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KP: Well, let's talk about your folks. You said they went to Seabrook Farms, how did that come about and when did that happen?

TF: After I went into the army and I was in Italy, I got word from my parents that they were starting to close the camps, and that they were offered a job at Seabrook Farms. And you know, he doesn't have any skills, so they were willing to take them. And so my mother thought, "Gee, that'd be pretty good," because if they're on the East Coast, they'll be closer when I come home. So they decided to do that. But then the sad part was, with everybody leaving, who's going to take care of the dog?

KP: That's right, we forgot about the dog. That was the... tell us where the dog came from.

TF: Oh, the dog? Well, one of things happened is that, when my brother first went there, he befriended a stray or abandoned dog. Because they didn't bring it in, it's just, people always throw animals away for some reason. But he befriended her. And so after we were called up, next thing you know, it belongs to my mother. I say my mother because when you're a teenager, you don't have anything other than, something else to do than watch a dog. But then that's how she came to live with us. And so I think we were one of the few houses where a dog actually lived inside. She was, he called her Dutchess, so we left her with that name. But she was a unique dog, because when she was outside and wants to come in, she'd scratch the door. And when you could hear it, she could come in. And yet when she wants to go outside, she points at it as a pointer would, and just stay like that. And she don't make any noise, so you don't know what she's doing. So once you spot her, then you could open the door for her, but she was that way. And my mom used to take care of her.

KP: You also mentioned that when there were other dogs in camp, then your mom --

TF: Oh, so when they're in heat, the little old lady, four-foot-ten-inches tall, would be leading the dog with a stick, and four or five dogs trailing. And so that's a sight you would see. And I don't know where the other dogs came from, but I guess they weren't living in the house of anybody. But that was one thing that they... it was easy to have a dog, because all you ask is the kitchen, and there's enough food to give to 'em. And since I had this hotplate that I gave 'em, they were able to heat some of the things also. So life was actually bearable there, because when you're poor, you don't worry about this kind of stuff. In fact, when I came back from my training ready to go overseas, it was my birthday. And they didn't have anything, and so she opened a can of peaches and we had that, you know. The best thing I could remember. And I also wanted to go visit the Catholic priest because I went through the things with him, and I kind of wanted to say goodbye. And I was going to go, and Dutchess wanted to go also. And it's in January, and I figure, oh, what the heck, I'll take her. And so we go, and Block 5 is in one corner, and so the church was on the other end, you know, sort of like the hypotenuse. And so we get there, and I tell her to sit down by the tree, and I go inside, and I talked to the Father, and he wanted to baptize me because I'm going overseas and I might get killed. And I told him, "I just can't be baptized for that reason. That's the worst reason I could think of to get baptized, so I'm going to decline." Then after a while, I went out another door, and almost reached home and realized, oh, Dutchess, I forgot about her. And so I walked all the way back there, and there she was, patiently waiting for me. And then when I called her, she perks up and comes running to me, and we marched home quite happy. I don't know the significance of that, but it seems like it's always part of my life that loyalty is sort of an important thing.

KP: So when your parents went to Seabrook, the problem was...

TF: The problem was what are they going to do? Because everybody they knew was leaving, and they're not going to abandon her. And so they decided that they're going to ask a veterinarian to put her to sleep. And when I heard that, I wrote back and told them, "I think that's the best thing we can do, because at least she had time with a loving family." And so they had the veterinarian put her to sleep. But that made it hard, because after my son grew up and my folks came to stay with us, they didn't like the idea of us having any animals because, you know, it's too hard getting rid of them. So everything played on the same piano you might say. It's sort of like my life, the same piano is playing. I think like I'm just going through the motions, because things have worked out so well for me.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.