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Introduction of Interviewers
My
name is Ryan, my name is Sydney, my name is Bryce, and my name is Jaime.
Today is May 20th, 2004. We are interviewing George Oiye here in San
Jose, California.
Can you please say and spell your name?
Yes.
My name is George Oiye and it's spelled "O-I-Y- E."
Please tell us and spell your birth name?
My
name at the time of my birth? It's the same one, George Oiye.
What is your birth date? How old are you now?
My
birth date is February 19, 1922. So,that makes me 82.
Where were you born?
I
was born in a little place called Basin Creek, Montana, USA.
What is the earliest memory that you have of your
life?
The
earliest memory that I have was standing along the side of a fence
and waiting for a guy by the name of Mike. This was way up in the mountains
in Montana at a gold-mining camp. Mike was a man that brought groceries
to us in the summertime.
How old were you at the time of that experience?
I
was about a year, year and a half.
Can you tell us a little bit about your family life?
Were you close to your parents or siblings?
My
parents came from Japan. My father came from Japan in—as nearly
as we can figure out, because we don't have his passport—in about
1907, Then he went back to Japan and got married in 1914. They came
to America, to Seattle, Washington and that's where my two sisters
were born. My oldest sister was born in 1918. My younger sister was
born in 1920. I was born in '22. My brother was born in 1925.
Did your parents like America?
Did
they like America? Yes, but in those days, they could not get citizenship,
So most of the immigrants that came to America came to make money with
the intention of going back to Japan to live and retire.
Were your parents happy that you were being raised
in America rather than in Japan?
I
guess they were. They would never question about being raised as an
American, they both spoke English very well. We never had a choice.
We never asked to go to Japan to be educated, so I guess they were
happy about us being educated in America.
Did you ever think about going to Japan and what it
would be like if you lived there?
No,
no. My only experience of going to Japan was when I was 78 years old,
I went there twice on business.
What did you think of the American attitude on race
and culture during the 30's?
Being
an American, I think America is the greatest place on Earth. Having
been in Europe and other places, I don't think that there is any place
like America.
Are you an American citizen?
Yes,
I'm a natural-born citizen, just like you.
Can you tell us more about where you grew up?
Yes.
I grew up in Montana. Mostly, at a little place called Trident. Trident,
Montana is the headwaters of the Missouri River.
Are there any other memorable times or places from
your childhood that you'd like to share with us?
Yes.
Growing up, I grew up on the banks of the Missouri River, right at
the headwaters where it was relatively narrow, but its very treacherous.
The banks are very steep because the railroad track runs right along
the banks of the river. That was our playground, so we had to be careful
that we didn't fall into the river and get swept away. The parts that
I liked the best was the hunting and the fishing. It was just tremendous
when I was growing up as a kid. One of the things about the hunting
and fishing was that it was our source of food. You had to become a
good fisherman and a good hunter when you were little. That's just
the way I grew up, but I always enjoyed it as just fun, too.
Did your skills in fishing and hunting come in handy
when you were in the war?
Yeah,
once in a while, we got to a place, especially in Germany. I killed
deer in Germany when I was supposed to be fighting the war, because
there were just so many of them. Also, we fished on the Leck River
and caught some pike.
Did you ever have to eat what you hunted or had caught
fishing?
Not
because we ran out of food, but we ate it because we get tired of eating
sea rations and army rations and so the fresh food was really good;
deer and fish.
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