Densho Digital Archive - Nori Masuda Interview (denshovh-mnori-01-0013)

<Begin Segment 13>

TI: So we're gonna start again. So earlier you talked about after December 7th, the Rose Bottling Company had to shut down?

NM: Oh, I was talking about that, huh?

TI: Right. But after that, you said you went to the Buddhist church to help out? So after you, the Rose Bottling Company closed down...

NM: Yeah.

TI: Then you went to the Buddhist church to help?

NM: The Rose Bottling, okay, they can't go more than five miles.

TI: Right.

NM: And most of their business is outside.

TI: Right.

NM: So all they did was local. And that was a short time, you know. So they knew time was short, now. 'Cause they knew we were gonna move. I didn't think it was gonna happen. I thought that would never... U.S. government won't do that.

TI: But after the Rose Bottling closed down, what did you do after the Rose Bottling?

NM: When Rose Bottling closed down? They ran the local.

TI: But, no, what did you do?

NM: Me? I went to the church. I helped the, all the minister was taken. There was about five minister. Except one minister, he was a Nisei. All the others, Issei, or they came from Japan. So that's why they got taken in. They figured they might be spies. But the Nisei, he was the only one at the church. So we were lucky we had one, anyway. So I helped at the office, yeah. And then I took care of all that, and then we had to close that church. Nobody there, nobody come there now. So what we gonna do? We got, you know, those ashes? There was over three hundred ashes in the small room like this at the church. You know, there was an altar there on the left side room? You go in there, you smell the ash smell. Anyway, we told, in the newspaper, we told people who had their ashes there, "Please come and get it. For those of you who don't want to take it, donate ten dollars, we'll collect the ten dollars, we'll make a little vault." So we announced that, we got the money, we built the vault, it's still there. It's a small vault, but we put that all in. But bringing that here, over there to the cemetery was another thing. Oh, god, that's heavy, those ashes. And then one, 1918, church was fired, that thing all burned down. So the ashes, they picked up what ash they thought was human ash and put it in one big box. And then people that came said, "My family no ash is not here." That means, okay, we'll mix one, we made that.

TI: Oh, so out of the bigger box, they made a smaller one?

NM: No, it's made out of copper, yeah. Metal anyway. Then we used to give it to them as their nani. If they want to leave it, "Okay, you could leave it, we'll put it in the safe." We built that thing back there in the yard there. You know, where we have a memorial service at the graveyard? Well, there's one small building, we put a lot of things in there. So lot of 'em that wants it in there, they take that. So nothing is in there. So that's why that room smells different. Gee, but taking that over there was hard. There was Muneshige, Ito, there was about four or five people all the time coming to church, and then they helped us.

TI: And then what else did you have to do to make the church ready for when you left?

NM: To move out?

TI: Yeah, what else?

NM: That time, we have to have a doctor, you know, this and that. Everybody got together. Doctors got together, nurses got together, then they said if we're going into the camp, boy, we got to give 'em shots. Dr. Taira was the leader. He's the one that did all the, what to give and all that. Dr. Taira, Dr. Kozado Hashiba. Anyway, some of the doctors all got together, too, and they helped out at the church, they'll give you a shot before we went into camp. That's why everybody gathered there. Oh, god, some kids don't want to get shot, yelling. Some kids are afraid, yeah. And then we have one kid, I still remember, he just won't budge, but he finally got it. He's still around. [Laughs] Yeah.

TI: How about --

NM: And then we told everybody who wants to get certain kind of shot, come and get it. There was no charge. And they came and they got it. So they had, about two, three times, they had shot for the people around Fresno that's going in the camps. They knew, you know. So they have, got their shots.