<Begin Segment 12>

BH: And can we go over the living conditions of the camps at Minidoka? I recall you had mentioned that the barracks had cots, but you had to stuff them with straw?

KH: Yeah. When we first got there, everybody had to put straw in there, in these tickings, what they called tickings, for sleeping.

BH: And was Minidoka better living conditions than Puyallup?

KH: Well, we had more room, and I think by that time, like the mess halls, they were more well-organized, they knew who was the cook. The food was getting a little bit better. We did have good cooks, though, I have to say that. They were able to cook for the crowds.

BH: And this was, they were Japanese?

KH: And then they were Japanese, uh-huh.

BH: So it was entirely run by the Japanese community?

KH: Uh-huh. And we had rice, which you had to have.

BH: You had sentries, guards, at Camp Minidoka.

KH: They were outside. They were on the four corners, and then at the entryway.

BH: Was there ever any interaction between the Japanese and the sentries? Did you ever have any interaction?

KH: We didn't have any bad interaction, but I know that people used to visit with them.

BH: So they didn't hold any prejudices?

KH: Uh-huh.

BH: Do you recall any of their feelings? Did you ever meet with any of the guards?

KH: No, I never met the guards, but I did work up at the administration dining hall as a waitress, and Kazie Sasaki was my boss. And I noticed that most of the teachers that were coming in to the mess hall to eat, they're Caucasian. They were Quakers who came to teach us. And my sister worked for Mr. Essene in the administration building, so we had, before we left camp, all the things that we could not bring, you know, all our furniture and the washing machine and extra blankets and things like that, we had stored in the basement of the apartment house that my parents had been running. And then we got word that people were going into our things and stealing. And so my sister told Mr. Essene that, and he said, "Well, we'll have to do something about that," and he arranged for the army to go in and bring everything that was in that, that we had stored in the basement. So we were one of the few who had a washing machine in camp. Everybody else was scrubbing clothes by hand at the washtubs, and we had a Westinghouse washing machine that had a spinning dryer, it would take the water out of the wet clothes and spin it out. People would come by and ask, "Would you run this through just to get the water out?" after they had washed all their clothes, so they could take it back to their room, their little room, and hang it to dry. Imagine trying to wring out dozens of diapers, for instance. I remember Mary Jo Sakamoto, every time we happened to be in there, we would wash with her. She would bring some of her things over.

BH: So you were very willing to share and help out.

KH: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

TI: So this is interesting, too. So this was in the community washroom.

KH: Yes.

TI: You installed your washing machine.

KH: But no, people were not supposed to use it, but some people did, I think. They said they used to see somebody using our washing machine.

TI: And the way this all happened was because your sister worked for the administration and knew someone...

KH: Yes, and then when people were stealing our things, Mr., I remember Mr. Essene 'cause I ran into him later on at Fort Snelling.

BH: Now, Mr. Essene, he wasn't Japanese?

KH: No, he's a Caucasian administrator.

BH: Out of the camp.

KH: He was not the chief administrator, but he made arrangements and then we got our things. And my mother had a garbage can, you know, fifty-gallon can, almost full of sugar during the war. So you know how that went over. [Laughs]

TI: So what was it that caused this administrator to be so nice to your family? Because he couldn't do this with everyone, because it'd be too hard.

KH: Well, this was just a problem that came up for us. And being that he knew the ins and outs, he just made arrangements.

BH: But other, other families were, you know, undergoing similar situations, weren't they? Other families were being, their houses might have been broken into as well.

KH: Well, they didn't know the contacts. So I think we were lucky. Gee, to be able to wash clothes with a washing machine? Ask your mother about that.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.