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MN: Now, you're a teenager, what were some of the first things that you started to do with your friends?

BT: Well, we all formed clubs. Even the girls, they formed clubs. And we would participate in sports. Then they also started the dance class so that, they did everything they could to keep us busy.

MN: You and your friends started this club called Olympic Club. How did that start, and what did you guys do?

BT: Well, it just, we hung out together, you know. And then we formed a baseball team, basketball team, and we would play against other kind of teams.

MN: Who came up with the name Olympic?

BT: I don't know. It, I forgot who mentioned it, but we thought it, we thought it was clever.

MN: Now, Fresno Assembly Center had Kenichi Zenimura, the baseball player and manager, and his two sons. Were they like celebrity in the assembly center?

BT: Not celebrity, but Mr. Zenimura was really respected 'cause he was Mr. Baseball. Yeah.

MN: Did you personally know the Zenimura family before the war?

BT: No. I didn't associate with them, but I knew of them, yeah.

MN: Now, did Mr. Zenimura, like, hold any workshops for the young kids on how to play baseball at the Fresno Assembly Center?

BT: Yeah. Well, like baseball, we would have three different leagues, A, B and C, and A being the top players and C would be guys like me. So he would come out once in a while and help us out, yeah. So I remember that one time he came out and he pitched to us, so I go up there and he struck me out on three pitches. [Laughs] Yeah.

MN: Did he give you any pointers?

BT: Not really. But he, he spent more time with the A team, because I think we were a bunch of losers, you know. He had, he had all these good players in the A league.

MN: What about his two sons, did they play with you guys?

BT: They were, they were on the A team. They were really good. Yeah, they were good.

MN: What were they like?

BT: The two brothers' personality was different. Kenso was more serious type, the older boy. And then Kenshi, the younger one, he was more happy go lucky type, and he was a natural athlete. He was built like an athlete. He was slim and tall. So they were both good.

MN: Now let's see, your first job at Fresno Assembly Center, what did you do?

BT: I think the first job was, someone approached my friend to start a model airplane club, building model airplanes, so he asked me to help him out. I said, "Oh sure, okay." So my first job was assistant, assistant model airplane instructor, something like that. But that didn't last too long because, I don't know if it was lack of interest or lack of able to get supplies, so I think it only lasted about two months.

MN: What was your second job?

BT: My second job was in a mess hall and cleaning tables. And I had a funny incident. Seemed like nobody ate the heel of the bread, every table had just the heel left, so I started throwing them away. Then I felt like someone was staring at me, so I turned around and this guy was lookin' at me, giving me a dirty look, you know. He says, "Don't throw those away." I said, "Well, nobody eats it." He says, "Well, we use it for something else." I said, "Oh, okay."

MN: Now, when you ate at the mess hall, who did you eat with?

BT: My friends. This is, this is one of the sad things that happened in the camp, is that it broke up the family structure because we no longer needed our parents, you know. We know when the, time to eat. So at first we used to eat with our family and then later on we started eating with our friends, so we really lost contact. That was a sad part.

MN: I want to ask you about the latrine situation at Fresno. It was all public, and what was it like to use the restroom in front of everybody?

BT: Yeah. There was no, no privacy whatsoever.

[Interruption]

BT: The restroom in Fresno Assembly Center was very interesting. It was a combination between an outhouse and modern plumbing. We had, like a bench, and it had six holes in it, three on one side and three on the other, and so when you had to use the bathroom, there you are. And the interesting part was, the way they flushed it was, there was a five gallon tin can on one end of the, you want to, if you want to say it's a commode, and the water is constantly running into it, and once the can is full it tips over, and that's how you flush the toilet. Now, if you were sittin' on the end you had to be a little careful because that water'll come down and it hits the end of the bench there and it splashes up, so if you don't jump up you're gonna get wet.

MN: Did you ever have that problem?

BT: No, no. I, you learn fast, you know. [Laughs]

MN: Now, did you ever have any visitors while you were confined at the Fresno Assembly Center?

BT: Visitors? No. They were allowed visitors, to come in the front section, but no, we didn't have any visitors.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.