while you were there? Did you, I mean, on the weekends when you had time off would you …?  TANJI: Oh I don’t know, we played bridge.  INTERVIEWER: Did you still play baseball or?  TANJI: No, I didn't get to play no baseball or no tennis.  INTERVIEWER: Did you travel at all or? TANJI: Not too much. We didn't have a car. INTERVIEWER: Okay. End of Video 2 [27:35] BEGINNING OF VIDEO 3 INTERVIEWER: Okay, I guess, can you just explain a little bit more, exactly your job in D.C. Because I know you're talking about the serial numbers and things like that, but can you just maybe try to explain it a little bit more ... About what you did with um … So you got from … TANJI: Different parts from the airplane. They sent it over. In every, most every part has, where it was made and the serial number, and so, I write that down and I take it to Washington D.C., I mean, to the Pentagon and they know exactly where that place was made.  INTERVIEWER: [00:54] So these are Japanese parts?  TANJI: Japanese aircraft.  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 33 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: Okay. And so you … TANJI: I was there, maybe only about one week, but we worked on German aircraft. But at that time it shifted to just Japanese. INTERVIEWER: Okay. TANJI: And it could be a generator or all kind of airplane parts. It's got little serial number and where it was made. INTERVIEWER:  And you use that to pinpoint where you should bomb? TANJI: Bomb. INTERVIEWER: Okay, okay. Were you communicating at all with your family when you were in D.C.? Letters or? TANJI: Not too much.  INTERVIEWER: So you weren't really aware of what they were doing?  TANJI: [01:39] Well I was busy, and I had, I didn’t have much time to, to do too much.  INTERVIEWER: Um, so you were still in D.C. when you found out that the war was over?  TANJI: Yes.  INTERVIEWER: What, what did you, I mean, how did that feel when you found out?  TANJI: Oh, boy. Won’t be long until we get home.  INTERVIEWER: [02:02] So, you found out the war was over. So what happened? Did you stop what you were doing with your job or did it still continue for a little bit?  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 34 of 42 �TANJI: We continue until everything was at that U.S. Naval Air Station. All the parts were all…and nothing was coming no more. And so we closed it. And then also the Pentagon, I don't know what the boys did, but they were working, they were slightly, translate a lot of the books that they were getting from Japan, you know on the aircraft.  INTERVIEWER: So did you ever have to use your Japanese at all?  TANJI: No. Well, I would say it was made in Tokyo or something like this.  INTERVIEWER: Okay. And what did you do with all the parts? Did you keep them or throw them away or? TANJI: The parts that came in?  INTERVIEWER: Yeah, once you got the numbers, what did you do with them?  TANJI: Oh, we had a place at the U.S. Naval Air Station that we just put into a big room that had all those things stacked up there.  INTERVIEWER: Um, so how long after the war was over, how long did you have to continue with?  TANJI: I don't know if it was three weeks or two weeks. Three weeks, maybe.  INTERVIEWER: [03:23] So were you discharged immediately? [CAR HONKING] Oh, can you wait. TANJI: You could ask for, to get discharged so I asked for a discharge and they gave me a discharge and I said I had to go to Florida, I mean to California. So they gave me a pass from Washington to California.  INTERVIEWER: Do you know, was your family out of camp at this point?  TANJI: [03:52] At that time, my dad and my mother and my brother, they were living maybe two miles from the house that we had. There was somebody living in there, and they weren’t ready to get out. But the day that I got out, and I live right around Santa Fe railroad track, and I don't know why, but I told This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 35 of 42 �the conductor I live right there and now I get off right there in Cressey, and he let me out. And I walked over.  INTERVIEWER: So had anything changed from when you left?  TANJI: Uh, not too much. The house you know we had to sleep, no beds, so we had a 50 pound box and we just, no let me see. I think we got, maybe got an army cot by then. We sat on a 50 pound box, but we slept on an Army cot. A single, white Army cot, you know.  INTERVIEWER: [05:00] And how was the land? Were the crops well taken care of?  TANJI: Oh, it was taken care of pretty good.  INTERVIEWER: And so your family was there. And so you just continued or?  TANJI: They just got there the day I got there.  INTERVIEWER: The same day? And you didn't realize? You didn't plan it? So what was that like, seeing them? The reunion. TANJI: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: Was it, they were happy to see you obviously. Did you have a party or anything or? TANJI: No, no. INTERVIEWER: Did they say anything to you about?  TANJI: Well we didn't have, we didn't have nothing in the house to have a party with.  INTERVIEWER: [05:43] Did they tell you about camp or any…tell you about how it was for them? What it was like?  TANJI: I don't know. They say it was okay. They don't say too much.  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 36 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: So the next day, you know, you come home, and then the next day, what do you do? You start working on the farm again or?  TANJI: Well, I think maybe a week, we kinda took it easy, you know, and then we started to work again.  INTERVIEWER: [06:12] So were you planning to…was that your plan to stay on the farm to work and?  TANJI: Yeah, I figured my dad…see when my dad got sick I figured he was gonna never be able to do anything anymore, but he got pretty good. And so I built a chicken house for layers and my mother and my dad, my dad fed the chickens and my mother and dad collected eggs and cleaned the eggs and put it in, uh, egg room. And we had, I don’t know, about three, four thousand layer hens. INTERVIEWER: Wow. So that was how you earned your income? TANJI:  That's what we lived on for a little while until we went to work again. INTERVIEWER: [07:09] Um, and then did all the Japanese Americans, did they all come back?  TANJI: More or less, uh huh.  INTERVIEWER: And what kind of um, I mean, there were Caucasians, there were other people there. How did they receive you?  TANJI: Real good. They were friends with us all the time, you know, before and.  INTERVIEWER: And then, um, did you, um, you had a first wife is that… TANJI: First what? INTERVIEWER: A wife you met. You had the wife before Marlene. How did you meet her?  TANJI: [07:49] Uh, she was…I didn't actually meet her, but I met her sister and brother in camp. I went, that's where I went to work. But Mary was going to college and so I met the younger sister and the This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 37 of 42 �brother, and then the brother came to camp and he enjoyed camp so much that he stayed there, something like two weeks. So the two sister, two younger sister, came to say hurry up home.  INTERVIEWER: So they just, they let him in. I mean he wasn't in camp, but they just let him in and he just stayed there for a couple weeks? And so what was your first wife's name? Mary?  TANJI: Mary.  INTERVIEWER: And what was her maiden name?  TANJI: Ushiyama.  INTERVIEWER: And she was from uh... TANJI: Rocky Ford. INTERVIEWER: Rocky okay. And so did you marry her at that time or?  TANJI: No afterwards. INTERVIEWER: So you came back from the war? I mean from D.C. TANJI: I don’t know where now. INTERVIEWER: [09:16] Did you, um…so you married her after you came back? Did you stay in touch with her in D.C. or?  TANJI: I might have. INTERVIEWER: And so then she moved down from Colorado? And so, do you have, um, you had children with her? So what, can you tell me their names? TANJI: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 38 of 42 �Oldest one is Dean, and the girl, Geraldine, and the boy named Gary. Right? Dean is in Los Angeles, and he has a business called Abracadabra Advertising. And he lives just a little north,  I mean a little south of Disneyland, on the top of a hill where all the millionaires lives. Then my other one, is my daughter is in Washington…state of Washington. And then my youngest one, Gary, is in Washington too, about 30-40 miles from my daughter. They're all married to Caucasian. Dean’s got two boys, and one’s married and got two daughter. And then my daughter has a daughter, a son, and a daughter. They're still single. And then my son, Gary, has a boy and a girl.  INTERVIEWER: So um, raising your children, what, how did you try to raise them? What did you try to teach them?  TANJI: [11:35] They did good. I don't know.  INTERVIEWER: Were you strict?  TANJI: Pretty strict.  INTERVIEWER: What kind of things were you strict with?  TANJI: Oh, I don’t know. INTERVIEWER: Did you let them stay out late?  TANJI: No. No, they were pretty good. INTERVIEWER: Are you proud of your kids?  TANJI: Yes.  INTERVIEWER: Um, and then your wife, um, your first wife Mary. What was, what was she like? What was her personality or?  TANJI: Oh, pretty good.  INTERVIEWER: And did she, um, did she pass away or? This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 39 of 42 �TANJI: No, she went to Washington. State of Washington, and she joined some kind of club and she wanted me to go there, and I said I've lived here all my life, I'm going to stay right there.  INTERVIEWER: [12:40] Um, let’s see and so you're still living in, um, Cressey, where you, where you grew up. Um, and then you, um, can you tell me about your second wife? What is her name?  TANJI: Marlene.  INTERVIEWER: And what was her, um, her maiden name? TANJI:  Rita Marlene Gideon.  INTERVIEWER: And how did, how long ago did you meet her?  TANJI: 50 ... 6 years ago or so. INTERVIEWER: How, how did you meet?  TANJI: She was living in our rent house, about thousand feet from our house.  INTERVIEWER: So were you friends back then or did you? TANJI: Pretty good friends. And then, she got married and she had two girls, and then, her husband passed away. Then, she married, second time. Then her daughter, I saw her in town one day and said that her stepfather passed away. So I said, “Where does she live? I haven't heard from her for 50 years.” So she told me where she lived. So, I said, “Do you live on Highway 5 or 99?” and she said, “Highway 5”, and I said, “I'm going there in a couple of days to see my brother, Oscar. He's 17 years younger than I am, but he had cancer pretty bad.” So I went to Anderson and stopped over her place. Then I said, “Would you like to go to Anderson with me?” Not that, I mean to Washington, and she said no. But her daughter, she talked with her daughter and daughter, says “Go on. Go with him to see Oscar.” So she went with me. And we went to Oscar’s place and he was pretty sick. Anyway, we left next morning, we left there, and then, I dropped her over at her place in Anderson, and then I came home, and then, I said I want her to come over because Mary is not coming home anymore. So I got a divorce and the same day I got married in the afternoon.  This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 40 of 42 �INTERVIEWER: [16:04] And so what kind of person is Marlene?  TANJI: Oh, you can’t beat her. I should have married her 55 years ago, or 56 years ago.  INTERVIEWER: And is she originally from Cressey or?  TANJI: Well she's from Missouri. INTERVIEWER: Okay. TANJI: But, uh, she lived at my rent house for one year, huh?  INTERVIEWER: [16:29] Okay, and, um, you know this, this is where we want to use these videos to educate people about what happened during the war, and what happened to the Nisei, and especially schoolchildren. So is there any kind of message that you want to tell them that's important, something that you've learned in your life?  TANJI:  Get all the education you could get. And study hard. INTERVIEWER: And is there anything, um…what do you want them to remember about the Nisei or about the Japanese Americans? What do … TANJI: What was this? INTERVIEWER: What do you want people to remember about the Nisei?  TANJI: I don't know. We had a pretty rough time. I hope they don't have to go through what we did.  INTERVIEWER: [17:28] How do you think you were able to survive or pull through?  TANJI: Well I don't know. You know, when you have problems and you work. Work it out right. I think everybody would go through it like we did and come out okay. INTERVIEWER: This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 41 of 42 �Is there anything that I, you know, didn't ask about that's important to you or something that happened in your life that's important that we didn't talk about?  TANJI: I don’t know. I think you got practically everything. INTERVIEWER: Is there any other questions that you guys can think of? No? No? Marlene, did I miss anything? Okay. Well, once again thank you so much for coming down and spending time with us. We really appreciate it. And thank you also Marlene for coming down. Really appreciate it. So okay.   TANJI: Where are we gonna go and eat this evening? INTERVIEWER: I'm sorry. You’re gonna take us out? TANJI: No, I thought you said I'm not getting paid so I thought you’re going to take us out this evening.  INTERVIEWER: We can take you out. You're going to come out to dinner with us? We'll get some barbecue or Chinese food. End of Video 3 [18:53] This transcript is hereby made available for research purposes only by Go For Broke National Education Center. Page 42 of 42 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gilbert "Gil" Tanji oral history interview, May 17, 2003 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gilbert "Gil" Tanji oral history interview transcript [full transcript], May 17, 2003 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tanji, Gilbert: narrator Dojiri, Michelle: interviewer Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher Type The nature or genre of the resource Transcriptions Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Extent The size or duration of the resource. 42 pages, typescript Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-05-17 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Merced, California Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Go For Broke National Education Center Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. 2003OH0351_T_Tanji