<Begin Segment 6>

JN: What was your first impression of Manzanar?

NO: It was horrible. I could have just sat down and cried. Because we were the first evacuees and there were... we were separated into blocks. That first and second block were filled by bachelors or volunteers, I heard, and Bainbridge people were in the third block. And we had... it was a long barrack, flimsily built, and we had the end room. And it opened up like a barn door, that particular room, roughly built. And winter it was cold, wet, muddy. It was awful going to the central washroom, and it was awful going to the mess hall. First, the food wasn't very good, people got sick. And summertime, wind blew. And the building was so built in a hurry, the sand came up between the, of the floor and the, by the windows, the wind came and the sand came in all over and we had one big pot belly coal stove which we had to haul our own coal. It was dirty. But how else could you keep warm, see? And, and we had a rough, bumpy straw mattress with two army blankets. So, I think that Sears-Roebuck had a good business because we needed more things, so a lot of people ordered, eventually ordered.

And when I got there, I was called in for a job. And there were twelve of us there, eleven men and me. And they looked at me and they had me down as "Nobuo," that's a man's name, boy's name, and I'm "Nobuko." So I know, this David looked at me and says he couldn't put me on a truck or any hard work. [Laughs] So he put me in charge of lost and found, which I didn't like. But later on I worked in a warehouse taking inventory. And I did my homework and in June, I think the principal or the superintendent sent us the diplomas and they had a little graduation ceremony for us. So that was nice.

But after eleven months, there was a riot in Manzanar. And a bunch of us were in the mess hall, we're gonna watch a movie, then all of a sudden we heard the roar, uproar and screaming. And I saw a pipe, wrapped up in sheet, hitting those Kibeis. There was a pro-Japanese and then a pro-... and boy, did we get scared, so we ran home, separate ways. And then later I got home, there was a gunshot, about two or three, and some innocent bystanders were killed. That's when the Bainbridge people petitioned that we want to move to Minidoka. So we were in Manzanar eleven months and we did move to Minidoka in February of 1943.

JN: Can you tell us a little bit about what triggered the riot? What was the reason?

NO: I said there was a conflict between the Kibei... you know who they are? American-born but raised in Japan, and then there was a pro-American... but all I heard was a gunshot and actual people getting beaten up in the mess hall where we were all sitting around on the floor ready to see the movie. But I, what triggered it, I don't know, but I know... I think about three were killed. Innocent, innocent people. And that really got us scared because I think people on Bainbridge were more on the reserved compared to one... but we did get along, however. But we wanted to be with the Seattle group, so we moved to Minidoka.

JN: Did the soldiers get involved in the, in the riot? Or was, did they stay out of it?

NO: Well, there must have been some... they met at the, by the ad. building. That's where the shooting was, by the ad. building, by the entrance. So, I think that the security guards were... they must have shot. They must have shot, uh-huh.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.