<Begin Segment 15>

MN: Let me ask you about the food at Heart Mountain. You're a growing teenager, were you one of the boys that tried to sneak into the other mess halls to eat?

BS: Yes, sometimes. But usually we could get seconds, too. But I never was particular on food. To me, food is food, and it tastes good or doesn't taste good, I still eat it up. And I know one of the big complaints of most of the people was like the preserves or jams. We seldom got strawberry jam, it was always either grape or... apple butter, yeah. People didn't like apple butter, but it was all right with me. So I enjoyed it. And then once in a while, on Sundays, we had special treats, they gave out slices of watermelon. And I never cared for watermelon, so on those Sunday, my other buddies right away, "Oh, let's go eat," because they know they could get the watermelon from me.

MN: Let me ask you a little bit about the latrine situation. What was it like for you to use these public latrines in camp?

BS: Oh, that was the worst part of camp life. No privacy, and I think initially, people sort of waited to get late in the evening to go use the bathroom, but I think everyone else had the same idea, so that was the busiest time. So you really had to wait then. So there was approximately eight commodes, four on one side, and small partition, and four more on the other side. And to me it was just too embarrassing. You had to sit next to a stranger and do your personal business. The showers were bad enough. You take a shower in a small room, maybe eight feet by ten feet, there was four showerheads on one wall, four more on the other wall, and eight of you are taking a shower just within arm's reach. That was bad enough, but do your personal business, oh, that was gross.

MN: Did anybody in your block build an ofuro?

BS: No, we didn't have any that I know of, unless they had it on the women's side. So some people started building Japanese-style tubs so they could take, soak in a hot bath. But the men's side, we didn't have bathtubs. The women's side had bathtubs, no showers. So some blocks, they partitioned off, and they'd get one of the bathtubs from the woman's side and close it on the men's side and vice versa, shower on the woman's side. That's the only extent that I know of. And Heart Mountain, I understand the women complained about their commodes, so they did get partitions, but still no doors. So at least they got the privacy of a partition.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.