<Begin Segment 30>

KL: You went back to Manzanar at some point. When was that visit to Manzanar?

HF: Well, see, one year we took a trip to Idaho, my sister and her husband, we took them. Because her husband doesn't drive, she doesn't drive anymore. So we went up to Idaho.

KL: Was that when you were living in Las Vegas?

HF: Yes, uh-huh. And then on the way back, we stopped at Manzanar. We went to Idaho because my brother-in-law's aunt had a ninetieth birthday party. And that must have been about 1980, or no, 1997 or somewhere around there.

KL: What did you do while you were there at Manzanar?

HF: At Manzanar? Well, first I worked at camouflage.

KL: But I mean on your visit back with your sister.

HF: Oh, when I visited? We just, they didn't have, it wasn't a park then, so we just drove around and said, "Oh, that's where we lived." But there wasn't anything there for us to see. She wanted to see it, too, because she hadn't gone back, my sister. He'd never gone because he was never in a camp.

KL: Your brother-in-law?

HF: My brother-in-law, uh-huh.

KL: What kind of questions did he ask? What did he think, or was he pretty quiet?

HF: Well, kind of disappointed in what kind of place we had to live, you know. It was bare. Of course, he didn't see it had the barracks there or anything. Now they have the auditorium, I hear it's very nice.

KL: I think it is. A lot of people think it is. What was it like for your sister? She was the one who initiated it. How did she respond to being there?

HF: She didn't say anything too much. Because it was so different when we saw it. I think if it was original, then it would have made more of an impression. But because it was so different, she didn't say too much.

KL: What about you? What kind of memories came up while you were there?

HF: Well, I really wanted to see where we lived, and, of course, that wasn't there, so I was kind of disappointed, too. Just slabs.

KL: I'll have to send you a picture of that garden in Block 22 and 34, actually, too, because both of those have been excavated, and the hospital one. So yeah, I'll have to send you pictures of those.

HF: Thank you.

KL: And you said you've never attended any of the Manzanar pilgrimages, just that one visit?

HF: Pardon me?

KL: You've never attended a Manzanar pilgrimage, you just made that one visit?

HF: No, I never did. I know Rosie went every year.

KL: In the 1970s, actually, and into the '80s, people started organizing to ask for redress. Were you involved in redress issues at all?

HF: No, I wasn't involved, but we did get our...

KL: Were you aware that people were advocating for redress?

HF: Oh, yes, we were aware of it.

KL: What did you think of that movement?

HF: Well, we thought we'd never get it, you know. I didn't think we'd ever get it, but we were surprised that we got it. And then we shared it with our children.

KL: What did they think of it, your kids?

HF: They were happy to get the money. [Laughs]

KL: And then within the years after that, there was a presidential apology issued by President Bush for the wartime treatment. Do you remember getting that letter?

HF: No, I don't remember.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.