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TI: And then in terms of the barrack, the living arrangements, I'm guessing, I mean, I know you lived with your uncle's family back in Milwaukee, the two brothers' families. But in Minidoka...

SI: In Minidoka, my two sisters, the oldest two, they had a room, it was only for two people or three people, and then all the rest was a family one. So we lived right, they lived on this side and we lived on that side.

TI: Wow, they got their own room? That was very nice.

SI: They did.

TI: So I remember, the barracks you have, sometimes a small room and a larger room.

SI: Yeah. The end one was for couples, you know.

TI: And so your older sisters got one of those.

SI: Yeah.

TI: But then were you nearby your father's brother's family? Your cousins, were they nearby?

SI: No, I think they are in another place.

TI: Okay. Any other kind of memories of Minidoka that stand out?

SI: Well, I don't know. Winters were cold. We had to walk to school and our nose will feel so cold, they stick together, hard to walk.

TI: The climate's a little more extreme than the coast. Because the winters are colder and the summers were hot. I mean, I was there at a pilgrimage and it was well over a hundred degrees there.

SI: Yeah. We probably didn't, I probably didn't take those walks. [Laughs] Staying inside was cool.

TI: You reminded me, I was at a pilgrimage, and a Nisei came up to me. And she knows I love stories, and she said to me, "Do you know that we had air conditioning?"

SI: Did she?

TI: She said that to me, and I said, "Air conditioning? What do you mean air conditioning?" I'd never heard that before. And then what she did was she took a piece of paper and she went, [makes whirring sound]. That was their air conditioning, to have a fan. Because it was really hot, and I said, "Oh, how can you guys be in here?" I said, "We had air conditioning."

SI: I think in the summer, I think I, me and my friend, we had summer school, we acted like substitute teachers in summer school.

TI: Say that again? Who acted as substitute teachers?

SI: I mean, we did.

TI: With younger kids, you mean?

SI: Gee, I don't know what kind of kids, but we were art teachers. And my friend was better in art, but I'd do a little bit, so I think I went with her. But we worked with students to... you know, I think if they want to do something, they'd come to these classes, if they wanted to. Otherwise they do everything on their own.

TI: Now your father and mother, did they have jobs inside?

SI: Yeah. I think my father was a dishwasher and my mother was a waitress.

TI: Oh, so they both kind of worked in the...

SI: Yeah, in your own block.

TI: Your dining hall?

SI: Block 30, everybody had a mess hall.

TI: And so when it came to mealtime, who did you eat with?

SI: I think we just went in and whoever's around, we just went to the mess hall. It must have been some of my, maybe my twin sister, I don't know. But anybody who I'm playing around with always, each time we go.

TI: And when you ate, did your mother sometimes serve you? Because you said she was a waitress. I mean, were your parents, were your parents working in the dining hall when you would go eat?

SI: I'm not too sure. I know she was carrying a baby, my youngest brother. When she wasn't pregnant, I think she was working.

TI: And she delivered a baby in camp?

SI: I think so, yes.

TI: So how was that, to have a baby in the barracks? Because you were sharing that same room with a baby.

SI: I think it was in, I think he was born in camp. I have to remember, or did he, was he not born? And after we got out...

TI: I'm trying to think, do you remember, like, crying or washing and drying or hanging up diapers? I'd think there would be a lot of that.

SI: I don't remember that. So maybe he wasn't born. [Laughs] I don't know. But let's see. I'm trying to think, where was Donald born? I really don't... I never did, I know he was born, I don't know whether it was in camp or whether it was out of camp.

TI: So any other memories of Minidoka before we move on to after the war? Anything else about Minidoka?

SI: I don't remember too much more.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.