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TI: So let's go back to the OTs, I want to talk about that more. So you're with this group, you started with the dishwashing group, they tended to be older. Who were some of the people? You mentioned Ray Sasaki, who were some other people in this group?

VI: Oh, Mas Kawako and... I can't remember their names.

TI: You could see the faces, though. And generally were they also, some of them in sports also, that you did sports with or knew them from sports, or was this like a totally different group?

VI: Well, the time that we spent at the assembly center was so short that you really didn't have any time to organize anything. We tried to play baseball but it was so small. At Puyallup, the stadium, they got a track around that, we'd have relay races. And somehow we formed a team and then they told me I'm going to run the anchor.

TI: So is this a team based from the dishwashing crew?

VI: Yeah, that group.

TI: Okay.

VI: So we'd have races. And I always remember that they told me I'd be the anchor.

TI: And generally for relays, the anchor is the strongest runner.

VI: [Laughs] Supposed to be. So we had this relay race and we were ahead when they gave me the baton. But I was racing against Toji, he's very athletic, about six years older than me, he was running anchor. Of course, he finished before I did. But we'd have sports like that, you know.

TI: But for your team, were you the fastest runner?

VI: I didn't think so. [Laughs] Those are some of the things we did. The facility was so small. Of course, where we were, we were at the fairgrounds so we were lucky. The other people were in parking lots, so they didn't have any field at all.

TI: Now at this time, the dishwashing group, was there the use of the term OTs at that time?

VI: [Shakes head].

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.