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MA: Going back a little bit, after you finished basic training, you had an interesting story about traveling eventually to Minidoka.

GY: Oh, I went to visit it, yes.

MA: Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about that?

GY: On this particular trip, we had a layover either in Council Bluff -- I thought it was Council Bluff or Omaha, but there was, I got off and I had my smoke, and just walking around town, I don't know how many hour layover I had, but it must have been at least six or eight-hour layover or even longer, maybe. My mind's kind of foggy on that portion of it, but I was walking around, close to the railroad, and this young girl walks up to me with a luggage, the old-time old luggage, suitcase. And she looked at me and asked me if I was a Nisei. I said, "Yes," which made her feel a lot better. She just had come out of camp, probably Manzanar, I think she mentioned. And she wanted, she was looking for the hostel, the hostel being the, a locale where all your evacuees tended to gather. Anyway, we found the hostel and I guess it was in Council, it must have been in Council Bluff, I was thinking Omaha. But we found the hostel, and she registered there. I took her out to dinner, and then we said goodbye, I had to get back on the, onto the passenger train. And I thought that was a novelty part of the wartime era stories that took place, of a young girl, frightened girl coming out of camp not knowing anyone, and then meeting up with a Nisei and finding her way in Nebraska.

Yeah, that was, I also got a birthday cake in Nebraska. The USO gave out birthday cakes to anyone on a given birthday, November 16th I was going through Nebraska, I'm not sure if that was Omaha, but they had a huge USO depot there. And I opened the window of the train, and there happened to be a bunch of Caucasian, second lieutenants, just got commissioned. And it was just a fun-loving group on that coach at that time. And anyway, we got that cake and we all ate it on the train. And we could have celebrated at the USO, but anyway, it was a fun time also during the war years.

MA: You were able to visit Minidoka. Who, who exactly were you visiting when you went?

GY: Oh, just a girl that I used to go around with. [Laughs] Yeah, I don't know, my first girl, I guess.

MA: What were your impressions when you got there?

GY: Oh, I was amazed. It was built in a U shape, the blocks. The central dining room was at one end of the U, I think. Your toilet and your, and your bath was also in that general vicinity, and I was there for, what, little over a week, eight or nine days. My mother came to meet me down there because she didn't know what might happen during my military career. And instead, I opted to go visit my girlfriend instead of going and seeing my mother, and that was quite a slight. And my mother came down to meet us in Minidoka, and it was an experience for both her and myself. And she had a free pass anyway, working with, my dad working on the railroad. So yeah, we met down there and then after my stay was up, we went back. They gave me rice, we started going to the main dining room. We stayed in the barracks where they slept, and they, we made rice, and I think I had satsumage there. You know what satsumage is? They used to fish in the Snake River, people did.

MA: You mean people, people from Minidoka?

GY: Yes. And apparently they'd catch these suckers or, big huge suckers, and they make satsumage out of that fish, and it was delicious, it was good. But that was one of the okazu that I had with my rice. They had guards there, I was in uniform, I was able to go in and out without any problem.

MA: What sorts of conversations did you have, did you have with the people living in Minidoka?

GY: Well, all I know is I talked to her mother. I talked to her mother, and that was the kind of Japanese that we spoke, you know, simple Japanese. Yeah, anyway, it was... well, I was -- nah, I won't mention anything about it. I spoke clean Japanese that really surprised her and impressed her, and at that point -- [laughs] -- she offered me her, her daughter. [Laughs] That's a fact. But you know, if I was ever serious, I think the way she put it, if I was ever serious, she said her Japanese name-o agemasu yo. And I declined anyway, but... [laughs]. I thought that -- I shouldn't have even mentioned that.

MA: That's funny.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.