<Begin Segment 13>

EB: So when you left, where did you go and why did you...

GS: Because it was so financially (difficult), my father said, "This is no way to start life anew again, we just can't." But he did not have the financial means to bring us back to California, so we, he took us to a little community in New Jersey called Seabrook Farms. It was a frozen food processing plant, and it was a community that was hiring a lot of people because of the big plant there, that they contracted out to the U.S. government. And they had business, work pretty much all year round. So my dad moved us there, and my grandparents moved back to Los Angeles, not quite knowing what the situation was going to be like, but anyway, they did come back to Los Angeles. And then we went to New Jersey, and we lived there probably about four years. And then ultimately we came back to Los Angeles, because our parents really wanted to come back here to California when they were able to.

EB: Was it ever hard to find housing in any of those places?

GS: In New Jersey it was not, and that was another reason why my dad (decided) to move us there, because he was, he went to scout out the area, and he found that he could get a job. Even my mother could get a job in the plant. It's not the best, but I mean, at least there would be a job. And then there was a child care center there for the children. At least Mr. Seabrook, the man who started this place, had the foresight to have a child care center built and staffed with very good teachers. So knowing that he could get a job, my mother could get a job, there would be housing, not the best, but at least a place to live. So that's where we moved to. And then when we moved there, we found out we were back in barracks again like camp, with communal toilets and a cafeteria, and basically, what happened was there was so many people moving there at that time that Seabrook proper, that little village, had no more housing available. So then Mr. Seabrook had to contract with this former prisoner of war camp, and that's where we were placed. That's where we lived for several months. And then when housing became available in Seabrook proper, then we moved there. And again we were put in barracks, but at least we had running water and a stove and a refrigerator. But we still had communal bathroom facilities. And then there was another move after that, when we finally moved over into an apartment, which was a little better.

EB: Yeah. And so your mother worked there, too?

GS: So my mother worked, yes. And the four of us were put into the child care center during the day.

EB: And that was her first job outside the home then?

GS: Basically yes, right.

EB: Did you ever receive any support from community or religious associations after you left camp, whether it was here in California or New Jersey or Maryland?

GS: Maryland, nothing. My mother went to see the social worker after we arrived there, and somehow the social worker knew there was a family coming into town, which I guess she didn't know when or who or what. So she just asked my mother, "Do you have enough pots and pans for cooking? Do you have blankets for sleeping? Do you have a bed?" And then that was the only time that my mother saw her. But my mother went to see the social worker because she wanted to get us into school. Because the owner of the farm where we went, where we moved to, he had said no, the kids don't have to go to school. They can start in September. But we went there in April, and so my parents felt, gee, there's still several more months of school until June. So my dad is the one who told my mother, "You better go see the social worker, talk to her and see if we can get the kids to school right way." So she did. But that was the only time we got any help at all. And for whatever reason, why my parents never sought out any other help, I don't know. It could be partly cultural, you know, the Japanese don't go looking for help. They're really proud people, and most people tried to do it on their own.

And when we went to Seabrook, there was a lot of community support, because most of the people who had gone there were like us, you know, either directly from camp or coming from somewhere else to Seabrook, not having anything. And so even the fact that we had no relatives there, the neighbors really gradually became very close, and it was just a big supportive community. So my parents got very comfortable there. And, of course, there was the church, there was a lot of support from the church. But to actually get support from a social agency, no, we didn't do any of that.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2006 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.