<Begin Segment 9>

DG: Can you tell me about leaving the camp to get married?

KN: Yes. Let's see, we came down to the administration building on the convoy truck, army truck again, and then from there we caught the bus to Twin Falls. And then, see, we never called anybody to marry us or anything, so we had to go around looking for somebody to marry us. And we were going to the Justice of Peace, because you didn't have big weddings in camp. Well, he was gone for some reason, so we were walking around, then we saw this Presbyterian church. So we went in and then Sam asked if the minister could marry us, and they said yes. And so Sam's sister and sister-in-law went with us and they were the witness, and we got married by a Presbyterian minister, which was very nice.

And then we had a permit to stay one night in Twin Falls, so of course we went out to eat, and we all had fried chicken dinner. Was that ever a treat -- that tasted so good -- I cannot forget that, because after eating the camp food, you know, that was a treat. And then my, Sam's sister and sister-in-law came back, and we stayed, and then we came back the next day. So then we went out to the ranch, I don't know how soon after, but we had our own unit.

DG: Now, to leave camp, this I guess is going back even farther. There was a "loyalty questionnaire" as I understand it, that you had to answer first?

KN: Oh, you mean "yes"...

DG: The, yes...

KN: Yeah, I don't, I don't know when that took place, but we had no problem going in and out. You just get a permit and you go out, and Sam had to go to work, so it was not difficult at all.

DG: And how were you treated in Twin Falls when you went out go get married?

KN: Fine. No problem, however, when the fellows that worked on the ranch, the Japanese boys and Sam were gonna get a haircut, and so this town of Burley, where the boss lived, 'cause his wife was running a boarding house, then he commuted to a ranch in Declo, which was, like, about fourteen miles. Anyway, he took the fellows to Burley, little town of Burley to get a haircut, and on the window it says, "Don't Cut Japs' Hair." So the boss went in, and this is the barber that always cut the boss's hair. "What do you mean by that?" And then the guy says, "Just what it says." "All right, you're not cuttin' my hair, either," and he walked out, that's it. That's how good he was, so wonderful, he was always rooting for the guys.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.