<Begin Segment 12>

MN: Let me ask you about Boy Scouts. Which Boy Scout troop did you first join?

DM: First I joined, it was a troop in Westmorland, little community called Westmorland, which was maybe about four or five miles from our farm, I joined the Cub Scouts, which you could join at the age of eleven. And when I turned twelve, I joined the regular Troop 31, I remember it was called. I stayed with Troop 31 until the Brawley people started their own Boy Scout club which was Number 10. So I joined Number 10, and stayed in Scouting 'til I was around sixteen, seventeen years old.

MN: So this first troop that you started with in Westmorland, was that an all-Japanese troop?

DM: No, it was Caucasian troop. So there was very few Japanese kids.

MN: And what prompted you to join this troop?

DM: That was the nearest troop to join.

MN: But were your friends in it, is that why you joined?

DM: I think so. I think I remember some older boys were in the troop.

MN: And then when you said the Brawley people started Boy Scout Troop 10, was this an all-Japanese troop?

DM: Yeah.

MN: Who sponsored that troop?

DM: I think it was the Brawley Baptist... not Baptist, Buddhist church, was the sponsor.

MN: And what did the Boy Scout Troop 10, what kind of activities did you do?

DM: Most of the activities we did were like camping.

[Interruption]

MN: Okay, you were sharing about what kind of activities Boy Scout Troop 10 did.

DM: We went camping a lot, and to the desert, like go to Borrego Valley and places like Hemet. And once a year, the regional Boy Scout Council would have a jamboree, they call it, where all the troops get together. And I remember coming to a park in the Santa Ana, I can't remember the name of the park, where the whole troop couldn't come. So one patrol selected which to come to the Jamboral, which was nothing but Scouts from all over the Southern California area would get together. That was our activities in the Boy Scouts mostly. Field trips and camping out.

MN: Were you in the drum and bugle corps?

DM: There was a drum and bugle corps, I don't know if it was affiliated with the Boy Scouts or not. I was a bugler, and we did march at occasions, but I don't remember leaving Imperial Valley.

MN: But you were able to reach Eagle Scout rank?

DM: I think I reached the rank called... let's see, I can't remember. There was a Star rank, then Eagle. So I was in the, at second from the top rank, which you reach by accumulating so many merit badges.

MN: But you left the Boy Scouts before you can get enough for Eagle Scout rank.

DM: I couldn't collect enough merit badges, get there.

MN: Why did you leave the Boy Scouts?

DM: I was getting too old. Because most of the leaders in the Scouts were seventeen, eighteen year old, which, they wouldn't be Scoutmaster, but they were patrol leaders. I got that far and I dropped out.

MN: Let me ask you about guns. How old were you when your dad bought you your first gun?

DM: I must have been about twelve years old. He brought me a .410 shotgun, double barrel, handed it to me, told me my job was to go kill the rabbits that were eating our crop in the field. So I remember going out on evenings looking for rabbits.

MN: What did you do with the rabbits? Did you eat them or sell their pelts?

DM: No, just probably buried them.

MN: Did your father show you how to use the rifle?

DM: He just handed me the gun. He probably did show me which shotgun in those days were, you would break it down and put the two cartridge in each barrel, then snap it together and I was off hunting.

MN: Was there any recoil on that thing?

DM: Oh, heavy recoil when you're small.

MN: Only twelve years old.

DM: But .410 is the smaller, the smallest shotgun they made in those days. So from there it went up to ten gauge and twelve gauge, which were much bigger guns. And they would wallop quite a bit.

MN: You never injured yourself?

DM: No.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.