<Begin Segment 18>

AI: Before we go on to that -- and we will get there -- but before we go on to that, I'd like to back up a little bit...

PB: Yeah.

AI: ...because when you finally did get to Manzanar, and just for people who don't know, Manzanar was in the Owens Valley in the desert...

PB: Right.

AI: ...basically in Southern California. When you first got there, what was your impression of the conditions there that you would then be living in?

PB: Well, as I say, the, when I went there my folks were already there. And these barracks -- I think there was four rooms, and we had one of them. Our whole family was in that one room. I remember the meals. We were in a, lined up and got our little meal in the mess hall there. I remember that we had to go take a shower and clean up in a common bathroom. All these things were things that I don't think any of us was ever used to. Although when I went there, I was given a very good job and had an office to go to and things. It was still the mere fact that I was confined. I couldn't go out to anywhere, couldn't do what I wanted to do. And it was taken away, the rights that I felt that I, as an American citizen I should have.

I remember though, that because of the camp and the people saying, "Well, we're going to be here, let's make the best of it," that there was activities such as sports activities, social gatherings. I never went to any dances or anything like that, but I know that they had those things set up, and to, you might say, keep the morale of the population in camp up, which was good. You had to do that, otherwise it was a very depressing situation. As I say, my main motivation was trying to get out of camp every day. My job was good. My sisters were doing well. One went, one was training to be a nurse, so she went to the hospital and was very busy every day, because when they set up the hospital they didn't bring other people in. But the local people that were in camp were the doctors. I remember they, my doctor that I had was there at the hospital served. The people like my sister and that, they were all nurses. So the hospital gave good service to the people that were in camp. And I think that these are things that benefited the camp and all of us at all times. And when I look back on it, it was because of our, you might say, the Japanese American attitudes and things that made life in camp a lot better. Now, eventually I heard about it later on, but in Manzanar was one area that we had a lot of problems between those that felt one way and felt the JACL attitude might be a little different. But I only heard about it later. When I was in camp, none of that was a matter of record, or I never got involved in that. But when you get into a place where you have 10,000-plus people, you're going to have different attitudes in different situations. Can't get away from it.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.