Densho Digital Archive - George H. Morishita Interview (denshovh-mgeorge

<Begin Segment 23>

GM: Because I know that in our block, one of the buildings was a grammar school about three classes, third, fifth and sixth or something like that. And I'm not sure if that was, what building that was, Building 5, Building 6, or something like that. I think the whole building was a school.

KL: Is that where you attended school?

GM: Yeah, fifth and sixth grade I went to that school in our block. And because it was a grammar school, none of our apples ever turned red, they were all picked green. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but Eddie and I and I think one other guy, we were going to see a movie again, and I think we walked to Block 29 or somewhere, and we came across, between two barracks, apple trees with red apples and we went crazy, and knocking them down and picking them. And there was two or three kids standing on the road looking at us, and we thought, "What's wrong with them?" Finally a man came out of one of the apartments with a broom just yelling at us, and my friends just dropped and ran. And I was begging him, and he was pounding the heck out of me, and I didn't get no apples. We ended up laughing about it later, you know, stupid, we should have known. But we never saw red apples in our block. Yeah, that was funny.

KL: What were the classrooms like? Would you describe them inside the grammar school?

GM: Well, it was just like one of the apartments, and then the teacher had the desk in the front. I don't remember if we had a table for two people, or was it one of those school desks that had the arm thing, I don't know if it was that fancy. We didn't stand up or anything like that, we had seats and all that. I don't remember too well.

KL: How did it compare to your schools in the flats, or to Utah Street School?

GM: I just remember when I was in junior high school near the end of the war, this one... I think he had visual impairment, but he was a special, he was not a regular teacher. I talked to some of the guys and they remembered him. I think his name was Mr. Greene. But he pounded into us one day. "You guys are the dumbest people, kids I ever had. I don't know what's going to happy to you when you go back to Los Angeles. I'd be so embarrassed to be associated with you. You've got to study," and all that. Then I come out of camp and go, "That son of a gun." But I remember he was really pounded it into us, "You guys are dumb. I can't believe how stupid... I'd be so embarrassed if I had..." you know.

KL: What was your reaction?

GM: Well, I mean, I didn't get mad or anything like that, I thought, "Oh, my god, gee." How do I know? I couldn't compare. Then when I came out of camp, I was okay.

KL: Do you remember any other teachers?

GM: No. I think I was mentioning I got kicked out of class because...

KL: I wanted you to tell that story. I don't know if it's the same one, but I heard one last year.

Off camera: You started to talk about it this morning.

GM: Yeah, in the seventh grade, his older brother and I became friends with Nakajo. But in seventh grade, and his younger brother and I were the same age, and like my friend Eddie in Block 5, Mas was a little bit more mature than me and all that. And one day he gets my attention, and he starts making faces and I started laughing. And then he kept doing that, "George, George, George," and after a while...

KL: What kind of faces?

GM: Oh, like a goldfish with his mouth. Finally the teacher called both of us out, and I started to protest, "Oh, please," I was pleading, I mean, this never happened. And then Mas says, I still remember, he said, "George, we better go, she's pretty upset." And I'm going...

KL: Was it Mas who made the faces or his brother?

GM: Oh, yeah, he was the one that said, "George," he got my attention, and I looked at him, and she's lecturing, you know. And he starts making these funny faces, and I started laughing. They kept it up. And so she finally broke in and said, "Out."

Off camera: George, just to clarify, Mas's younger brother was also know as Mas, so you're talking about the younger Mas, right?

GM: Yeah. That's the first half of their name.

Off camera: Right.

GM: Masatsugi, Masahiro or something like that. Yeah, because when I first met Mas here, when he mentioned his last name, Nakajo, that's very unusual. So I thought, oh, my goodness. Then I said, last year I met the same, they were from Block 4, I said, "Hey, I met Roy Murakami. And then he goes, "Oh, yeah, he passed away." Then he said, "My kid brother was his friend," and I go, "Oh, I was your kid brother's friend, too."