Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Mary Hirata Interview
Narrator: Mary Hirata
Interviewers: Beth Kawahara (primary), Alice Ito (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: March 27, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-hmary-01-0014

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BK: What was a typical day like for you while you were in Puyallup?

MH: One thing I remember is we wanted to learn the Morse code. We had a lot of Boy Scouts, of course, and so a bunch of us girls would get on one side, with maybe one or two of the boys to teach us, and the other boys would be on the other side of the grandstand. And then we only did it one day, because they told us, "No more." That we couldn't learn... they had these funny white hats that they would use as the signals. And after that, we'd look up on top of the grandstand, and there were machine guns. So, of course, we never did that again.

BK: What was your feelings, at that point, knowing that the machine guns were surrounding the camp? I mean, did you have any kind of fear?

MH: Well, I think I feared, but then, I don't know, I figured everybody else was in it. So that wasn't... of course, we weren't there that long anyway, only about three months, I believe. And then, we were sent to Minidoka, so it was just a time to kind of -- you met people. And I know I used to walk over to my sister's, and the Tomita family lived on my way over, and they had a son that was blind, named Dick. Dick, and there was Kiyoshi, but Dick was more our age. And we'd stop and talk, and read to him, because he couldn't read, of course. And that's about all I remember about Puyallup, was that I met them. And... but after we got to Minidoka, it was too far away, but when we were young, we'd stop by his place. And they had music, of course, because the boys were musicians.

BK: And so, they had brought their instruments with them?

MH: Uh-huh. So we would sit, and read to him, and listen to the music.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.