<Begin Segment 14>

MN: Now other than the Boy Scouts, you were also active with the stamp club at Heart Mountain. Can you share with us what the stamp club did?

BS: Yes. I think the stamp club, I think we used to meet about once a month at the activity center in the center of the camp. And we would collect stamps, but our main problem, our project was to learn about it. So we learned about other countries. I remember, I think the country Costa Rica, their stamps are triangular in shape. So it was really a novelty, so we studied that. And then we also had competition. So those that presented the best display on the stamp, whether it's a good write up or whether it's a collection of stamps. So they used to have competition that, so that kept us busy. And we used to order by mail order, and I remember the company name was H.E. Harris Company, and I believe it was in Boston, Massachusetts. And we'll send... the advertisement were in comic books or other magazines. So it says, "Send for free approvals." So approvals, they'll send you a sample of stamps, then you pick the one you want, then you send the money for it back. So they trusted us. They sent us a collection of stamps, and then you pick you want, you pay what you take, and send it back. And if they're satisfied, they'll send you another approval stamps. So that kept us busy, too. So I guess we spent our allowance on that, too.

MN: What about the stamps that came in the mail at Heart Mountain? Did you collect those at all?

BS: Yes, but those were too common. It's the same stamp over and over. So we tried to save different stamps, but most interesting was the United States stamp because you learned history about the people or the events on the stamp. But yet, sometimes we get swayed away, like I say, Costa Rica had triangular stamp. And then, hate to say it, I always remember the Goya stamps, G-O-Y-A. So they were either semi nude or nude pictures of ladies. So I remember we used to try to get those. So even young kids were still interested, I guess, in the opposite sex. [Laughs]

MN: Did you ever get stamps that said "censored" on it? Well, mail that said "censored" on the stamps?

BS: I don't recall that, no.

MN: What happened to your stamp collection in camp?

BS: I still have it today. I had it a little bit after camp, but then, I don't know. And then nowadays, we have, what do you call it? It's all self-adhesive already. So I asked the postmaster, "How do you collect those?" Because it'll stick into the stamp book or the envelope, you can't take it off. But he didn't have an answer. But no, I haven't touched a stamp collection for years.

MN: Now you also started to learn judo at Heart Mountain. Can you share about that experience?

BS: Oh, I guess again that was to take up our time so we won't be delinquent kids. So my dad made me join the judo club, and that was really lots of work, strenuous. Judo itself is not too bad, but preparation to get into competition, we had to so-called duck walk. So we're squatting down on the floor, just what our knees for walking, so that was really strenuous on our legs, but they had to build up our legs. And then we had to learn how to fall, tumble over, different things. And then not because of that, but I got pneumonia. So I had to lay off, then after that, my dad didn't enforce me to go keep up judo. So my judo career lasted maybe three, four months or so, that was it.

MN: So you got pneumonia. Were you hospitalized at the hospital?

BS: Yes, I was hospitalized. And I found out after camp that my so-called Auntie Faith, next door, she says, oh, when I was in the hospital with pneumonia, she came and wrapped up a hot pack around my neck. It's I guess made out of mustard and something else. It really heated up my neck, so it's supposed to be good for me, but I'm not sure how come my mother didn't come. But Auntie Faith came and did that for me. And I found out, I don't recall that, and a couple, five years later, she brought that up to my memory.

MN: Can you share about this mustard pack? Was this common to do before the war when you had a cold?

BS: I think we did that, yes. My mom used to do that at home, and mustard pack, I think we called mustard sheep or something like that. But it was just, heats us up, but it didn't smell too good.

MN: So you wrapped this... what do you, a paste of mustard and you wrap it around your neck?

BS: Yes.

MN: Let me ask you about some of the movies that were shown there, or first of all, where were movies shown at Heart Mountain?

BS: Oh, we had two theater houses, one was called the Pagoda, other one was called Dawn Theater. And it cost us, I think, ten cents. And I wasn't too much for movies, but we saw Buck Roger movies. Buck Roger and probably some cowboys, yeah, cowboy pictures. But then, like I say, I wasn't too interested in movies, plus the fact that to go to the movies, oftentimes you have give up dinner or make arrangements to get food before or after because the line for the theater starts at the time we're served dinner. So unless you go get in line, you can't get in there after dinner, it's too late. So he had to sacrifice or make arrangements, someone get in line for you, and then you get food for them. So you had to plan ahead to do that. But there's one, I remember the title was Going My Way, a Bing Crosby movie. And first time my mother encouraged me to go. In fact, she says she'll give me extra money just to go to that, because I was always trying to save my money for the stamp collection. So I said, no, I don't want to waste it on the movie. So she was willing to give me extra dime just to go see the movie Going My Way starring Bing Crosby.

MN: So did your mother end up going to the movies by herself on that one?

BS: No, I don't know. I don't know if she went to that, but she heard about it, I know, so she wanted me to go.

MN: Do you have any idea who came up with the names of the theaters, the Pagoda and the Dawn?

BS: No idea, but I assume they probably had a competition to name it, and then they select it like that.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.