Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Bert Nakano Interview
Narrator: Bert Nakano
Interviewer: Larry Hashima
Location: University of California, Los Angeles
Date: September 13, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-nbert-01-0002

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LH: When you left the camp, when you left Jerome, did you return to Hawaii?

BN: The irony of the whole thing was, when we went back to Hawaii, the government sent us back on a troop ship. And can you imagine, we going back with the heroes of World War II, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, on the boat going back to the island together with us, who were in concentration camp in the United States. I mean, this irony, you can't imagine. And the 442 boys used to ask us, "What (were you guys) doing in the mainland?" "We were in concentration camp, we were in a camp." "What? They put you there? For what?" And you know, they were surprised and when we hit Honolulu, we can hear the band going and all the people, the dignitaries out there waiting for the 442 returning vets, so they told us, "You guys stay in the hole." And then after the 442 disembarked they said, "Now you can come up." And when we came up there was nobody on the dock except our relatives and so forth. So it was a very ironic twist to the whole situation.

LH: Especially because not many Hawaiians were actually sent to the mainland.

BN: Exactly. The Hawaiians were very, very limited. In Jerome Block 38, 39, 40, were what they call "Hawaiian Block." In fact, 442 boys were training in Camp Shelby and knowing that the Hawaii people were in Jerome, they used to come, and because there were a lot of young girls around. And not only that, the food. They missed the food. You know, the soul food that Japanese Americans want, you know, and my mother had some neighborhood kids that were living in the neighborhood, come over to the apartment and she used to fix 'em tsukemono, you know, pickled vegetables and rice and miso soup. And they were so happy. And that's...

LH: Sounds like your mother actually did a lot for, you know, the others in the block to help them get along.

BN: Well... that's the only thing she knew. And she was happy doing it. But in camp, the kids all ate at the cafeteria, the parents ate (by) themselves and the kids ate by themselves, but in my house, my brother always said, "You bring the food home to the apartment and we eat together." Because my mother was basically introvert. She's not good mingling with people, and she wanted, you know... [cries] That's the only thing she knew.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.