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AI: So we were just talking about Detroit and, you know, I wanted to ask about Christmas that year in 1944 in Detroit.

MF: Golly, I don't remember. Only I remember is going to a Caucasian church and there was some Japanese people there and they had some Japanese food. And that's all I could remember. They were very nice people and I don't know how they got to know that I, we were there.

AI: What kind of Japanese food did they have there?

MF: I think they had udon. And then they had a Christmas program and I think they distributed a little toys for children. I guess there was about three or five, four Japanese families there. They asked us where we were from and then we told them we were from camp. And they said, "Where?" and I said, "Idaho." And, "How long you been here?" and...

AI: Were they surprised to hear about the camp? Did they know anything about it?

MF: No, they wasn't too curious about it. Oh, they probably knew about it. Yeah.

AI: That sounds like that was a nice thing. A friendly thing for that church.

MF: Yeah, a friendly thing. I don't know how they got to know that we were there. And we didn't have a telephone because we didn't know anybody. But they found out that we were there and we had a invitation on a Christmas card telling us to come and attend the Christmas program. So we went.

AI: I was wondering, eventually, did you get David enrolled in any kindergarten while you were in Detroit? Or did you keep him at home that year?

MF: I kept him at home. He had his tonsils taken out. And doctor had his practice at his home. And I remember he had it taken and I waited and then afterward I treated him with ice cream. The doctor said he could have ice cream. So I remember that. He was a nice doctor, very compassionate person.

AI: Poor David. That must have been painful.

MF: No. He didn't cry or anything. But I got him a little ice cream cone and went home. I don't know how I got to know this doctor. He was a very nice doctor. I've forgotten his name and everything but...

AI: Well, you told me where your sister was at this time. What about your brothers? George, Frank, and Henry, what were they doing?

MF: I think they were in camp. And later my two brothers came, Frank and Henry, and worked at a soybean factory. And they housed them and everything, fed 'em and bed 'em.

AI: And George, did he eventually go out --

MF: He went to (Cornell University). I think he got his master's there. Well, anyways, Frank worked for a while and then he had to go back because Colin was to be born in camp. But Henry stayed. And when the war was over, Bill, and I, and David, and Henry went back home to Seattle.

AI: Well, in fact, I wanted to mention that that was in 1945, and do you, in August of 1945, that's when the atom bomb was dropped on, in Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I wonder if you remember anything about that, about hearing about the bombing.

MF: Well, I read about it but that's about all because I wasn't associated with too many Japanese people at that time and I didn't, I just had only about two or three friends in Detroit.

AI: And you, there wasn't anyone there at the time who was from the Hiroshima-ken?

MF: Uh-uh.

AI: Oh.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.