<Begin Segment 14>

RP: And then you started school or finished...

KY: Yes, as soon the schools opened, we were going to school every day. But it wasn't like going to Santa Monica High School.

RP: What was it like?

KY: It was different in that you had to walk to wherever you do. You didn't have a car or anything. You had to walk. And I lived in the seventeenth block so you can imagine how far that is to the school area. School area was... since you know Manzanar, how it was, I imagine you do. It was near the front of the camp. And so we had to walk wherever we went. Wherever we went we had to walk, walk walk, walk.

RP: How was going to school at Manzanar different from San-Mo High School?

KY: Well, there was nothing but Japanese kids. And that I wasn't used to. I had no Caucasian friends there with me. And then, in the very beginning, we had to sit on the floor because there wasn't enough chairs to go around. No desks. So, it was just a bare room. And girls or boys, it didn't matter. You had to all squat down and sit on the floor. So it was an inconvenience. But later on it got better. But they were just the bare necessities.

RP: How about the quality of the teaching?

KY: It was good, it was good. The music teacher that... I had a, I had a class in music. And his name was Louis Frizzell. Do you know that name?

RP: Uh-huh.

KY: He was a nice guy, and I enjoyed being taught by him. As a matter of fact, after I left camp he and I started corresponding. Yeah. He went to New York area I think. And whenever we had a reunion, he would sometimes come to that reunion. But he was a very popular teacher. And everyone remembers him. Nice guy. He was, you know the TV program Bonanza? He was on that as a regular. Yeah. I watch it even now. The old, old films that... I'm looking to see Frizzell in there. [Laughs] But he used to write to me from New York. Yeah, when I lived in Chicago, I started corresponding with him. And I corresponded with him for some time. But he was one of the teachers that I thought was very nice and everyone liked him. And the other teachers I don't remember. But Louie Frizzell, I really remember well.

RP: What was it about Louie that kind of captured your imagination?

KY: Well, he was just a nice guy and all the kids really liked him. And so did I.

RP: So you took a music class from him?

KY: Huh?

RP: You took a music class?

KY: Yeah.

RP: Did you sing in the class too?

KY: Just sing. Sing. I didn't play any instrument. I didn't know how. I didn't have any instrument anyway. But that was one class that I enjoyed. I think because I used to enjoy singing and he tried to make it as enjoyable as ever. And everyone liked him. He passed away young. I think he was pretty young when he died. But one of these days I'll see him on Bonanza again.

RP: So you corresponded with him for a while.

KY: Uh-huh, I did. Louie Frizzell.

RP: You didn't save the letters did you?

KY: Uh-uh.

RP: And you graduated from Manzanar High School, 1943?

KY: Uh-huh.

RP: Do you remember anything at all about your graduation in the camp?

KY: No, but all the graduates were, were Japanese kids like me. Same boat as I was. And I don't know if I have a picture of that class anymore. But I had a picture of the whole class. And that was the only thing that was different from graduating from Santa Monica High School. 'Cause there was no such thing as... all one, one...

RP: And you were so looking forward to that graduation at San-Mo.

KY: Yeah, you know later...

RP: Did you think about that?

KY: ...later on, after I moved here, this woman, I don't know how I got to know her, but she approached me and said, "How would you like to talk about your experience in Manzanar with some of the Japanese people that I know?" I said, "Sure, I'll be glad to do it."

<End Segment 14> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.