<Begin Segment 50>

TY: [Jpn.] Speaking of the day you left for Pinedale, May 10th, what were you feeling when you left your home behind?

MK: [Jpn.] Night?

TY: [Jpn.] You left for Pinedale, didn't you?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] What did you think when you left your town?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, what did I think? What can you think?

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] We were taken to a desert-like area and then put into a barrack. You can't think under such conditions. Yeah. You cannot think any good thoughts.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] When you are in a camp like that, everybody is the same. Just like a soldier. But even the soldiers would not live so strictly. But ru... ru... what do you say? Oh, rules.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] You have to obey rules. Because it was run by the military.

TY: [Jpn.] Well, then...

MK: [Jpn.] Therefore...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So we were all... what do you call? That thing to keep everybody in, to prevent an escape.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] So the military guards were watching us at all times.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] You were surrounded by barbed wire.

MK: [Jpn.] Without permission, you cannot go out or come in. Yeah. Because we were "foreign enemies."

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh. I can understand that, why they did it.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. By the way, I hear that Pinedale was very hot.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] What was it like?

MK: [Jpn.] It was bad and I wondered, if this were to go on, what I would do. Because there was nothing to do.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. Even if you had nothing to do, still it would be better if we could find a cool place. But they were newly built barracks and there was not a single tree there.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] There was nothing but the rows of barracks. It was so hot. I will never forget that heat.

TY: [Jpn.] I heard that you put a wet towel on your head...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, that's right.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, but it soon gets hot again.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So that wasn't such a good idea.

TY: [Jpn.] Was it that hot?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, it was really hot.

TY: [Jpn.] I understand that some children were dehydrated...

MK: [Jpn.] But the children...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They had schools.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, were there schools in Pinedale?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, we had schools.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] There were schools.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. It's compulsory education also in the U.S.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, Americans... no, they were not Americans any longer. They became foreigners. But the war is a military business. It has nothing to do with the children. So there were schools, including a high school. Everything.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So we didn't have to worry about that.

TY: [Jpn.] Didn't you worry about your children's health, living in such a hot place?

MK: [Jpn.] No, because there was a hospital.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Because it was run by the army, it was run efficiently. If anybody gets sick, that person will be hospitalized right away.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] If that doesn't work, you visit a doctor.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] You can go to see a doctor. So there was nothing to worry.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. By the way, what kind of room did you get at Pinedale?

MK: [Jpn.] Not much.

TY: [Jpn.] Did you all stay in one room?

MK: [Eng.] Huh?

TY: [Jpn.] I am talking about the room assignment at Pinedale. A room in a barrack.

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, that's right.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] So I was seventy-three. We were number seventy-three of the block. I showed it to you before.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, that one.

MK: [Jpn.] On that, seventy-three...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] ...was written everywhere. It was written everywhere.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Seventy-three.

TY: [Jpn.] It was at Heart Mountain, wasn't it?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, no. That was at Tule Lake. It was Tule Lake. It was not Heart Mountain. It was the number at Tule Lake.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, you had a family of six and Hideo at Pinedale. Did Hideo live in the same room?

MK: [Jpn.] No. No. He was totally separate from us. He was in bachelor's quarters. We called it "Alaska." It was in the camp. There was a big ditch over there.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So, then, that divides us between here and there. We called "Alaska" the other side of the ditch. The Japanese people in the camp called it "Alaska." So everyone knows what "Alaska" means.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So Hideo was in "Alaska."

TY: [Jpn.] He was in the singles quarter.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] I understand.

MK: [Jpn.] So he was with other single people.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Also he worked in the kitchen at that time...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] And he was burned by hot water either on his hand or leg. He got boiling water on his body.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So he was with us for a while. For a short while. Yeah.

<End Segment 50> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.