Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Massie Hinatsu Interview
Narrator: Massie Hinatsu
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Portland, Oregon
Date: July 22, 2010
Densho ID: denshovh-hmassie-01-0011

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RP: This is a continuation of an oral history with Massie Hinatsu. This is tape two. And Massie, we were just chatting about some of your most vivid recollections of the Portland Assembly Center. And one thing that we wanted to talk about was the infamous typhoid shots.

MH: Yes. I think we went through maybe around the three different time shots. I think the hardest part was waiting in line. You know, there's three thousand people in that camp. We all had to have a shot. It was a very, very hot summer. The first shot I think the only shot that I've ever had in my life was maybe smallpox because all had to have smallpox shots when we were little. And it hurt. Oh, it was... hurt. My arm got hard and hot. So, you know, we were, the second time we had to get a shot we were thinking oh my gosh do we have to go through this again? Yeah, we had to go through it again. I can remember some people who just fainted because of waiting in line and being so hot. And probably a little bit fearful too because it's not a pleasant thing to have typhoid-tetanus shots.

RP: Where were the, where were the shots given?

MH: I think they were given in the dining area. Right, and we just lined up and, and hoped we'd get through it real quick, as a child anyway.

RP: You mentioned a very common cliche about camp life was waiting in line.

MH: Yes. Waited in line to go eat. We waited in line to take a shower. Sometimes we waited in line to use the bathroom. We waited in line to, at the rec center. We waited in line at the PX. Yeah, there's a lot of waiting in line. I mean, there were three thousand people there. So, we just couldn't do whatever we wanted to do at times, right.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.