<Begin Segment 9>
MN: Let me go back to the camp era. Now, you entered camp with your father, mother, and yourself and the sister right above you before she got married. What happened to, you had two older sisters. What happened to them?
KY: Okay. The oldest sister was married and had two young children, and they lived in Gardena. And they moved to Chicago so that they didn't have to go to camp. The middle sister was married, and she and her husband and her mother-in-law came to camp or was forced into camp, and my sister was pregnant, and she didn't want her kid to be born in camp. So they didn't stay in Gila too long, and they also moved to Chicago so that her child could be born free.
MN: Now when you entered Gila, did school start immediately?
KY: I don't know.
MN: Do you remember what the school you went to was called? Was it Gila River grammar school?
KY: No, I don't remember what it was called, but there was only one school in the camp, in Camp I. So all the children went there. I think the grammar school went from K to 8, and high school probably was 9 through 12.
MN: Now when you first started school, did the classes have desks and pencils and chalkboards?
KY: We had desks and chairs, and I think we had books, yes.
MN: I know some of the classrooms and different camps had students of the hakujin administrators in there. Did you have any hakujin kids in your class?
KY: Not that I remember. Our principal was hakujin, and his hakujin wife was one of the teachers. But I don't remember ever seeing any hakujin children in our class.
MN: Now were your teachers all hakujin or were some of them Japanese Americans?
KY: I think just the principal's wife was the... she might have been the only hakujin teacher that I remember. I think the rest were... I'm trying to think. No, I take it back. My eighth grade teacher was a hakujin male from Oklahoma.
MN: Were you able to make a lot of friends at Gila school?
KY: Well, I don't make friends easily, and the boys teased me because of my size. So school was not a fun experience for me. Fortunately, the Scoutmaster... well, a gentleman formed a troop, who lived in our block, so all the kids in my block joined the Scouts. And although I was too young, he allowed me to hang out with them because there was nothing else for kids to do. And so I became friends with the kids in my block, most of whom were older than me. That was probably a saving grace for me, that I had someone to, boys to spend time with that didn't tease me because of my size, and were willing to accept me. And I still kept in touch with some of them after we left camp.
MN: Now some of these boys that would tease you, did you get into fights with them?
KY: No, if you're the small dog, you don't get into fights. You try to avoid fights.
MN: Was this the first time... when you entered camp, was this the first time that you got teased like this?
KY: I think so, because before then, there wasn't that much size difference between my classmates and me.
MN: Did that sort of affect your views of how you related to other Japanese Americans?
KY: Yes. Negatively. I vowed that I would never live with "Japs" again, and I have not since. I mean, exclusively.
MN: Now, regarding your education in Gila River, how would you compare that education to the education you got outside?
KY: I think it was comparable. Because when we left camp, I started the ninth grade at Selma Union High School, because they had four-year high schools. And I was able to keep up with my classmates.
MN: Now you mentioned the Scoutmaster in your block.
KY: Yes.
MN: What kind of... now, you were too young to join the Boy Scouts, but what kind of activities did you join, do with them?
KY: Well, I guess we had to learn how to tie knots. And I know one time we were able to go on the desert side of camp. Because if you left camp from there, they didn't care, 'cause if you went out in the desert and died, you're saving the government forty-two cents a day. So the whole Troop went out to the desert so that the regular Boy Scouts could earn their Merit Badges. So that was fun for me to be allowed to go out there with them.
MN: Now other than with the Boy Scouts, did you have other occasions to go outside of camp?
KY: Our grade was allowed to go to some small town in Arizona so they could play baseball, and I got to go with them. And as I recall, we were transported by truck, and we were told to behave when we were on the outside, and so we did. But I think it was fun to just get out of camp.
MN: Now you also shared about how your Block 22 had a gymnastics bar?
KY: Well, we had one bar, yeah. And, well, this is hand-built, of course. It was just a piece of wood and a pipe, and so you could hang on the pipe and do tricks with it.
MN: So this is something that you often played on?
KY: Well, I don't know how often I did, but I did play on it occasionally, yes.
MN: Did you get involved in any team sports in camp?
KY: No. Again, I was... I would be the last person picked on the team, so I didn't particularly want to do that.
<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.