<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So let's move on to Minidoka, and you said you sort of came in during the night because you couldn't remember seeing it.

ET: Yeah, I think, I don't remember too much about it. I think it must be a little bit of daylight left when we got there, because we finally was assigned a room, and we went in there, it certainly is much, much better than the Puyallup camp, but still, it's pretty bad. The little room and maybe the five of us were living in it.

TI: So when you say "five of us," who was assigned to the room?

ET: My father, mother, and my sister, my youngest brother, and myself. I think I was pretty much out of that apartment because of, they didn't, they needed more room, but I had a office that gave me plenty of room, so that's where I stayed during the night. But I had to come back to my own dining room to eat. But I don't remember just exactly how we did it, but my wife's family, so happens, they were next-door neighbor after a while. I think my dad was sick, so they took us to Area 2, which is next to hospital. And her family was next door neighbor to us.

TI: And were the families close? Did you know each other pretty well?

ET: No, we didn't know. My sister and my wife knew each other very, very well, my mother also. And so, well, I could probably let you know that she is my wife, but she's second marriage. We didn't get married 'til '49, I got married in '46 to a Spokane girl.

TI: Okay, so before we go there, let's finish up Minidoka, and then we'll go to Spokane. So in Minidoka, it sounds like you did a similar thing to what you were doing in Puyallup, you were, again, the camp artist.

ET: Yeah, in fact, I didn't stay in Minidoka too long. So I visited them before I left because my own family. But I left, I think it was April 5, 1942, from camp.

TI: And before we talk about your leaving, I've seen some of your, I think they're watercolor paintings of the Minidoka camp, and I'm curious, did someone ask you to do that or did you just do it on your own, or how did those come about?

ET: First I was doing my own, but newspaper came and talked to me, and, "If you have any of these sketches, would you mind sending it, and we will publish it." And that's, that was the Oregonian. And later, of course the Seattle Times asked me, too. And I don't know exactly what was published or anything, but all the artwork was returned. But I didn't get there fast enough, well, then it disappeared. It's just some, some people from the camp just helped themselves to these artwork. And several years later, I'd find them on people's living room. [Laughs] Everywhere say, "Oh, you're finally coming after your own artwork." "Oh, no, no, that's all yours." So I got a fifteen out of maybe fifty art, artwork I produced.

TI: And so you have fifteen in your --

ET: So those are fifteen is the one that's reproduced.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.