Densho Digital Archive - Art Ishida Interview (denshovh-iart

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MN: Now what month did you leave Santa Anita for Jerome?

AI: We left Santa Anita October.

MN: '42?

AI: To Jerome, Arkansas.

MN: And what do you remember of the train ride?

AI: Well, train ride it took us about three days and one thing is we had to keep the drapes down, cannot open any time, night or day we had to keep it down. And so you can't see the outside, you're tired talking to whoever sitting with you, you can't talk three days so I don't know what I did.

MN: Do you remember what you ate on the train, where you ate on the train?

AI: You know those things are kind of vague. I can't remember how we ate, got the bento or I know... I don't think we went to mess hall. Train is not prepared that much so I assumed that they must have made a bento at the mess hall and gave us.

MN: Now you got sick on the ship to Japan. Did you get sick on the train?

AI: No, train don't bother.

MN: Now once the train got to Arkansas, did it stop and did you have to get on bus to get to Jerome?

AI: No, train stopped right in the front of the camp. There's a railroad running right in front and from there the truck, we had the army trucks flatbed and everybody get on that they took us to the block, barrack that we assigned to so that was the transportation, no bus.

MN: What was your first impression of Jerome?

AI: You know I went there it's wide open camp, nice. Well, they was still under constructions, the six blocks was completed and rest of them still under construction. And green all around, forest and they cut the forest, open up to build a camp so it felt like now I could breathe like in a camp. Well, that part was okay but the later found out the ground was very clay type of soil and when it rains, muddy, like you walk in the mud pie. When it's summer, just dust blows all over the place, clay when it dries up gets particle so when the wind blows really get dusty. So that was kind of drawback but otherwise I felt more free and more wide and I liked that swamp wood area. And one beauty is plant, dogwood flower blooms in the spring that was really a sight.

MN: So when you first got to Jerome, what did you do?

AI: Well, I think first thing to do is we were allowance of nine dollar a month, clothing and whatever. And nine dollar even free meal and free room still not enough, so first thing you want to get some kind of work, increase your income to twelve dollars a month from nine dollars. And I think first thing we did it was in October we went there so in the winter ground freeze, I mean it gets cold. Water gets ice so we had to have the fire to heat the room, so everybody went out or I get the job as a lumberjack. We go out and cut the lumber, bring back to the block, we chopped that for the firewood. And each room had a pot belly stove and that would heat the room so I did that right away. Before that, in fact, we took a job on a salvage truck, we went around every mess hall, collect the empty cans and when we get enough truckloads we put that on the truck and we took it down to the... there's a little town near Jerome, we took it to there, to the salvage yard, I guess one of the administration guys would come with and he'll sell that over there. And since we go in truck on the way back we go to train depot over there and we pick up meat or whatever supply we need to bring it back. But this town is one street town, there was one laundry, one hardware store, and couple of grocery, one liquor store, maybe half dozen stores, that was the town and in there it really surprises me was Chinese laundry was there. In nowhere, I mean, you can't even imagine why the Chinese there in middle of nowhere but that's what the Chinese is, they're all over the world. Anywhere you go there's the Chinese and the laundry and this was one of them and the rest of them were all black people.

MN: So you said the smaller town there was a lot of black people there.

AI: Oh, yeah. Ninety percent.

MN: Did they give you a bad time?

AI: No, black people don't.

MN: When you went out and you were selling... putting the scrap metal at this place did you see segregation? Blacks only, whites only?

AI: Not there. In fact, we stopped at the liquor store we used to buy a couple of whiskey and come back because there's no liquor in the camp, that's the only source.

MN: How did you get that into camp?

AI: We'd bring it in with truck. We just carry in.

MN: The guards didn't --

AI: No, no there's no inspection. It's a camp truck, not an outside truck or anything, and we're bringing in the mess hall supplies, beef, stew, meat and whatnot. There was no problem with that.