Densho Digital Archive - Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga Interview (denshovh-haiko-02-0013)

<Begin Segment 13>

EO: Now, during this time, we should skip back, I think you must be back in Manzanar when the registration happens? Because you're, because this was '43 when your father dies.

AH: Yes, it was.

EO: Well, it was '43. So it was right after that. So you are going to --

AH: Registration was February 1943.

EO: February, right. So it was early in '43. So you're still at Manzanar.

AH: That's right.

EO: So, can you... first of all, do you recall the Manzanar riot at all?

AH: I remember that there was this, what is called a "riot" now, some people call it "uprising." But I do recall this happening and hearing, I was not anywhere near the scene of the riot, but I recall hearing about someone being killed and about arrests being made, beating or beatings having taken place. I do recall that. And then there was tension, tension in the air because of this, this incident.

EO: How did it make your feel?

AH: It was worrisome. I was pregnant, about seven, eight months pregnant at the time. And my husband of that time was very protective and he wouldn't permit me to travel very, go very far out of the block, simply because there was a lot of worry about my being pregnant, but because there was, there were fights. We heard about informant activities and people getting beaten up. I recall going to one movie which they showed in the recreation hall. Every block had a rec. hall, a recreation hall, and movies would be sent from one block to another block. I remember being at one where there was a fight. And these benches and chairs started to fly around. It was a scary experience. I don't know who instigated the fight, or the reasons for the fight, but twice that kind of thing happened and I remember being whisked away by my then-husband, back to our barracks, because of this kind of problem that existed in the camps during those days. It probably had to do with actions being taken against an informer... those who were alleged to be informers for the administrative, white administrative... administration.

EO: This was going to be your first, your second Christmas in camp?

AH: Let's see... '42. This was '43, right? This was '43. But the riot was the first, December '42. So that's the first Christmas. That's right, it was the first Christmas.

EO: How did you celebrate?

AH: I don't think we celebrated at all. No. No one has ever asked me that question before. So now I'm going to have to go back and try to remember what we did at the first Christmas. I know that we didn't have a church, I didn't go to a church. I know we had no money to buy any gifts and I'm sure we didn't -- I don't remember a Christmas tree. That must have been the first Christmas I ever missed going to a church.

EO: Did you have a job?

AH: I looked at my records in the archives, records in my folder. And apparently I had a job a few weeks as what was known as a timekeeper, someone who kept records of how many hours persons worked, probably in the mess halls. What time a person came to work as a cook or a dishwasher. But that was -- I noticed it was just for a few weeks. That must have been when I, much earlier on before I became sick as a result of being pregnant.