<Begin Segment 11>

MN: Now, what about your mother? What did she do in camp?

JD: She's the one that worked as a cook outside the camp.

MN: That's right. Now, you know, in April 11, 1943, Mr. James Wakasa was shot and killed.

JD: Yeah.

MN: Do you remember that at all?

JD: No, I don't. I didn't know about it until after the war. In fact, much after the war did I find out about that, but I did not know about it at that time.

MN: What about the "loyalty questionnaire"? Did it affect your family at all?

JD: I don't think so.

MN: Did your parents ever talk about wanting to return to Japan?

JD: They never, if they did they never mentioned it. I don't know that they really had a strong desire to go back. I'm not sure about that, but they certainly did not talk about it.

MN: Now, in your block you had mentioned that there were people from Hawaii.

JD: Yes.

MN: Can you share with us that?

JD: Yeah, there were, there was a group of Hawaiian Japanese, Niseis I guess, who were brought into Topaz as well as other camps, I think. They were scattered throughout Topaz. They weren't all in one block, but we had one living right across from us, and they were, kind of stood out like a sore thumb because they wore these bright Hawaiian shirts, and the guys that lived across from us had one of those bright shirts and had a, I remember he had royal blue trousers on with suspenders and this bright shirt. And he, I mean, they stood out like a sore thumb obviously, you know? And I think for those of us, because most of the people in Topaz were from San Francisco and the Bay Area, were pretty conservative and kind of, I won't say laid back, but they're not, they weren't exactly forward people, I guess, so I don't know that the Hawaiian Japanese made a lot of friends. I think we kind of kept, left them alone.

MN: Now, share with us this dog you had in Topaz.

JD: And I don't remember where we got the dog, but I think my dad brought it home one day, and so we had him -- we had her, I should say -- for all the time we were in Topaz. When the war ended, a lot of the families who did have animals just abandoned them. My mother said we're not gonna do that with Fudge. I mean, you can't just leave her here, you know? And so my dad made a crate for Fudge to go into, and so she became part of our luggage, baggage to be carted along with our luggage. So we took her with us and we took her up to Idaho, which is where we migrated to after the war, and Fudge died in Weiser, few, a few years after.

MN: Why did she die in Weiser?

JD: Well, someone poisoned her. Yeah, I think she was making too much noise, and my mom and dad didn't really, should've kept her in the house, but we, it was a farm area, so they just let her run around, but she was barking a lot and I think somebody just very tired of it, and I think that's why she got poisoned. That's what we think.

MN: It wasn't because you were Japanese American?

JD: I don't think so, no.

MN: Why did you call her Fudge?

JD: Good question. Maybe it's because she was kind of black and white and brown. Don't know, maybe made me think of ice cream. [Laughs]

MN: Manzanar has a pet cemetery. Did Topaz have a pet cemetery?

JD: Not that I know of. If they did I'm not aware of it.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.