<Begin Segment 7>

RP: So had you started going to your grammar school before, before you left for Manzanar?

MW: At... I went to Maryknoll.

RP: You went to Maryknoll.

MW: But I thought, I think that was, yeah, maybe first grade or kindergarten, right in there. Because the first grade that I was in in camp was first grade with Ms. Beakman.

RP: What was Maryknoll like, do you recall?

MW: Well we just went there a short while and then the, we had to go to camp. But, I can't really remember that much. All I know is we wore these uniforms and we all got on the bus.

RP: Yes, was that... you mentioned earlier about the teacher who said it'd be better if you didn't come to school after Pearl Harbor attack...

MW: No, she said I shouldn't. She said, "Don't come tomorrow." She said, "Don't come tomorrow. Don't come anymore."

RP: Was that the Maryknoll teacher?

MW: It must have been. I don't recall. All I know is went to school and my sisters came home. They, we heard the same thing. To tell you the truth I don't recall... it must have been because that's the only school that...

RP: Because most of the kids who went to Maryknoll were Japanese American, weren't they? Or were there other...

MW: Yes, uh-huh. Well, all I know is some, a teacher, somebody said, "Don't, don't come back to school."

RP: And you didn't. Did you?

MW: No.

RP: So from the time after, just shortly after Pearl Harbor to the time you left for Manzanar you didn't go to school?

MW: Let's see. That was 1942. And then we went to camp in, in...

RP: April or May?

MW: Right. So I think school was just letting out anyway. April, May, June, right? And then when we got there the semester for the first grade was starting for me at, in camp.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.