<Begin Segment 10>

KL: So this is tape two of an interview here with Robert Fujioka on June 20th of 2012. And you were going to share something, you were starting to say the last time you were in Sawtelle?

RF: What was I going to say? [Laughs]

KL: Oh, that's okay, I just didn't want to interrupt you.

RF: Well, I was just going to say that Sawtelle at that time was a very sleepy little city, in fact, very rural, because there were a lot of dirt roads still. And south of what is now Olympic was a train track, Exposition train track, where a bunch of hobos used to live. And so that was a place where it was a pretty spooky place for us, so we wouldn't trek out there too far. But there was not much vehicle traffic, and so things were very quiet. And, of course, being the Depression period, there was not much to do except have free time to play.

KL: Outside. Where we had left off before, we were talking about your being at the Japanese school to depart on the buses to go to Manzanar, and we were thinking that perhaps Mary's family was also there, which...

RF: I'm sure they were, because all the people that lived in Sawtelle were leaving from that same spot.

KL: What was the bus ride like? What are your memories of that?

RF: Well, I don't recall an awful lot about the bus ride except the stop in the desert, because there were no restroom facilities on the way large enough to accommodate all the people. So I have my recollection, and the thing I remember is how people had to scurry out in the desert and find whatever bush they could find and relieve themselves and hop back on the bus. That was kind of an eye-opener for me. That's about the only thing, memorable thing I recall on the ride up.

KL: There was just one stop like that?

RF: As I can recall, yeah.

KL: How many people were on the bus, do you think? Was it a caravan?

RF: Yeah, I guess there was a caravan. I would imagine there were probably around twenty or thirty people on each bus, maybe a little more.

KL: How many buses do you think there were?

RF: I don't recall, but there had to be six, seven, or maybe ten buses, I'm not sure. I don't recall.

KL: And when you arrived at Manzanar, what time of day was it?

RF: It was dusk, and so it was starting to get dark and cold and windy. And, of course, when we get off the bus, it's a lonely desert, and black huts, and kind of cold and dusty. Strange land, so you weren't certain what was going to be ahead of you. But the first thing they did was to register the family, gave us tags, like I think it was on the clothes. And the thing I remember is having to fill a sack with hay, so I could have a mattress for my bed.

KL: Were there people to meet the buses? Did you see people when you arrived?

RF: Yes, there were people. I don't recall how many there were, but there had to be people that would sign the families in. I don't remember much of that, though.

KL: Was it in a building that you signed in?

RF: I don't recall being in a building. All I remember, it was a very dark and dismal place, because you couldn't see the beauty of the mountains at that time. All you could see are these black huts in this lonely place, and it was pretty desolate.

KL: How did you find Block 14, do you remember that walk?

RF: No, I don't remember how we found that. But it was, it's close to the entry area, so it must not have been too long a walk for us to get there. I don't recall.

KL: But most of the people you traveled with went west to other...

RF: I'm not sure about that. I don't know... they couldn't have, because most of the people from West Los Angeles, Sawtelle, settled up in the western upper part of the camp which was, was it Block 30-something? No, 20-something? Twenty-three, yeah, up there, where our 14 was right next to the highway. In fact, there was a fire station there somewhere, and right across the firebreak was the main administration building. So we were separated from all the people in Sawtelle. I suppose there may have been a few other families, but I don't know why we were, why that happened. And as I said, most of the families around us were from the San Fernando Valley.

KL: Were they already there, or were they moving in, coming in?

RF: I don't recall. I think they were already there, but I don't recall.

KL: And you said you remember stuffing a mattress?

RF: Yeah. And you walk up into a tarpapered building. I think, I'm not sure whether... yeah, I don't recall. I seem to remember there were cracks, so it couldn't have been tarpaper, they were dark. But the wallboards had spaces between them so you could feel the air coming through. Maybe that was the floor. The buildings were tarpapered, the floor was just floorboards, and it was cracks between the boards, so the air was coming up. Later on they put linoleum on there, and later on they put... what's the... plasterboard walls in. But for a long time we still had the air coming in, that's coming in from the floor and from parts of the ceiling, I think. And there was a oil stove in the center, and metal cots that we put our straw mattresses on, and a single lightbulb in the center. So it was not like going to an outdoor camp, but more like a, just a garage facility. It was pretty dismal, but I guess we were all tired enough so that we were able to sleep reasonably well. I don't remember that. I remember my first experience in a mess hall, or they have these metal folding, what do you call, not plates...

KL: Army kits?

RF: Yeah, kits with the folding handles, kind of heavy and kind of slippery.

KL: Was that that night that you remember?

RF: I think so. Then they had a cup, a metal cup with a folding down handle. Not very appetizing things to have food with, but I recall the food wasn't very good anyway, so it didn't matter.

KL: It was fitting maybe, right?

RF: Yes, sustenance.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.