<Begin Segment 15>

TI: Okay, so you started with apricots, and then...

GN: Cherries.

TI: Cherries.

GN: Then we picked watermelons, tomatoes, mainly beets in the fall.

TI: And you did this from July 1942.

GN: Through that fall.

TI: Through that fall.

GN: Yeah. Then the sugar company, they were putting us up in a house on the warehouse grounds. They had a big complex warehouse, they had a house on it, and they put us up there.

TI: And how did people treat you? Here they were putting Japanese and Japanese Americans in these camps all around in that, kind of in that inland United States. Was there any fear about you?

GN: No, not a bit. In fact, we lived out in the country, you know, and we'd walk over to the railroad station and catch a bus and go into town. And that train is going right straight through Hill Field, which is the biggest Air Force base in the Midwest there. And nobody's paying a bit of attention to us, and we went right through the middle of Hill Field, you know. Just north of Ogden there's a big Ogden arsenal. We're walking by there, walking home. Nobody's paying a bit of attention to us. We're roaming around town. Only guys that made any fuss at all are the local Japanese. This one guy that had a noodle house in town, that first December, he made it a point to tell us not to come into town tomorrow. "You guys know what day it is?" He says, "Pearl Harbor day, stay home." We made it a point to go into town and walk by, let him know that we're in town.

TI: So let me understand that. So first, how many Japanese Americans were with you? How big a group were you?

GN: We're about, I think there were about eight of us at first.

TI: So you were walking freely around, no one's bothering you.

GN: Nobody's bothering us. We're free to walk all over town to go to... we used to in the movie houses, movies.

TI: Did you get funny looks or anything?

GN: No.

TI: And then, but this owner of a noodle shop, Japanese noodle shop, was he Nisei?

GN: Issei.

TI: Issei, okay. And he's concerned about having so many Japanese walking around, and he tells you on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor day, don't...

GN: Don't come into town.

TI: And why do you think he did that?

GN: I don't know. I think he just didn't want to see any Japanese walking around town on Pearl Harbor day.

TI: Because that might make it harder for him in some way?

GN: It must have. If we were to come into his noodle shop. We made it a point not to go to his place. There was a couple of other smaller places that were pretty nice to us, so we started going to those places.

TI: Well, what was the reaction of other Japanese in town? I mean, were they friendly or were they also kind of a little concerned?

GN: No, they didn't invite us to church, or we never went to any of the local Japanese family places. They just didn't want too many Japanese roaming around the area.

TI: So did that seem a little strange to you, or how did that make you feel?

GN: Not really. We had no intention of going, socializing with the local Japanese anyway. There was quite a few... there was one little pool house run by two Japanese men. I don't know whether they were bachelors or family men, but they had a nice, they had about four pool table and a nice confectionary with little sandwich. No liquor. We used to go there and play pool all the time, and never did see a local boy or man in there, just us evacuees.

TI: But would they go at other times when you weren't there?

GN: I don't think so.

TI: So his clientele was not...

GN: His clientele were mostly white kids.

TI: Interesting. So was he pretty friendly with you?

GN: Yeah, he was really friendly, yeah. He welcomed us in. We used to spend a lot of time playing pool.

TI: And this is Ogden, Utah?

GN: Yes, in Ogden.

TI: Interesting. And then the Japanese families that were there were farmers, generally, in that area?

GN: Most of 'em were farmers. And like I say, there was two other noodle houses. Yeah, noodle houses. We used to go in there for a bowl of noodles.

TI: So there were enough Japanese there to have things like a Japanese restaurant.

GN: No, but most of the clientele, they were white people.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.