<Begin Segment 17>

[This transcript has been extensively edited by the narrator.]

SY: Did you end up graduating from Manzanar High School?

GN: No, I did not. I would have been in the class... in fact, I named the class from Latin. I had a very good Latin teacher, and I still have (three) friends that were in my Latin class. (They) were Henry Nakano, he lives in Fullerton, Kats Odanaka, she lives in Anaheim (and Shigeki in Alameda, California). Mary Jane Kramer's Latin class (was fun and excellent). She was very dedicated. She was young (and) pretty. She came to all of our reunions until she passed away.

SY: So you named the class what?

GN: I named the class the Duces, which means "leaders," but the kids all thought it meant "deuces." "Oh, (they thought) that's a great name." So that became the name of that graduating class of '45.

SY: So how was it that you ended up not graduating?

GN: Well, while I was going there at Manzanar (High School). I also worked for the chief of police at Manzanar, John Gilkey, and he was in charge of fingerprinting all the people that came and went from camp, and they had very accurate records. And so he taught me how to do the fingerprinting, and pretty soon they turned over all the fingerprinting to me. So even when I was in school, I would come and help him do the fingerprints after school.

SY: Everyone at Manzanar had to get fingerprinted?

GN: Fingerprinted.

SY: When they arrived?

GN: When they exited to leave to go to the outside, they had to take the fingerprints. Or if they came in as a visitor they had to take their fingerprints. And so then I was in charge of the fingerprinting. Actually, he showed me how to read the fingerprints and he had an assistant chief, they were both very good, I liked them a lot, and they taught me a lot and I learned how to do all the fingerprinting. And pretty soon they turned it over to me and I read all the fingerprints and did all the classifications. So every time I meet a person... I really like people, and I think that has made my life very enjoyable because everybody I think has something to contribute. And no matter what their station in life is, everyone has something good about them. Because I think every one of us has the spirit of God in us, every single one. There's something in everybody that they have something to give. So life has been very, very interesting. Yosh thinks I'm being nosy and too inquisitive. It's really because I'm interested in them as a person. [Laughs] So Yosh says, "You're just doing your old FBI routine again. Stop it. It's embarrassing for you to be doing your FBI routine."

SY: I don't understand... reading fingerprints? What does it involve?

GN: Oh, yes. There are these little whorls, you have to read the left whorls, you have to read the right whorls, you have to read how many lines there are in the whorl.

SY: And then that identifies the person?

GN: And then every fingerprint is different.

SY: So your job was to take the fingerprints...

GN: You take all the fingerprints and read them on the right hand and the left hand. You had to be very accurate about it, and we had a high magnification (lens to examine the fingerprints). You put this black ink and you have to roll it a certain way so you get all the areas, (even the) tips of your fingers.

SY: And you had to match it to another set of fingerprints of the same person?

GN: No, no. You get the prints and there's a place for each (fingerprint) of your (left and right) hands, and then those are kept by the FBI. (Now) they put them on microfilm. It's still the same procedure when they fingerprint you.

SY: So you were working and you were going to school at the same time?

GN: Yes. Because actually, I started in the summertime. I did fingerprinting, but I also was the secretary. I took shorthand and typed up all the (police reports). There weren't too many people in jail. One of the persons that was a repeat offender was our neighbor. We called him "Anchovy" because he was very (suntanned and) dark, and I don't know why he got the name, but my brother started calling him Anchovy. He said he reminds him of an anchovy. He'd make his own brew. And when he'd make his own brew he'd get loud and noisy and then the Manzanar police would take him down (to the jail) and he'd say, "Oh, there you are Grace-san. Tell my wife next time you come here, bring me this and bring me that." [Laughs] (Narr. note: Anchovy was very good to my brother and me. He helped us put in the garden next to our barrack in Block 29.)

SY: So you actually got to see the people that were arrested.

GN: Oh, yes.

SY: That was part of your job when they were fingerprinted. So there weren't very many people who...

GN: No, no. But we also, when they went out to work in the sugar beet fields or anything like that, we had to fingerprint them. Then any visitors that came to Manzanar. Plus, we didn't have to book that many people because there weren't that many people that violated the law. There were some domestic disputes, and there were some people that became famous for domestic disputes and then there were these fistfights.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.