<Begin Segment 11>

RP: This is tape two of continuing interview with Margie Wong. And Margie, we were talking about some of your experiences at Manzanar, particularly your school experiences. And you shared with me a story about your first grade teacher, Mrs. Beakman, actually got married to somebody in the camp?

MW: Right.

RP: Tell us about that.

MW: Yeah. Mrs. Beakman was just really a sweetheart. I can see where anybody would just love her. And then we had these potbellied stoves I guess they called them. And the, every so often somebody would come and fill it up with is... it oil or kerosene or whatever it is that he, that was his job. And then I heard that after camp they got together.

RP: Really?

MW: Yes.

RP: So this would have been a Japanese American man who was filling the oil?

MW: Oh, yes.

RP: Okay.

MW: That was his job. And, yeah, everybody had some kind of job but I don't remember what my dad did. But, of course, he was elderly by then, at the time we went into camp and got out.

RP: So it's possible he may not have worked in camp.

MW: Right. But I think he did, they all used to get wood or something. And I remember we had a table or somethin' and he built the table. Yeah.

RP: And third grade you had... well, you had two Caucasian teachers in first and second grade.

MW: Yes.

RP: And then you had a Japanese American teacher.

MW: Yes.

RP: Ms. Ishida.

MW: Yes.

RP: And how was she as a teacher?

MW: There, now I'm older. So I'm beginning to, we have to read and we have assignments or whatever. So there I began to pick up more on English. And then, of course, I'm older by then so I remember more things like playing in a band. It's not like a band here, but we'd get these little utensils and bang 'em against a pie plate or something like that. It was very good. And the, I remember interacting with the, all the students, with the other students. But, just like anything else, I used to talk to this boy a lot. Just because he was interesting or I liked him. But everyone used to tease me about it. And so I stopped. I mean, you know. [Laughs]

RP: You also mentioned that you did origami in class. Part of your arts and crafts? You used to fold origami?

MW: Right, uh-huh. We had arts and yeah, it was, it's amazing what even back then we... the teachers were very innovative and creative, I must say. For being locked up there, a lot of imagination and... I owe them a lot compared to... well, when I came out I had nice teachers too but they weren't, I don't... in Utah it was really tough because I could see that maybe the teacher exactly wasn't, I wasn't her pet or anything. [Laughs]

RP: You, were there some other examples of the creativity and ingenuity that you saw in the teachers? Do you have any other stories about some of the other things that you did that you thought were very creative?

MW: Right. I remember Miss Ishida said, "Okay..." our assignment is to make things, folding... it wasn't origami but folding things. Of course paper wasn't plentiful then but somehow it was the loose paper and we would build things. And I was just amazed at how clever you can get newspaper and, and make things. It was just very, very clever. And everybody joined in, and we had a band, we sang.

RP: How about plays? Did you have plays? Little drama plays or skits or things like that that you did?

MW: We must have but I don't remember, yeah, a skit. You mean, are you talking about like a skit in my third grade or are you talking when I came out, out of camp?

RP: Oh, in third grade.

MW: Oh, in third grade. Uh-huh. It was sort of like a pantomime, pantomime. They, they were very, very creative. Now I look back to what they must have, with what they didn't have, what they didn't have, the ingenuity with which, with which the teachers invented these things.

RP: Do you, can you describe what the classroom was like for us when you first started school at Manzanar? Do you remember the classroom? Did you have desks? Did you have...

MW: Right.

RP: Many folks talk about sitting on the floor the first, first semester.

MW: Nope. Every time we went I remember that, in Miss Beakman's class we had one long table and there was a chair, like that. And I remember they gave us a, I don't know, I would fantasize that this was my, my envelope with lots of pens in it. I remember that. 'Cause we didn't have a pencil or anything. I used to fantasize about that. And here now, gosh, they just give it away freely. I'm just, just amazed.

RP: And later on, you, you had a, sort of a reunion. I think it was in 1993 of you... and you and Nancy were instrumental in trying to gather up the kids from the third grade class and...

MW: That was interesting. That was fun. 'Cause we advertised in the Rafu Shimpo. And we said, "Are you here?" And we put the picture there. And several of the students, ex-students, showed up and it was wonderful to see them. I would have liked to seen more but some people just don't like reunions.

RP: Then, then a special guest showed up, Miss Ishida herself.

MW: Yes, Miss Ishida showed up.

RP: Did you know that she was coming?

MW: Yes, we invited her 'cause we knew she was living. And that was in a wonderful thing to think. We were in camp as kids and here's our teacher still alive. We were one of the few groups to have our teacher there. So that was nice. And having a reunion, it's nice 'cause it's, it's a commonality and you see people that, "Oh, you're so and so. Wow." You don't say, "Oh, you got old." You go, "Oh, you look different." [Laughs]

RP: Oh Margie, we have this photograph of you in the third grade class.

MW: Yes.

RP: Would you mind holding that up for us and maybe pointing yourself out? So Kirk can...

MW: Okay. This is me right here. [Points to photo] I'm in the second row, right in the middle.

Off Camera: Can you point it out again please?

MW: Put it down?

RP: No, point, point yourself out again.

MW: Oh, point. Right here, this one.

RP: You've got that, those nice bangs coming down and...

MW: Bangs.

Off Camera: Okay.

MW: Okay?

RP: Okay. Good.

MW: Okay.

RP: Did you know later on about Ms. Ishida, had she been training to be a teacher?

MW: No, I don't. But that would be interesting to know.

RP: Whether she was just recruited to help out.

MW: Uh-huh.

RP: But...

MW: I'm sure she must have had some form of experience. She was an excellent teacher. Uh-huh. And...

RP: Did you, did you take any field trips with your class?

MW: No, you couldn't go out.

RP: Even just around the camp?

MW: Oh, around the camp.

RP: I mean, did you visit other parts of the camp on a field trip or...

MW: I don't remember.

RP: Did you have a recess period where you went outside and played?

MW: Right. But... uh-huh, but the camp, what I remember about the camp was there was a creek but it was outside of the, the wire. So somebody cut a hole in it and so we just went and the creek was running along the outside of the camp. And so my sisters and I went there and I remember the, my sandals, my geta or whatever, was floating down the creek, so this boy got it. So by then it must have been sort of at the end because they got lenient. 'Cause we cut the hole but nobody said anything. And I think some of the men went to catch fish or something, I heard. But nobody said anything.

RP: Did you mostly stay to your own block area or did you, did you have friends in other parts of the camp? Did you get to see most of the camp?

MW: Right, well, now in my school, for instance like, depending on what block they lived in, if you wanted to play with them after school we, we went to visit, we went to visit each other. And so, and then there was a big, that big firebreak. You had to walk through that firebreak to go every place. But, like I said, when it was windy, the government gave us those peacoats and those goggles. I will forever be grateful for those. Yeah.

RP: Goggles too.

MW: Yeah. [Laughs]

<End Segment 11> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.