<Begin Segment 22>

MN: Now while you were in Rohwer, did you have opportunities to go out of camp?

MY: Well, we'd sneak out, but I remember we used to go... about four of us would sneak out, we'd go swimming in a couple swimming holes. And we found out that there were snakes and stuff in there and then we said, "Oh, that's it," and we never went again. [Laughs] But we used to go out once in a while. Just sneak out when we had a chance.

MN: Did you get chiggers?

MY: No, I guess there was a guard tower there but I never noticed that they would ever shoot at us or whatever. But I know we used to sneak out every once in a while.

MN: So like you didn't get an opportunity to go visit McGehee or any close...

MY: Where?

MN: McGehee, the town of McGehee?

MY: No, never went.

MN: Or Denson.

MY: Yeah, I never went. I guess some of the people that used to work in the warehouse, I guess they'd get on a truck I guess they would go out once in a while, but I never went out.

MN: Do you think living in Shonien helped you prepare for camp life?

MY: Pretty much. I think I... when you're sort of restricted, like you can't just take off and go when you want to, then I guess it makes life easier and camp like that than some of the people that weren't. Because like in Shonien you can't do whatever you want, you can't go out, say, "I'm going to go to the beach today," or, "I'm going to go visit my friends today," or... it's pretty much like army life I guess. So that way I guess it helped.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.