Jacque Olvera-Deki and Richard H. Deki oral history interview (OH-03266)

Oral history interview with Jacque Olvera-Deki and Richard H. Deki conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on March 18, 2024 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Richard and Jacque describe their early lives, moving to Henderson, Nevada in 1997, and being in close proximity to both the 1 October and December 6 shootings in Las Vegas. As Americans living in Hawai'i of Japanese ethnicity, the Deki family were arrested and removed to Crystal City internment camp in Texas, where they remained for the duration of the war. After the war ended, the Deki family moved to Japan, but all members of his mother's and father's families in Nagasaki and Hiroshima had been killed and their houses and neighborhoods flattened in the bombings.

Deki describes his father's 1941 arrest, the Crystal City internment camp, the subsequent move to Japan, his household duties, a trip with his father to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and his Japanese schooling. He continues with his March 1955 Selective Service draft notice and induction into the U.S. Army at Camp Otsu; learning to speak, read, and write English; boot camp at Fort Ord, California; the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); his 22-year military career and 1977 retirement; and his Hyatt Hotels career. He and his wife, Jacque, talk about a now-healed but longstanding rift in the Deki family, moving to Henderson in 1997, and being in close proximity to both the 1 October and December 6 shootings in Las Vegas. Digital audio and photographs available; no transcript available.