<Begin Segment 12>

MN: Around what time did you arrive at Manzanar?

MO: It was almost dusk. The reason I remember that is I was watching a movie, Schindler's List, and the train is going in, is leaving, that he's protecting his people, and these people are standing on the siding and they're looking, and it's absolutely quiet. Suddenly, that's what happened when we arrived at Manzanar. People were lined up and we're coming in, and it was absolutely quiet. Then we were assigned to Block 17 and we had to go out and get our mattress cover filled with straw. And in our room, instead of having the regular army cots, we had hospital cots, so they were higher. And it bothered me, because I always had this notion that I was going to fall out of the bed. And then later on after they completed the camp, then my mother arrived and we moved to Block 27 where the Florin people were.

MN: Now, when you were, you got there, did you have to make the mattress that they put hay in?

MO: No, straw.

MN: Straw. Did you have any allergic reactions to that?

MO: Yeah, yeah, my nose ran. And we didn't have Kleenex in those days, so we had handkerchiefs. I remember my handkerchief always being wet. That's the way it was. Almost no one uses handkerchiefs now, we consider that unsanitary. But it was what we had.

MN: How did you sleep that first night?

MO: You know, I don't remember. I know I didn't fall out of bed, but I don't remember.

MN: Do you remember what you did the next morning?

MO: We were told that we had to go to the mess hall to eat. I don't remember what that meal was like. I know there was something to eat, and everyone was quiet. You don't know anyone. And since we weren't part of that group that came from Stockton and Sacramento, I remember it was either that first week or so, we asked someone where they were from, and they said they were from French Camp. I'd never heard of a place like French Camp. Well, it's one of the Delta communities. And then we learned they come from Florin, they come from Stockton, and they come from Sacramento.

MN: This is when you were in Block 17 or Block...

MO: Twenty-seven.

MN: The Block 17 was earlier, right?

MO: Yeah, yeah. And we were in with the group from West L.A. in Venice, a family that was from Venice.

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