<Begin Segment 12>

SY: So when you got to Manzanar, were all the barracks already completed?

YY: I don't think so. I think the ones way at the end, the ones in the thirties, I think they were still being built.

SY: Do you remember that ride from, on the bus, how long it took?

YY: No, I don't remember. I don't remember where we were or anything. [Laughs]

SY: But when you got, so you don't remember when you got there, what it, how, what the, Manzanar looked like? Whether it was cold, hot, do you remember what the weather was?

YY: It was in April, so it wasn't too bad, I guess. But I remember when we got there, all these people were standing there outside looking to see who's coming in. They're all curious to see who's coming.

SY: Nobody that you knew, though, was already there?

YY: I knew a couple of people that were there, but other than that, I didn't know anybody else.

SY: So there were already Terminal Island people there when you got there.

YY: No, these, these are people that were, well, I went to Japanese school with in Keystone.

SY: And so there were more than Bainbridge people there.

YY: Well, I think these, these were the volunteers that went first, that went to help build the place.

SY: And they were Japanese Americans that went first. And so when you arrived it was still not very many people there.

YY: No.

SY: Like the blocks, so just up to blocks nine and ten were filled, and then the rest were empty still?

YY: Empty.

SY: So how many, do you remember how long it was before...

YY: They were coming in every day, I think.

SY: So did you go and check out and see who was coming too?

YY: I did a couple of times, but after that, no.

SY: So where was, where were Blocks 9 and 10 in reference to the whole camp?

YY: Well, let's see...

SY: Was it near --

YY: It'd be 11 and, let's see, I think, I think it was one to 6 and then 7 through 12. So just about in the middle, I guess.

SY: It was, it was, so...

YY: On the first two, anyway.

SY: So was it, when you went through the guard gate, the main gate, it was toward the middle?

YY: Well, let's see, Block 12... it was, there was, there was, let's see, the one block that went all the way up, and then the next row of blocks. I'm trying to think where the fire area, trying to remember.

SY: Hard to remember.

YY: Yeah.

SY: So when you first got there, when you first got there, was there, were there things for you to do when you first got there? What did you do during the day? How did you spend your days?

YY: I think we were trying to fix the, fix our place up. [Laughs]

SY: So you remember what your, what unit were you in?

YY: Let's see, we were 10-4-1, so we were in Block 10, and it was the fourth barrack, and we were on the end, we're number one.

SY: And it was, that's where the family, so you had five people in your unit?

YY: Yeah.

SY: So just five beds in one unit? Or did you --

YY: Yes, this was all, it was all in one unit. I remember putting up cloth between us, and that's about it I could remember.

SY: So when you first arrived and you found your unit, it was just an empty, just five beds and that's it? Do you remember what else was there?

YY: Just the stove. It was an oil burner. The, they had a person that came around every night and, every day I guess, and filled up the burner, the oil, with oil.

SY: So it was still cold at night when you got there. Really cold? Or just...

YY: No, it wasn't, I don't think so. I don't think it was really cold.

SY: Windy, though. Was it windy?

YY: Yeah.

SY: So a lot of dust?

YY: Quite a bit of dust. Then later on they were able to bring in boards to fill up the, so that we'd have thing closed so we wouldn't get any dust.

SY: So when you first got there it, the dust would come through?

YY: It was, it would dust.

SY: Well, it came through the walls or from the floor?

YY: Yeah, from the wall.

SY: From the wall, not so much from the floor. And your...

YY: Then later on they gave us, they came in and put flooring down so that we wouldn't get anything from the bottom.

SY: They, it was actually wood flooring that they laid over the...

YY: Uh-huh.

SY: So it was planks when you got there, right? Everything was kind of planks, and then they laid a flooring over that?

YY: Right. They put linoleum over it.

SY: Linoleum. And how, you know how long they, it took before they did that?

YY: It was a long time. [Laughs]

SY: It was really toward the middle part of...

YY: Middle, yeah. Yeah, before that.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.