Back on Track: More Family Ties

A visit to Apple Valley

       As I mentioned earlier, when visiting my family members to talk about my grandfather's Wake Island experience I was constantly being deferred to my Uncle Norm or  Uncle Marty. My uncle Norm especially was supposedly the family archive of memories of Clyndon Dollar. Thus one of the main objectives of my summer was to visit my uncle in near by Apple Valley.





          This time I had my older brother Chris to keep me company on our trip. Apple Valley is about two hours away from where I live, so the trip was not that long. As we journeyed further from the coast the temperature rapidly increased, but my brother and I were very excited to see my uncle.
       Anytime we are around Uncle Norm great discussions of politics, religion, or history are always in abundance. Normally the family events where we interacted with him never provided quite enough time discuss any matter; so as you can imagine my brother and I were very happy about having a whole trip dedicated to talking history
 

Upon arrival, my uncle and aunt offered us some brunch, which we gladly accepted. We ate outside on an outdoor patio. The backyard had been recently furnished with new riparian plants and looked very nice. As we ate we discussed various things, and before I knew it we started discussing Wake Island. I quickly grabbed my video camera and recorded the conversation.
      After around an hour of discussion, my uncle gave us a tour of the backyard. Showing us the various spots he liked to read and his other specialized water saving plants. After the tour concluded, we headed inside to continue the discussion. Setting up in his study we talked about my grandfather. Uncle Norm provided insight into how he thought my Clyndon's outlook on life was changed by the war. He believed his father was not angry towards the Japanese but instead viewed them as just as capable of sin and any other human. Uncle Norm described my Grandfather's outlook on war as verging on pacifism and hypothesized that the restrictions of the Cold War 50's made it difficult for him to share his true feelings about what happend. He described a situation in which a popular kid from high school approached Uncle Norm, and told him he liked getting his hair cut by my his father because he discussed things no one else talked about.
 

A special bell welded by my Uncle Chris for Uncle Norm

View of backyard

One of the secret reading spots

Another view of the backyard facing the house

      Some other surprising stories revolved around my Uncle's observations of the families experience as a whole. Like the others in my family, he believed his father was affected psychologically by the war. He described one instance during a high school graduation, where my grandfather got up and started marching down the side aisle. My grandfather believed this to a form of flashback to one of the prisons my grandfather had stayed in Japan. My uncle told us that the Japanese would have the Prisoners march every morning, so the similarity between the two may have triggered a reaction from my grandfather. Either way my uncle told us that no one ever said anything abou the event, and he was never ridiculed by his classmates.

    It seems like most of the town knew of my grandfather and his experience, so there was a certain amount of respect. One story my uncle told, was how during much of his childhood the family received free vegetables from the Japanese grocer. Even when the grocer was told not to by his employers the family still would find a wrapped basket of vegetables at the rear entrance. Uncle Norm speculated that the Japanese grocer knew of my grandfathers experience and being as had been interned in the United States they both had an understanding.