<Begin Segment 4>

MN: So when you got to Manzanar, was it daylight still?

JK: Just turning dark. And the winds started coming up, and then we heard from family friends, dust storm coming up. So we got in the shade, first thing, the dust storm.

MN: Was your brother Hideo there to greet you?

JK: Oh, yes, he was there to help us stuff our mattress with straw.

MN: So were the Kunitomi family, were you folks together?

JK: Yes, we were all... my older sister who was married. So we had three units, I guess. And we were all close by.

MN: But initially you had to share a barrack with another family, is that correct?

JK: Yes, because we were married. Yes, it was embarrassing, just married, for living with another family of five. [Laughs]

MN: So what did you do? Were you able to get out of that barrack?

JK: Yes. We went to housing the following day, and then got put in with two bachelors who we knew from...

MN: Now, you were talking about like early on, you had to get shots. And what happened to your wife when she got her shot?

JK: Oh, I don't know what... flu shot, tetanus shot, one shot especially knocked my wife out. And since we had no transportation, I had to carry her piggyback back to the cabin which was, oh, a couple of hundred yards away from the main traffic. Luckily, she survived. I think I got feverish, too. We had three or four shots that hurt us.

MN: So this was common for people to pass out?

JK: Yes. I thought I was strong enough to withstand the flu, but... but there were cases of people getting feverish in the arm or wherever.

[Interruption]

MN: So your wife survived the shot, so you didn't have to take her to the hospital.

JK: No, no.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.