Title: Letter from Frances Haglund to her mother, 10/4/1942, (ddr-densho-275-2)
Densho ID: ddr-densho-275-2

Hunt, Idaho
Oct. 4, 1942

Dear Mom,

Since I came into camp on Wednesday morning I've written messages about my trunk only. It is time now to tell of other things, but where to begin!

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to start back with Wed. am. Mr. Paneroy[?] with his [illegible] brought me out and my first glimpse of camp was just what I had imagined. Row after row of tar covered barracks that are all the same size and all the same shape. Not so picturesque but not so bad to live in. We each have a room on one or the other side of a central hall and so far all that is in it – barring our own personal belongings – is an army cot with a mattress and two army blankets. The floors are unpainted and the walls are of pressed[?] paper with all the st[?]dings exposed.

We understand that tomorrow we are getting furniture. Until the army took over a big hotel in [illegible] that furniture was theirs so what we get probably will be pretty nice tho[?] not consistent with a barracks room.

To me the most important is that the rooms are heated and we have a bathroom with plenty of hot water. We are pioneering but[?] I know the early pioneers didn't have that much luxury[?], and pioneering more than we or their[?]. As a matter of fact the Japanese barracks as yet don't even have stoves in them and mornings and evenings are cold.

We eat in mess hall and up to now we have had a section of one of the dining rooms used by the colonists[?]. Everyone stands in line for his rice and I almost mean that literally as there have been some days that we have had rice for both dinner and supper.

When the caucasian staff gets its own mess hall that we all [illegible] changed – we hope.

The sage brush country I had seen and that wasn't new to me. The Snake river [sic] with its falls and black canyons I, too, remembered vividly but the thing I didn't imagine when I visualized a barrack city [illegible] the desert was the dust. It is awful! Construction is still going on and the clouds of [illegible] dust can not [sic] be described – only felt. As soon as the irrigation ditches are in they will plant rye[?] and will everyone be grateful! In fact, the winter here is supposed to be cold I'm almost looking forward to it if the soil is kept where it belongs.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had two so called work shops [sic] a day. Of the sixty teachers

necessary about forty have been appointed. Maybe twenty are caucasians and the others are Nisei, second-generation Japanese. Those[?] teachers with Nisei assistant teachers have been meeting with a member of the State Dept. of Educ., a guidance advisor and the director of curriculum [illegible] to devise a common philosophy; to evolve a curriculum; and to [illegible] ourselves. The educational aspects of the meeting – I mean the discussion of education as educators[?] has irked me no end bu the Japanese contributions have [illegible] me immensely. As a whole the Japanese are not too eager to expose themselves but when they have it has been intensely interesting and they do have a big problem. Many of them are college trained and professional people who were well established before they were uprooted and planted on

the desert. They haven't enjoyed having two and three families in one room any more than anyone else would and in many cases they have been hurt because they have regarded themselves as American citizens. From the conversations I believe that they have had more regard for their American rights than we who have taken our privileges for granted. In fact, there has been much [illegible] regarding the [illegible] act which was designed to deprive them of citizenship rights after the war. If such[?] an act passes and an amendment to the constitution is approved I think, as they point out no minority group would be secure in this country.

There have been so many interesting ideas brought forth that I could go on and on telling you about but let it suffice to say that I'm sure I'm going to like the Japanese. They are keen intellectually

and they have learned respect in the home and it shows.

Not only are the Japanese interesting but so too are many of the Caucasians. There are college instructors and there are missionaries on the staff. One of the missionaries taught 23 yrs. in Japan, another 13 yrs. and one taught five years in Burma.

Across the hall from me is the girl who telephoned me from Mpls. Needless to say she is Swedish in spite of the name of [illegible]. I don't know that the other Minnesotans are from the north of Europe but there are 4 of us here and another who has her masters from the U of M.

Yesterday we had a morning session only and I was fortunate enuf [sic] to get to Twin Falls to get towel[?] racks, lotions, etc. It was good to get away from the dust. Twin Falls is beautiful and yet 36

yrs. it was like this.

The same teacher who took us in town took a few of us to Shoshone Falls this afternoon. It was a beautiful day – as a matter of fact each day is beautifully sunny and by afternoon very warm but mornings and evenings are cold.

Last night was a get-together party but I'm no good as a mixer[?]. Why can't I be free and easly with people in a social way?

I remember now that I didn't tell you that I wasn't inducted into service until I got home and consequently my pay begins with that date. Induction consisted of signing a pledge to support the constitution, etc.

Also found out that we get one day at Thanksgiving and one at Christmas. No traveling

for me.

There isn't much of importance that needs telling now and writing without even something hard underneath isn't easy.

Night –
Love –
F.H.

Note added. It is the latest one we have been told about.