<Begin Segment 11>

MN: Okay. I'm gonna ask about your education at Heart Mountain. First of all, how far was your school from your barrack?

BS: School from the barracks is three blocks away. So it was interesting going to school, especially when it's snowing and a blizzard. Blizzard looks like it comes horizontally across the field. So sometime we had to go walk backwards, because it just hits you in the face, so they walked backwards and go. And it holds you up. Almost stands you up, so it's interesting that way.

MN: Gee, I would think I would just turn around and go back home.

BS: That's what we felt like doing.

MN: But you didn't?

BS: No.

MN: Why not? Would you get in trouble?

BS: Well, school is school, so I guess we had to get there.

MN: So school, is it a grammar school you went to or junior high school or middle school?

BS: Middle school, but I guess they didn't call it that, I don't know. But the first year, it was all the way across the camp, the other opposite end. And we're in the regular barracks, and we didn't have any chairs, we sat on benches, no backs. And I don't recall, not too many books either.

MN: Did you have desks?

BS: No, no desks. Just sitting on benches. And then, the space heater is in one corner. See, if you're close to it it's too hot, if you're far away from it it's too cold. Oh... sometimes we're always trying to rush in and get the middle seats. It was first come, first serve, all benches.

MN: So who were your teachers?

BS: Teachers, we had Caucasian teachers and Japanese American teachers. I understand we didn't have enough credentialed teachers in Heart Mountain so they had to recruit from Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, they recruited credentialed teachers.

MN: How would you compare the education you received at Heart Mountain to what you were getting at Maryknoll?

BS: I would think it's comparable, yes. To me, school was school. I just... only one thing I noticed about the Caucasian teachers, they had trouble pronouncing the names, but subject matter, I don't think they had problems.

MN: Were there any Caucasian students in your class?

BS: Well, in the whole grade level, yes, but not directly in my classroom. I remember Tom Mayne, his dad used to work for the administration at Heart Mountain, so they elected to have him come to school in the camp.

MN: Do you know if because he's one of the few Caucasian students, did he get picked on?

BS: I think so, I think so. I wasn't buddy-buddy, but I used to say hi, but that's about it.

MN: Now you took a shop class. Can you share with some of the items that you made in shop class?

BS: Oh, yeah. That shop class was interesting. Out of bullet shells, we made letter openers. So somehow we attached the shell, and then we made like a sword or a little knife, and we made letter openers. And I had that for a while, but I lost that somewhere along the way.

MN: Where did you get the bullet casings?

BS: So the teacher furnished that.

MN: So I know especially that first year, I keep hearing how cold it was. How often was school closed down?

BS: Well, from a student's point of view, I don't think it was closed down enough. But I think it was rarely, unless it's big heavy snowfall.

MN: So when you saw snow the first time, how did you feel?

BS: Oh, that was... it was cold, and our fingers just be numb, but we still like to try to make a snowball and have snowball fights and everything like that. But one thing, especially when we used to go hiking beyond the fence, they said, "Make sure you..." we used to go pick up the snow and eat it or taste it, they said, "Make sure you don't get the yellow snow." We didn't have to ask why, but we knew when we saw it.

MN: Did you go ice skating?

BS: Yes. Oh, that was another interesting sport. But I guess my ankles were too weak for that, but we were able to purchase our snow skates from either Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Ward, JC Penney's, those were the catalog companies on those days. So we had to order through the mail, so we looked forward to getting it. After we got it, oh, it was really fun in the snow. Cold, but it's fun and our ankles wore out the first, gets tired. Our ankle gets tired first. Because to really do the skates, you had to do upright. But had weak ankles, so we're on the side of our shoes, too, wore out the side of our shoes.

MN: Can you share with us how the ice rinks were made?

BS: Oh, yes. Ice rinks, lots of time, next to the mess hall. Because the mess hall was a little bit on a slope, and then like a little ditch. So for about fifteen feet to eighty, ninety feet long, this small, filled it with water, and overnight it would get ice. So that was a small ice rink. But then after a while, that was more for kids, a small area. So they used to make a big, a mound, rectangular mound around the park area, maybe the softball place, and fill it with water, and we have our ice skating rink there.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.