<Begin Segment 14>

SY: Were you, I would imagine that, having been born very close to camp, you were very young, that you were really surrounded mainly by Japanese Americans as you were growing up, in your very young, formative years.

NG: Right.

SY: So the Caucasians, do you, were there very many? Did you notice the difference other than this woman?

NG: You know, we just did not, except -- and the boss, he was, he was Caucasian, right?

SY: And what was the relationship --

NG: Of course, he was in a different class. I was scared of him.

SY: You were scared of him?

NG: Yeah, he was not warm and fuzzy.

SY: Did he have family that lived there?

NG: He did. His, we never saw his wife. She, when he, the story is that when he said he's gonna buy this -- maybe it was his place -- when he was gonna farm there she said, "I'll never step foot on that." She was against it. So we never saw her. She never, never came. Her son, his sons worked there, his two sons. One of 'em was really nice and the other one was just like him, cold. But my mom liked him a lot. He was...

SY: Yeah, it's such an interesting living environment. So what happened with the oldest, the older daughter that, of the woman who committed suicide?

NG: Okay, so they moved to Los Angeles.

SY: After, you said...

NG: Okay, you mean my neighbor, the neighbors?

SY: Right.

NG: Okay, so after the mother dies they move to Los Angeles.

SY: And you never saw them again.

NG: And I never saw them, but I did, I did talk to her. When we moved out here many, many years later, I called her -- I don't know how I got the numbers, got the number -- and she, even her voice sounded so worldly, I mean, streetwise. 'Cause she had now, she had married a, she had married an African American who was... you know, that period of time there was a lot of gangs, and he was, he was part of a gang. She was, I mean, I think they were fine and everything, but she, as we were talking, it was to her, that life on that was so remote to her now, 'cause...

SY: Interesting.

[Interruption]

SY: So I'm, we're very curious about Mandeville Island, so I'm just, and I know you told me, how long was your family there?

NG: Ten years. That was not the plan. The plan was to raise enough, earn enough money so my dad could come back to the valley and start, open up a garage.

SY: But there was enough work for him there...

NG: Yeah, he was the head of mechanics. I mean, they, he didn't start off as the head mechanic, but eventually they did. I think he was making, what, sixty-five cents an hour. They worked ten hours, he work ten hours a week, ten hours a day.

SY: But mainly he worked on the equipment, then.

NG: Right. He did, he fixed all the tractors and trucks.

SY: There were no cars to speak of there.

NG: No, we had a car. Couple of people, not too many people had cars. Later on they did. But I think we were one of the few that had a car.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.