14-12-4
Manzanar R.C.
Manzanar, Calif.

August 3, 1944

Hi there!

Yes, yes, yes, a picture of a professor with glasses came. It is pretty good. Oh yah!, the glass was cracked but pop got another one put in & it really looks as good as new!

Thanks a lot for your letters. If both of you promise to write once a week, I will write once a week too.

All of us are fine. A couple of weeks after you left, Joe, I had a bad sore throat which I possibly thought was tonsil-litis so I got pretty scared because there are at least fifteen cases which included Kazuko Suzuki.

Last Friday there was a real big fire here in camp. The first one that we ever had! Well it was around 5:15 P.M. when a guy of block 3 reported that a warehouse was on fire. It was nearly out when there was an explosion and another ware-

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house was burning. The firemen were eating at the time of the fire and they ran out of the mess hall without any firemens equipment. When the fire ended, it was around 7:30 and three warehouses were burned clear to the ground. These warehouses were warehouse 33, 34, & 35. Since two of the warehouses were of carpentry, a lot of dressers, tables, chairs, & what nots burned. Just at that time a new supply of lumber had come in and that even burned! The other warehouse was filled with paints, oils, kerosene & stuff that were really able to burn. That's what caused the explosion. Man, you should have seen the people of blk. 4, 3, 9, 10. They were really scared. They had their roofs watered & some of them even were removing their luggages.

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Since Takeo and Kohey Iiyama were on duty, they really had to fight the fire. Kohey got a badly burned arm & there is no skin or hair on that part. Takeo had his new shoes on & when he got back, they were all charred & ripped by the fire. They still don't know what cause the big fire & they are still investigating.

I sent an annual to a pal of mine in Westwood and she says it's the first beautiful thing that she saw in ages. She said Uni Hi can't get any more annuals because the government won't allow them to use the paper for annuals. Too bad, huh! I guess the Manzanar kids are really lucky to have annuals! Oh! Yes, I ordered an annual for you, Joe, and it will cost you $2.25. Ask Tor if he wants one! Okay?

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The reason I asked if Tor wants one is because I ordered one for Ray Higa because he asked one too. Then he wrote & said if I could cancel it because some one said that they already had sent one, so be sure & tell me if Tor wants one!

Yesterday Yas Kitagawa came over & we had really good chat about home. We looked in the old photo albums & laughed like anything! She asked me if I would like to go swimming & I said gosh, my daikons!, everyone will laugh! She said, Ah heck, daikons or not lets go, so we both got our outfits on & we went. We went to the north gate on the side of block 33. After traveling for a while, we got there!

We swam & swam & had a lot of fun for the 1st time in ages. Boy, I didn't have a

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swimming cap so my hair got all wet! Gosh, the first time I swam in 3 years! Was it fun. Man! did I eat! My dish was just clean! Swimming sure makes you hungry! Since my hair got wet, I had to go to typing with straight hair! Man, what a big mess!

Last Sunday, there was a big picnic at picnic grounds two. Man! blk 20, 23, 17, and 14. We brought our own lunches. We had 2 wiener sandwiches, daikon no koko, nigi nigi, orange, banana, cha shu, watermelon, egg, punch & some other stuff. Block 23 & 17 had theirs together & man, was it good! They got a lunch & then after lunch they got, ice cream, hot dogs, cantaloupe, punch and some other stuff. They were very

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kind & they gave it to us too. Our block & block 20 had a race together. It was for young & old people.

There was a race in which all of the ladies run and then peel a potatoe & then bring the peeled potato back. When all of the ladies were near the finish line, we heard a plop! and then a skid! and we all looked & it was Ben Harada's mother! Gosh, what a laugh!

There was another race where all of the fat women gathered & had to get to the post without dropping the orange off of the big tablespoon. Guess what! the fattest woman of the whole gang won the race. Man, everybody just nearly collapsed when they saw her.

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Boy, what a day! Man, the picnic sure makes anybody feel at rest.

The weather has really changed! Right after you left, Joe, it got cool all of a sudden! Now we don't suffer as much as we used to!

Typing is really still the same as usual. The teacher said that I could type nearly 50 words a minute! Gosh, what do you think about that? I can't believe it. Can you?

About the camera! Joe, I don't think it would be very wise to send your camera in camp for me to use. I think it would be way better for you to get me a brownie of my own. You know, the kind without any kinds of gajets on the top. Just the kind that you click. You can forget about this if you want to but if you want to get me one, I'll be glad to pay you with

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the $16.00 check I got for working at the block office. Since you left, that Toshiko wrote a card about the camera but it wasn't important so I just threw it away.

School is going to start on the 11th of Sept. and in Los Angeles, school will start on the 5th of Sept. By the way, how about sending me a three hole notebook! Mine got all shot! You know, that zipper one!

Well, it looks like this is all I've got to say for now, so I'll write later.

Just,

Mas

P.S. Mack Mayeda seems to have a lot of gals crazy over him! Gosh, I nearly fainted when Mits Ishida told me that. Imagine!