<Begin Segment 18>

KL: And when you arrived at Manzanar, what did the inside of your barrack look like?

GM: I'm trying to remember, well, it was bare. Like I said, there was no linoleum yet, no plasterboard. So just like they showed on some movies and all that, and I tell people, "It wasn't always like that."

KL: How did it change? Like maybe if we were to look like it again in a month, what did it look like?

GM: Well, it was more than a month. But on the inside, like I said, they put linoleum, put plasterboard, ceiling, too. And on the outside, the older men used to water, water, water, I remember that because of the dust. And then they were given seeds, and whoever wanted to, they'd grow grass between the barracks. So some of the places had lawn in between.

KL: Did you guys have one?

GM: Yeah, we had lawn, and then they built basketball courts. I remember Block 5 because it was on such a slope, our basketball court was not below the men's bathroom, but on the side of Building 1. I remember we were very unique in that way.

KL: So you said it was alongside Building 1?

GM: Yeah, that was the manager's... whatever they called that.

KL: The block manager?

GM: The block manager.

KL: Were you ever in the block manager's office?

GM: Just to go in there to get sporting, basketball or something like that.

KL: The block manager had sports goods that you could check out?

GM: I had a funny experience, I don't know when that was. But we had a block leader that must have been what Japanese older people would call a dog, inu, maybe informing or something. Because I remember there was, in one of the barracks facing Block 1, Building 1, I guess that would be Building 7 or something like that, there was an elderly couple with a middle-aged son.

KL: It was sort of like here was Building 1 and it was this building?

GM: Yeah.

KL: Okay, so that would be 8.

GM: Oh, 8? But anyway, there was this older couple, and they were my friends and I's and Eddie again, he was the leader of the group at that time, there might have been a half a dozen of us. And this couple was trying to make a garden, vegetable garden. So Eddie, we went to the block leader's office and got shovels and rakes and all that. And I still remember when we were returning, before we returned the tools, the elderly couple, I'm not sure if they offered money, 'cause I remember Eddie was saying, "No, no, no." So they gave us some candy and all that. When we went back and returned the tools, the block manager said something that's not very nice, like, "Did you guys get some money?" all that kind of stuff. And I remember we all showed... we didn't say anything. It was not nice what he said. And some time later, Eddie, my friend, who was tough, I found years later he became a golden glove boxer in Chicago. I still remember one time I was sitting someplace on the brass, and Eddie intercepted this block leader right in the middle and challenged him. And the man was...

KL: How old was Eddie at that point?

GM: Oh, he must have... I don't know. When the war ended he was fifteen, he might have been fourteen then or something like that. And I still remember he challenged that man, and the man was just laughing, "Eddie, Eddie, I'm not scared of you," and all that. But of course... but some time after that...

KL: Was there a specific incident that that was over? Do you know if Eddie had a specific complaint?

GM: Well, I was just wondering because of that time when he made that crack at us when we helped that old man. But the interesting things was I didn't think about it. It might have been earlier than when he was fourteen. Because one day, the bad block leader lived in the barrack next to ours, I think end of Building 4, the last apartment. And a military van came and about six GIs popped out with their rifles, and I thought, "Oh my god, they're arresting this guy." And then I found out from some older guys that they came for his protection, and that was the block leader. So then years later I said, okay, my little peabrain, you know, chances are he was reporting on any activities.

KL: Did he leave the camp ever?

GM: I don't know, I never saw him again.

KL: What was his name?

GM: I don't remember that. I don't remember that, but I just remember that happening, where Eddie challenged this man. Like I say, Eddie was a little brighter than me, and he was more cognizant of what's going on, I would think. But that man was not... because he was nice to us otherwise. I remember he took us to the creek one time for a picnic and all that. But that one incident when we helped that older.. and we were doing, thought that we did a good deed, like Boy Scouts to the rescue or something, and this guy gives us a crack about, "You guys get some money for that?" and didn't say it in a nice way.

KL: Did those people, you said you planted a garden for those neighbors?

GM: Yeah, we just cultivated it for them, this elderly couple. They were older because their son must have been in his fifties, and that son had a psychiatric problem I remember.

KL: Was he in the barrack with them?

GM: Yeah, he lived with them. And some older guys told us that that man, his wife cheated on him before the war or something. But I remember he used to scare people, I mean, he never threatened anybody, but he'd be talking to himself, answering himself. So we kids used to... I know at least once I ended up in the shower, and he's the only one with me, washing.

KL: Did you stay?

GM: No, I just hurried up and... I mean, he don't do anything, he's laughing and talking. But you know, when you're a little kid, that kind of scares you.

KL: Yeah, we actually... I haven't heard a lot about how mental illness fit into the camp, so I'd be interested to hear any of your recollections.

GM: Yeah, I don't know if that was because... but I heard from some older guys that his wife, that was before the war. Because he didn't have a wife when he was in camp.

KL: How did adults in Block 5 interact with him? Did they avoid him also?

GM: I never seen him with anybody else, he would always be by himself. I know he used to, we could hear him yelling at his parents sometimes inside the apartment. I don't know if he ever did anything physical against them.

KL: Was it just the three of them?

GM: Yeah, just the three of them. And they were an elderly couple, I remember that.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.