<Begin Segment 19>
RP: Some of the camps like Manzanar and Tule Lake had a lot of tensions and problems. Did you...
KN: No, I didn't know anybody that in... they went, all went to Tule Lake I think.
RP: Right. So one, one issue that came up was this "loyalty questionnaire."
KN: Oh yeah. We had to sign this paper. Do you... get the side of the Japan or United States... it's a weird wording that you didn't know how to answer. They just want to know if you're gonna go for the United States or Japan when.... 'cause some, some Issei men, they said they're gonna go home to Japan. A lot of 'em did. But all of us, we never been to Japan so we just stayed loyal to the United States. But it was a lousy worded questionnaire that we all had to sign.
RP: Uh-huh. Right, very confusing and...
KN: Yeah, a lot of 'em did go to Tule Lake to Japan. 'Cause they didn't want us to... they thought they'd been treated harshly being a citizen so they just voted no and then a lot of them did go to Tule Lake and had a hard time once they got to Tule Lake.
RP: There was a fair number of people from Jerome that went to Tule Lake.
KN: Yeah, uh-huh. And some of 'em they went to Tule Lake and wanted to go to Japan, wanted to go back to Japan. And there was an exchange ship that came and took them and I heard they thought they were gonna have a life over on in Japan. They went to Japan. They couldn't have anything to eat and they really suffered. They were so sorry that they went to Japan. They should have stayed in the United States, 'cause they didn't even have enough to eat. They have to dig stuff off the ground and then all the relatives didn't have anything to eat so they couldn't feed them either. So they had an awful time I heard. So they should have stuck, stayed here, not go to Japan through Tule Lake. But they thought they're gonna have a good life in Japan and took off on that Gripsholm, I think, exchange ship.
RP: Right.
KN: But then no, they didn't even have enough to eat I heard. And then all the relatives they thought they were gonna feed them, they didn't have anything to eat either. So they couldn't even support them. So, I heard they took stuff out of the ground and ate it. I heard they had an awful time.
RP: Right. So you were aware of some of the divisions that developed over this --
KN: Yeah, we heard about it.
RP: -- "loyalty questionnaire"?
KN: Yeah.
RP: And...
KN: We had, all of us, we had no intention of going to Japan so we just put loyalty here and we stayed here.
RP: And your father had no intentions either.
KN: No. He wasn't going anywhere where his family is not going anywhere.
RP: Once you have a family that size, you're stuck.
KN: Yeah. We all stayed.
RP: Now, your dad was an Issei.
KN: Yeah.
RP: And Issei were ineligible to become naturalized citizens.
KN: That's right.
RP: Until 1952 or '53.
KN: Yeah. But he was too old then.
RP: Do you think he would have become a citizen if he...
KN: No, I don't think so. He's eighty years old.
RP: No, earlier. If he, if he was allowed to become a citizen?
KN: I don't think so. He never talked about it.
RP: Oh, okay. Did you have any contact at all with the military police at Jerome? Any conversations or just...
KN: Just my brother who was in the army.
RP: Oh. How about the men that were guarding the camp in Jerome?
KN: No. They were all hakujin soldiers, and they weren't doing anything. They're just patrolling back and forth. They didn't do a damn thing. They had the easiest job I thought. Just take a rifle and they go back and forth and back and forth, didn't do a damn thing.
RP: You talked about the staff of the camp. And that they were, they didn't know very much early on. They were sort of inexperienced.
KN: Yeah, yeah, hakujin soldier. They found out a lot of stuff they didn't know anything about.
RP: Right.
KN: But then ones that we met, they were nice, nice people. They were mostly soldiers. But then they're mostly from Arkansas, Texas. You know, they have that accent. But they were nice, nice soldiers. They treated us good.
RP: How about the staff that you worked with?
KN: Yeah, they're all right. They weren't too friendly but then we worked for them.
RP: Was there anybody that stood out in your mind that, who you sort of struck up a friendship with or...
KN: No, they were real high up. They thought they were so much better than us. Of course they had no secretary so I have to take dictation from them and they were terrible letter writers. They never, they never had a secretary to take their, what they were saying. And they were saying just to go to... no sense at all. He'd just go back and forth, and back and I have to write it all.
RP: Did you or any other members of your family get into any arts or crafts or hobbies in camp?
KN: I don't know. My sister did some I think. But I'm not very good at those things. I never did anything.
RP: Wood carving or...
KN: No.
RP: Anything. No?
KN: But a lot of people did. Yeah, you could see their work on an exhibit and gee, they looked good. They'd carve birds and stuff and it looked good.
RP: How about your barrack room? Do you remember...
KN: There's nothing.
RP: Did it change over time? Did you get any furniture or...
KN: No.
RP: No?
KN: Whatever you need you have to make it. My father made those chairs with wood. He got it from the lumber yard and he made some chairs and stuff. We didn't have anything. Nothing in our, in our barrack. You just have to make it yourself if you wanted something.
RP: And he was a carpenter you said.
KN: Yeah, my father was a carpenter so he made some stuff and then all the neighborhood, they all bring some slats and want my father to make them chairs and table and stuff. He had a full time job 'cause... beside our own, the neighbors all wanted him to... bring some lumber and wanted him to make chairs and tables or whatever, 'cause we didn't get anything in camp.
RP: Any other vivid memories that you have about your experience at Jerome?
KN: No. I never talked to anybody. Nobody's interested. [Laughs]
<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.