Archives West Finding Aid

Mr. Iseri was born in Thomas, Washington on April 23, 1920. He lived there until 1941 after attending Thomas grade school and graduating from Auburn High School in 1937. He then went to business college for two years. He worked at his brother Tom's wholesale distribution store. Mr. Iseri married on November 5, 1941 and moved to Kent. He describes the evacuation dividing lines and departure times. Japanese in the Kent-Sumner area went to Pinedale, California (9 miles north of Fresno), Seattle area Japanese went first to Puyallup and Pasco, and Yakima-area Japanese went to Portland. Mr. Iseri describes the evacuation at Tule Lake, California, where he was paid $16 a month as a Junior Marketing Specialist. There were 15,000 people in the camp and a lot of black-marketing and stealing was going on. The Japanese did not resist orders because they did not want to bring shame on anyone. He was asked to volunteer for the service, but he said he would do so only if his family were allowed to return home. At this time Tom Iseri was a partner in Western Producers Exchange and somehow arranged a contract for the family to go to Weiser, Idaho. George Iseri share-cropped for two years with Charley Joseph and in 1945 he moved to Ontario, Oregon to work in the trucking business and farming. In 1946 he quit farming and went into the radio-appliance business until he was bought out. From 1950-1963 he was in the insturance business with his brother Mun. After Mun died in August 1966, George brought out Mun's share of the insurance business and travel agency.