A03U, Charlotte Hedderman ‘85, Mother, c 1930, Fukushima, Yokohama: Isogo-ku, Naka-ku
I really learned a lot from this interview, but in truth I really didn’t want to do it. There are many reasons, but the main one is that I didn’t want to ask my mother to tell me things that she didn’t want to talk about. My mother has so many bad memories, and she didn’t want me to visualize them. After I asked her about the war, I felt a little cruel, but it was too late, as she had already begun answering. She was in elementary school during the war, so her memories are quite clear.
Q: Where were you during the war?
A: My oldest sister, my youngest brother, and I were all in Fukushima. Three of us went to a rural area during the war. This was called sokai (evacuation). I was attending elementary school with my brother, and my sister did the housework.
Q: Where were the rest of your family?
A: My mother was working at her mother’s store, which sold canned goods. They lived in Negishi in Isogo-ku, in a huge house which her parents had built. She lived with about twelve relatives. My older brother went to work at a factory which manufactured weapons for the Japanese Army.
Q: What were your feelings while you were in Fukushima?
A: My mother sent us money, so we were always able to eat. The people weren’t as mean as I had feared. They were quite nice. But there were many things that I didn’t like. I hated lice. The local children and adults had lice all over their bodies. One girl had lice in her hair, and when the weather became warm, all of the lice came crawling out, so her mother was squeezing them. [While my mother was describing this, her facial expression showed that it was really gross.] Since I was in the same school as the local children, I started having lice too. I couldn’t stand it. When my mother came to visit us, she brought vinegar with her, and we all washed our hair with it.
Q: Did any of your close relatives go to war?
A: I think my grandfather went to war, but he came home with no injuries. My older brother didn’t die as a soldier, but after the war he was killed in an accident. He was riding on a crowded streetcar through downtown Yokohama. He was holding onto the pole but didn’t have a firm grip. When the streetcar went around a curve, he was smashed between the car and a U.S. military truck. From what I remember, the U.S. soldiers carried him to a hospital, but after seven hours, he died. His liver had been pierced.
Q: Did you ever hear the sirens which warned of an air raid, and did actually run under the rain of bombs?
A: I didn’t, but I heard stories from my mother. In May 1945, Yokohama was attacked by aerial bombing, and all the stores in Motomachi burned down. She and my brother covered their heads with sheets and ran to Yamate, and from there all the way to their home in Negishi in Isogo-ku. It had not been destroyed.
Q: What were the living conditions after you returned to Yokohama?
A: Our family wasn’t really rich, but at least we were able to eat. We didn’t suffer from hunger. Since we had a canned goods store, there was always a supply of canned goods at home. But after living quite peacefully there for two years, the military government told us to move out. So we built a house in Motomachi, which used to be our store, and we started a new business.
I learned a lot about war and the harmful effects on people. I strongly believe that war should not exist.