Densho Digital Archive - Sumiko Yamauchi Interview (denshovh-ysumiko

<Begin Segment 17>

WP: And so you graduated from high school at Manzanar?

SY: Yeah. I graduated in June, and then we left in June, the latter part of June the same year. But then they already told us they were going to close camp, and that was the last, we were the last class that was gonna graduate, and then school was gonna close.

WP: Did you have ideas of what you wanted to do after high school? No interests or any subjects that...

SY: I was, I think I was looking forward to seeing what New Jersey was going to look like you know, which was a shock.

WP: Did you have a lot of contacts with the administrative staff? What about he military police who worked at Manzanar or manned the guard towers there?

SY: We very seldom saw each other. Never saw them, I mean, from a distance. And near the end of the camp, you never saw them unless you went all the way to the front gate where that tower was, and there's always one, somebody in the patrol. And then if you looked that way, you could see the soldiers marching or walking around. That's about it, and they never came in. Everything was run by ourselves; the whole came was run by ourselves, governed by ourselves. And the only representative we had was the block manager who used to, I guess, have a meeting here one a month or once a week, I have no idea, you know, they hashed these things over, what needs to be done or what different problems. If there was any problem in our block, it was always the block manager we went to. So it was up to him to decide what to do at the general meeting or whatever. And that was with Mr. Ralph P. Merritt.

WP: What do you remember about Ralph Merritt?

SY: Very seldom that I would see him, very seldom. Not that I wanted to see him, I had nothing to do with him, but we just never saw him.

WP: Was there tension in camp?

SY: No.

WP: No?

SY: Well, what kind of tension?

WP: Was there political tension between different organizations?

SY: No. If there was, I wasn't aware of it. I don't think there was.

WP: Do you remember the Manzanar Riot is what many people call that?

SY: Okay. You know, yes, I remember the riot, and it wasn't where I lived, it was down further near... and it started out with... okay, let's really get... when they had the riot, it was in the Los Angeles Times saying that we were trying to break out and all this bad stuff. And then, because I didn't know anything about it, and I only knew what I heard, so I assume, okay, maybe somebody tried and they were trying... and then later on, there was a piece of... Manzanar had a newspaper, Free Press or something like this, I can't remember what it was.

WP: The Manzanar Free Press.

SY: Yeah. It used to come out, what, once a month or or once a week or something. And there was a little cartoon picture, and it showed two guys, editorial, it was a little editorial, and it said this guy is beating this other guy, this other friend is over there, he's beaten up. This one friend says, "What are we fighting for?" and that's what it was. Somebody had... by the way, do you still have the apple orchard out there?

WP: Yeah, we do.

SY: Okay. The apple orchard, what we did was a bunch of bachelors went out there and picked the pear, there were pear orchard, too, right? They used to pick the pear orchard and the apple orchard and take it to their barrack and make wine. Somebody heard about it, and they wanted some of that, and they weren't gonna give it away, and so that's where the riot went. And actually, once the riot started, like, oh, so-and-so's fighting, let's go over there and see what's going on, and they get into it. So when you see that cartoon, it is true, what are we fighting for? They didn't know what they were doing. So the newspaper said that we were trying to break out and cause trouble and all this stuff, and they took some of the men out of camp, I can't remember what it was. So I have no idea whatever came of the story. What do they say right now?

WP: So two men were killed in the Manzanar Riot that happened in December of 1942.

SY: Something like that.

WP: And similar, in the Los Angeles Times newspaper, it was told to many people that it was on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, there's been a lot of debate that that wasn't really the case. And there's been a lot of debate as to why the riot happened, the reasoning for it happening. A lot of people talk about conflict over sugar rations...

SY: We didn't have any sugar ration. [Laughs] Well, now wait, yes, we did. Okay, go ahead.

WP: Or, no, feel free... what were you going to say about sugar?

SY: Well, I remember sugar. the only way you can get sugar was drinking coffee with your milk. And so I used to always say, "Could I have my sugar in my little cup?" and I would save that sugar. Because you're allowed one teaspoon for your coffee. But instead of my coffee, I used to get it in my... and I would save it. And then I would order a cake mix out of the catalog, and I'd use that sugar to make my cake. And so, yes, there was sort of a ration, I guess, but I don't remember ever having a riot over that. They told me that it was because of the apple being, they were making wine.

WP: And I know another aspect people talk about is the conflict between political organizations that were organized around the Kibei and Nisei and how there were a lot of these divides between generational...

SY: Well, the Kibeis were, as you know, born here and raised in Japan, and came back. And there were quite a few of 'em, but they were bachelors, most of 'em were bachelors. I think that's where the argument really started. I do know... the Isseis, they were all married and had kids, so I don't remember them having any animosity towards politics other than my father, he said, "I'm going back to Japan." But he wasn't going to stand there and reach over the head because you weren't gonna go, or whatever. But I don't remember... of course there were a lot of people who were diehard, they were... Japan was gonna win and all this stuff, which is, they're right. I don't know if you ever saw Allegiance. Did you hear about it?

WP: I haven't seen it. I heard a little bit about it.

SY: Well, they came to San Diego, and they were very good. And the thing that I liked about it was they told both sides. Not about the Japanese that were American, but the Japanese that was for Japan, and the Kibeis and all this. And it kind of explains to you what the problem was, which I was very glad that they told both sides of it, because I don't want ugly stuff covered with fancy frosting, you know, to make it look good. The truth came out, and I enjoyed that very much. And I guess that's the reason why it did very well here in San Diego. It was sold out play, musical, that's what it was. But, so at my age, I didn't think politics entered into it. You know, be misplaced here and there, but in a way, it wasn't that bad. I didn't like back east, but I didn't go, and I'm glad I didn't.