<Begin Segment 20>

TI: And from this communication, how was your family doing at Tule Lake? Did you hear much about how they were doing?

MM: My dad was really, I think, pretty upset when he had to leave, but I think he got used to it and he... I don't know how he got the carpentry things to make it. But for my first birthday, which is November, and I moved September, he sent by express... six drawer chest he made by hand. Now, they couldn't take anything, tool or things, I think they'd be confiscated. I don't know whether he borrowed them from some project person, or whether he rented it at their commissary, but he pieced the wood, and the top is inlaid, dark wood with light wood. And my son-in-law and daughter, they still have it in their basement. I said, "Don't throw that away, give it to Wing Luke or someplace."

TI: Yeah, that's precious. That's really...

MM: Two small drawers and big drawers, I used to use it for my linens all the time. He built it.

TI: So that must have been --

MM: And it was big, and he sent it to me, to camp, for my birthday and Christmas, first gift.

TI: And maybe even as a wedding present, too.

MM: I don't know what kind of tools, because I'm sure they couldn't have saws or anything there.

TI: Yeah, they probably could borrow those tools. I've heard stories...

MM: From the camp people?

TI: Yeah, the camp people, they'd have work areas.

MM: Because they had to have people there.

TI: That's probably what he did.

MM: I know he had to do something, he couldn't just sit.

TI: But it sounds like it was a really well-made piece of furniture.

MM: It was. Handles were carved, so we can handle it. He did all that by hand.

TI: Do you know if he kept his shakuhachi and played it in camp? Did he do that? That's good. I'm sure that probably gave him some comfort.

MM: He also made one for Lena, too, my younger (sister). Says they got rid of theirs, they don't know what happened. But I said, "That's too bad, you should have donated it to the Legacy Center in Portland or something before." But they still have mine. I told them, "Don't throw it away."

TI: Yeah, no, you're right, they should take good care of it. So other memories from Minidoka? What else can you remember that you did?

MM: I remember the worst thing was the muddy (roads), when it rained, and had to go through the mud to go to work. And the sand, the sand coming, blowing in the windows, that was the worst. It was gritty.

TI: So what was the hardest time for you at Minidoka?

MM: At Minidoka?

TI: Yeah, what was the hardest time for you?

MM: Oh, being away from all my relatives, I think. I missed them the most. But I gradually got acquainted with the Portland people, then the few that I knew. But I only stayed there from September. (...) And then the following year, in October, we were released. We went (...) to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, because my husband got a job in (an) electrical company. If you want to find a job and they thought you were serious about that, they let you go out of the camp to have an interview and you got a job there.

TI: And what was the date again?

MM: That was October of... let's see.

TI: '43?

MM: Let's see. September we left, and then not that year, the next year.

TI: So 1944?

MM: (No, it was 1943). So we only stayed in camp about thirteen (months).

TI: Thirteen months? Thirteen months.

MM: Excuse me, thirteen months, yes. But in south Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we lived in Milwaukee.

TI: I want to ask more about Milwaukee, but before we go there, I want to ask a few more questions about Minidoka. And I asked you what the hardest times were, how about the best times or the most enjoyable times? Was there anything that you recall with fondness about Minidoka?

MM: That was fun?

TI: Yeah, that was fun.

MM: I think just visiting friends, I think. And visiting them, we didn't have any programs to think of. Oh, the Boy Scouts and those people had definite programs. But we older people, we didn't have any program.

TI: So what would you do? You would just go visit, maybe, other friends?

MM: Other friends, the different ones. And then we went to work, so travel was quite a distance. Sometimes we got a ride on a truck, but we walked about a mile to the administrative building.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.