<Begin Segment 19>

DG: And what was it like for you to return to Manzanar when you made that trip?

MW: Well, that was the second time I went there, and, but because I knew it was much better organized then. Because before when I went it was just the guard gate and nothing else there except the monument at the other end, right by the mountain. But the year before when I went there, I looked up at the Sierra Nevadas, it was the most beautiful sight. And I don't ever remember seeing it as a beautiful sight when I lived in camp. But, but because it was how many years after, that we looked at the mountain and we said, "We didn't we lived in this beautiful country right there." And so that was, that was one of the main things that we all noticed, is how pretty the mountain was. And, I guess in those days it wasn't pretty to us. And, and I think more so because we had so many dust storms. And luckily, that day we didn't have a dust storm. It was just a beautiful day, but hot, because the Mojave Desert is very hot.

DG: Did that bring back certain feelings and emotions to have returned?

MW: Well, because the last time I went I, I took my daughter, Naomi, she's the middle child, and we drove from L.A. and we drove up. So, I showed her the way, and then we stayed there a night, you know, because we knew we couldn't make it the whole way, and we went there. And so that was, I think, probably more emotional for her. And as we were walking around the camp, we had this, these other young people walking with us. And I would explain what the different, different places were, and then we'd come across these concrete slabs and so they said, "Well, how come this is here?" And I'd say, "Well, this is the laundry room." So you'd see this slab. And the next one, next slab was the women's bathroom -- actually, they call it women's latrine because it has the bath, the toilets, and also the shower. And he says, "Well, look at the mark of the toilets" And I says, yes. I says, "Well, that's where they were." And he says, "Well, the other one's right over there." And I says, "Yes, there was only a thin wall between the two rows." And so, you know, they were, I think they were as amazed as anybody. And then I said, "And then the next building was the one for the men." And, and he had a camera that, as I was talking, he would, he would keep... he says, "I have to do this because," he says, "I'm dyslexic, so I have, this is the way I learn." And I went, okay, that's fine. So we just kept going, and we talked and we walked all the way back like that. And I thought, well, that was really neat that we were able to at least talk to some other people. And there were lots of busses that came in, so lots of schoolchildren came in. And I understand that they have many busses that come there now because it is a learning area. And the park department does a wonderful job of that. And so they all come in there and they, and, you know, you have to go quite a distance for the children to come in there, because it's way out in the desert. And so I think it's very good that the school districts allow them to do that.

DG: And so what would you like an experience for visitors to the memorial, here on Bainbridge Island, what do you envision that would be like for them?

MW: Well, if, for the visitors?

DG: Yes, what would you like the memorial here to be? The purpose and...

MW: Well, I think it would be good to have the story of why we were sent away. And, because of hysteria and actually prejudice. And then why we were allowed to come back. Because they found out that it didn't do us any good, didn't do them any good to have us in camp like that. And we were a good working force that, that contributed to the economy. And anything that would help the people and the students know that we were sent away for no good reason and that we don't do that to, to different people who are born of different nationalities. I think that's the only thing that we could, we could hope for.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.