<Begin Segment 19>

RP: Now your father left Manzanar for farm work in Oregon.

SK: Yes he did. Yeah, he, he was, he knew how to prune trees or fruit trees and things like that so one time, I don't know when it was, he left and did farmwork up in Oregon. And then I think that was just about the time that we were gonna leave. Then he came back. And then I think he picked up the car from the friends of our family. And then he came back and then that's about the time we left and went to Gardena. And we stayed in Gardena at my, that was my grandmother's cousin. We stayed in Gardena for I think a few years. 'Cause we didn't go to, we didn't go to New Jersey until about '47.

RP: So, according to the camp records, you left Manzanar, your family left Manzanar the day before it closed, November 20, 1945. Do you have any recollections of what the camp was like in the last days or weeks?

SK: Oh yeah, I remember that. I mean, I don't remember specifically in details what it was, but I remember there was hardly anybody there. I mean, when we were leaving the camp in our car, there was nobody around. I mean the front gate there was nobody there. There was nobody in... I don't remember seeing anybody around the camp. I don't, I still remember that. And when you told me that we left the day before the camp or two days before the camp closed, I didn't realize it was that close to being closed.

RP: And you stayed, during the last few months that you were there, were you still in Block 27 or did you have to move to another block?

SK: No, we were, we stayed at Block 27 as far as I know.

RP: Some of the blocks were closed off because there was so few people in them.

SK: Yeah I don't remember moving into another block.

RP: How about the mess hall? Did you, did you eat in your block mess hall or did you have to go to another one?

SK: Oh no, we always ate at our, at our Block 27 mess hall. I remember that. And we always had the shift. They had people on an early shift and people that had a later shift. I think they so many shifts to eat at the mess hall. I remember that. But we always ate at the mess hall. As far as the food goes, I don't remember, it must have been all right. [Laughs.]

RP: Did you eat as a family or...

SK: Yes.

RP: ...amongst your friends?

SK: No, as a family. I remember that. We all went together when we went to the mess hall.

RP: That was, that was insisted upon by your parents?

SK: Probably our parents at that time. That's what I would say.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.