Densho Digital Archive - Margie Y. Wong Interview (denshovh-wmargie-01-0012)

<Begin Segment 12>

RP: What do you remember about the, the weather, the climate? What do you remember about that at Manzanar?

MW: That it was hot, hot, hot. And it was cold, cold, cold. Uh-huh. The two extremes, I remember that. And the wind. Oh my gosh. The wind. I remember that. That's right... of course, I was young so when you're young it doesn't bother you too much. And all I know is when, well, we'd play and then I used to see these, a lot of these black ribbons, like a wreath, on certain doors. So I went home and asked my mom, "What's that? How come everybody has those wreaths on?" And she says, "Oh, those are the people who lost somebody or their babies died when they were being delivered." So I said, "Oh, well, I never want to have a baby." 'Cause I thought, I connected it with death.

RP: These wreaths would have been on the doors of their barrack rooms?

MW: Yeah, the doors, right. Like, for instance, there were four rooms, so it would be on the person that passed away. Yeah. And we were in the hospital because, went to the hospital 'cause my sister was handicapped. So I remember her being in a wheelchair there.

RP: Did she spend a lot of time in the hospital?

MW: Well we used to go visit her, I remember.

RP: So she was pretty much hospitalized for quite a while?

MW: Right. Well, she has Osteomyelitis before we went into camp and then when we got there.

RP: Did her condition improve at all?

MW: No, she was like that. Then when we came out, I read in the Life magazine that there was this Doctor Watanabe and he did miracles on arthritis people who were all crippled up, he'd straighten it. And I thought, wow. I said gee, maybe he can help Betty, my sister. So, I asked Betty. I said, "Do you want to... why don't we go see him?" She was all excited. And so we went to see Doctor Watanabe and he said, "Wow, that's... I'll have to really study this one 'cause..." See, one leg was shorter so they had to cut a portion of this side and transplant it totally on... so it would even up her legs. And so, but Betty wanted to do it, understandably. If you're different, you want to be normal. So anyway, we went to the doctor and when my mom found out and she goes, "Oh, don't do that." She says, "That's, that's how, why God intended it. That's...." And I said, "Ma," I said, "Why do you think God made doctors? It's to fix things like that." It's sort of old-country thinking. So...

RP: So, what happened to your sister? Did she go through with the operation?

MW: Yes. She was in the hospital wow, for a month. It was major, major surgery. And it evened it up so she just walked with a little limp. She got shorter of course. And, but she was thirty-six at the time. I think she was happier overall. But then three years later she had a stroke at thirty-nine. Yeah. But I think so. I really, I really do think that she was happier.