<Begin Segment 19>

RP: Do you remember, well, just going to the north of Block 33 there was a large area with a lot of large cottonwood trees.

MY: Yes, is it still there?

RP: Yes.

MY: That's where we would go to butcher the rabbits, and that's where we would bury the entrails, and we would hop over that creek. Sometimes there would be very, very little water, and sometimes there'd be lots of water.

RP: Still inside the camp?

MY: Yes. Yeah, we didn't have to go outside for that. And where's Bairs Creek?

RP: Bairs Creek is on the, sort of the southwest corner of camp.

MY: Yes, it's beyond where the administration buildings are, right?

RP: Right. Yeah, further to the west and to the south, and the creek came right inside the corner of the camp.

MY: It was inside the camp, right? Yes, because we used to go there to play in the summertime, Bairs Creek, and I liked it but the water was just ice cold. [Laughs] But in the summertime that was some relief.

RP: Felt good.

MY: And when we went and barbecued meat, we went near Shepherd's Creek, which is north of camp. Yeah, and somehow the men would get someone to get a truck, because we would have to take, like barbeque something from the mess halls, where you could put your meat on top of it, the grill. And they had, somehow they got the charcoal, and we had the meat, and some of the women made onigiri, rice balls. We had a real good time.

RP: Had a picnic.

MY: We did that at least two or three times. Towards the end, like in 1945, they were becoming a little bit more lax and allowing us to go out, and I think some of the men went fishing on their own. Because the guard tower north of us, I don't know if it's the same guard, but they were very friendly and if you explained to them why you were going out, maybe they looked the other way, just knew that the way you're dressed, you go with your fishing pole or with your children, you're not gonna go very far.

RP: Did you have any personal conversations with the military police at all?

MY: No, I was never to say anything to them.

RP: That was according to your dad.

MY: Yes, especially when we're negotiating...

RP: Rabbit traps.

MY: [Laughs] Rabbit hunting. And there was really no need for me to speak. They always spoke to the adults, never to the, well, for me, they never spoke to me.

KP: Richard, we've got a couple minutes on this tape.

RP: Okay. As far as you know, Madelon, did your father ever go out to fish as well?

MY: No. Fishing was not one of his hobbies.

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