<Begin Segment 4>

DG: And eventually you moved from Manzanar to Minidoka.

FH: Yes, Minidoka.

DG: Do you know, why did that move happen?

FH: Well, first thing, my sister was in Minidoka and her husband was, was the editor of Japanese American newspaper, and he was taken to Crystal City. And she was home, she was in Minidoka with five children, so we moved from Manzanar to help her, that, that was the main reason. I liked Manzanar, only it was hot and dusty, but came, when we moved to Minidoka, it was altogether different: muddy, and snow and ice. But we enjoyed one spring, and my sister at that time was transferred to Crystal City to join her husband. So it worked, if that was the case, we would have stayed in Manzanar. In Minidoka, there were Seattle people there, so met some of our friends. But the same with me, still I have to stay around the block and take care of my children because they were younger. Then, then Leonard was born in Manzanar, and he was about one year old then.

DG: And how did you feel about moving from Manzanar to Minidoka?

FH: Well, after that we were able to come back, so I think we stayed in Minidoka maybe a year and a half, not even that maybe. But we, we experienced their weather, hot and cold.

DG: What were the facilities like in Minidoka?

FH: Oh, just about the same. By that time, we had our washing machine sent, so we had a washing machine. But that's it; facility was same, we all had the mess hall, there's no icebox in your apartment, same thing, no. But we had radio.

DG: Who sent your washing machine to you?

FH: What?

DG: Who was it on Bainbridge that took care of sending you your washing machine? How did your washing machine get to you?

FH: Washing machine?

DG: Uh-huh. Who sent that from Bainbridge to Minidoka?

FH: We had it.

DG: Who had that shipped?

FH: We had, and we... I think it was about the same time we sent for our truck, pick-up truck. Then we had, we had car there, but that's how, when we were able to go back to Bainbridge, my brother-in-law loaded our things on the truck and came home to Bainbridge.

DG: How did your truck get to you?

FH: That time, Mr. Hirabayashi brought it for us, and I think at that time we brought the washing machine.

DG: And he was not in the camp?

FH: Yeah, he was in the camp.

DG: And he left early.

FH: [Nods] So as soon as we were able to go back, we came back.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.