<Begin Segment 19>

MN: And then from your warehouse job, where did you transfer to?

MT: Then we went out and started cutting down mesquite tree. They wanted to cut down mesquite trees and clear the, pull out the roots so they can make a farm. They said they're going to grow vegetables on it so everybody could have fresh vegetables. So that's where we went. Went out and started chopping the mesquite trees. Then when we cleared it up, that's when they made the big farm there. They had enough veggies like that for the three camps.

MN: So when you were out there, did you have any interaction with the tribes?

MT: No. They never came near us. Well, the Indians didn't have anything. They wouldn't come out in the middle of the desert anyway. They lived closer to where the water is. You know, Colorado River is three miles away. For a while we were sneaking out and going to the Colorado River, because, well, we can get the food that we want. Soldiers by then were pretty used to us. We used to talk to them every day. At first they had rifles and they're carrying it back and forth, pretty soon, they got so used to us, they laid the rifle up against the fence and walked with us. You just talk and play. So they get used to us, and then we said, hey, at a certain time, that part there, there's no soldiers there, so sneak out and go to the Colorado River, stay there a couple of days and then come back. We used to sleep out there two, three days. Take enough food. Water, Colorado River, that water was real clear at that time, just not muddy. So drink the water there, swim. One of our friends, he was a good swimmer. He swam actually -- swam across the Colorado River, turned around and came back. He could go upstream, the river's fast, but he'd go upstream, then he'd swim across, then come back, and by the time he'd come back, he's way downstream, then he had to walk back to where we were. But he was a very good swimmer. He was the one that was very strong. He could chin with one hand. I've never seen anybody do that, but he actually went three times like that by himself. Here we are, struggling just trying to chin, and he'd do it in one hand?

MN: Now he's the one that sort of helped the guys in your area build up the body, right?

MT: Uh-huh, yeah.

MN: Was he a gymnastics teacher before the war?

MT: No. He used to take gym and wrestling, so he told us how to chin and do a parallel bar, handstands and things like that. He was strong, so we followed him.

MN: So the parallel bars, did you build your own?

MT: Yeah. Get the wood and shave it down, make it so we can hold it out. I don't know where we got the nails from, but they got nails and nailed it all down. So it's only about six inches high, so when you fall... we didn't know how to fall or anything, so it was only about six or eight inches tall, you just fall down on the dirt.

MN: How about like kendo or judo or sumo? Did you participate in any of those?

MT: They didn't have those in the camp. Because when you went into camp, you only went in with one suitcase. You take the kendo equipment, you're don't even take another suitcase, they won't let you anyway. You can only take one.

MN: How about judo or sumo though?

MT: Gee, I never... well, I know that some of the people had judogi, huh, but where are we gonna get it? We did sumo, but sumo, you just take regular pants and cut the knee part off and then use it. But otherwise, you forget a lot of things.

MN: So you're doing a lot of exercise, you're building your body. Why was it so important to build your body?

MT: Because when we went into camp, Boyle Heights group, they were the... well, they're a big crowd, big group, and they were controlling the camp. They'd go around anywhere, "Hey, get out of the way," and they would push you around. And we says, "Hey, we got quite a bit of people, young guys our age in our camp, why don't we get to know each other and exercise?" So that's what we started to do. After that, they don't push us around. We never went out to pick fights, but we always had, "Hey, you guys, don't come here." They stayed away. They had respect for us.

MN: But early on, did any of the boys from Imperial Valley get beaten up?

MT: From when?

MN: Early on in camp?

MT: You mean because they called 'em dogs? We didn't have anybody except, well, like that one family got, he was a little different.

MN: So the guys that you were with in your quad area, did you come up with a name?

MT: Blackbird. We got to be pretty well-known in camp because that guy that was a pitcher, boy, he had a very fast ball. And because of that they were winning quite a bit of games. So the Blackbird was known there. But I wasn't there at camp too much because I moved to Crystal City, Texas, but I understand that they got real well-known.

MN: So they were really well-known in softball then.

MT: Softball, yes. They didn't have baseball, it was all softball. Anything with softball. So it's an underhand pitch.

MN: Now, you went into camp with a broken arm. What happened?

MT: Well, in our days, your heels used to wear out fast because you ran around quite a bit. And so we put taps on our heels. And that was a bad mistake, because I was running one day and that tap slipped on the cement and I fell backwards and I landed on my left arm. And my, well, even now, this bone is funny. You could see that, look at this side here, just one bump? Look at this one. It's that big because the doctor, he put it into a cast. Instead of putting it in so that the joint will come in, he put it out. So the joint pulled out, so this bone here healed that way. So that's why it's like that, and this one here is like that. There's only one bump here, this one here has got a big bump like that. I don't think that doctor, he was quite... I don't think he gave a darn. He thinks, "Oh, another one of these guys."

MN: So your quad area also built a stage. What was the stage used for ?

MT: Plays and singing. One of the girls in our... well, I knew her real well, Hanako, she had a nice voice and she used to sing quite a bit. So she'd go up there and sing, entertain, because what else have you got except a movie every once in a while. So we had to start making plays like that or have people come up and sing to entertain us.

MN: Let me ask you, I probably should have asked you, when we talk about your quad area, which barracks, blocks are we talking about? 59?

MT: Block 60, 59, 54 and 53. That was the quad. And then they had Block 39 quite a ways away, 42. Block 42 people were mostly from, out here from Los Angeles area. Mostly Imperial Valley was right there in that quad and Block 39.

MN: So there was a swimming area near your quad also. How did the people make this swimming area?

MT: The swimming area? Only thing it was was a ditch. They just made the ditch wider right there, and so it's all like a mudhole, it's just mud. And I heard that one person drowned there, and they couldn't find him and all of a sudden they start checking and they found the body.

MN: So I guess the water was so muddy you can't really tell.

MT: No, you can't hardly see it anyway, yeah. But that water was for irrigating and all that.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.