<Begin Segment 15>

TI: So Mary, the first part, we talked about essentially your life before Manzanar. And I thought we'd pick it up on the day that you left Venice to go to Manzanar. So can you describe that day for me?

MN: I had no idea what was happening. I thought, "Well, we're gonna go on a trip." Being sixteen years old, I thought, "Well, good, we're gonna go on a vacation or something." That's how naive I was. But I guess it was pretty... to the adults, older than I, were more aware, it must have been just earth shattering. But to me, it was, my kid sister and I said, "Oh, we're gonna go someplace." And then we had no money to buy suitcases. So my eldest sister bought some canvas ticking, and bought the, made duffel bags for us. And we put all our clothes in there and whatever we could take, I took my sheet music, and my brother took his collection of classical music, even smuggled a little record player in the duffel bag and we all carried duffel bags. And the day that we left, we went directly to Manzanar by bus from Venice. We didn't have to go to Santa Anita or any of those places and we went directly. And then when we got there, I thought, "Oh, my goodness. This is where we're gonna live?" I had no idea that it was gonna be such a desolate, ugly place. I mean, the mountains were beautiful, but ugly black tarpaper shacks, I mean, barracks. And we had no idea what was gonna happen. We just disembarked and were led to a place to gather our papers to see, we were told where we're supposed to stay and we were taken to the barrack. Had to stuff (canvas ticking), little mattresses with straw or hay or whatever you call it. And we were taken to a block, and said, "This is where you're going to live, and this is what you're gonna have to do, this is where you're gonna go to school, this is where you're gonna go eat." All that was told us at one time, when we got there. We had to, told where we're supposed to go take a shower. It was a shower.

TI: And your family unit at this point was your brother. You mentioned your sister had gotten married.

MN: She had already married, had a husband and a child. But we went all together, so we stayed in the next apartment, but in the same barrack. We kept the family together.

TI: And so your apartment was your brother, (older sister)...

MN: My little sister and I, the four of us.

TI: So three girls and your brother.

MN: Uh-huh, yes. And so all in one little 25' x 20', whatever it was. And with army cots.

TI: And so as you're being shown all this, you're going to see the black tarpaper... so here you go from Venice, and in that same day you go to Manzanar, long bus ride, and then you're shown your new quarters. What was going through your mind?

MN: More shock than anything else. It was, "This is where we're going to live? How long, and how are we gonna do it?" But so being sixteen and very naive, I just rolled with the punches and went along. It must have been very hard for my brother, "This is what I have to do to take care of my sisters?" But we felt like we weren't gonna have any harm done to us. But we did accept it, which it wouldn't happen now, but we accepted it. And so we settled in and tried the best we could, stayed in one room with my brother and my two sisters, and answered the clanging of the bell for eating and all that.

TI: Do you recall, when you first got there, just the expressions on people's faces?

MN: Just dumbfounded look on their face. And the people who greeted us, it was windy and stormy, of course, and dirty and dusty. And people were looking up at us, looking for people who they might recognize as friends or family. And it was just a shock because they all had old army fatigues on for their (clothing), from the old World War I uniforms, that's what they were issued to keep warm. And it was a shocker. And to be met by people like that, and they were all strangers. And then when we did have to go to these different places to be "indoctrinated," and told to do this and do that, we just marched along like little soldiers and did it.

TI: Now, do you recall anything your brother said during this time in terms of how to cope with all this?

MN: I guess he just expected us to cope with it, because he did and we did. He never, I don't remember his telling us, "This you've got to do," but we were told by somebody above him, "This is what you have to do."

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.