<Begin Segment 10>

KL: Yeah, we were talking about when exactly that visit was. What are your thoughts about when that visit occurred?

KP: Well, it probably was the third year. You said it was '43?

KL: Manzanar opened in '42.

KP: '43 or '44.

KL: But I was guessing...

KP: So there would have had to have been a lot of different homes, barracks homes. And I remember the wire around it and the gate and all that, of course.

KL: What do you remember about actually gaining access? Do you remember a process to get into the camp?

KP: No, because we were in a bus, and just sort of waved us through. I don't remember that at all. Like I said, I'm sorry I'm not really giving you very much of details, because as a young child you just don't pay attention to those things.

KL: You started to talk about remembering the fence and stuff. If you were to sort of drive by Manzanar or see it from 395, would you describe to us what we would have seen in 1942 or '3 or '4?

KP: Only way I would know that is from seeing what you have in here.

KL: Oh, you don't remember it?

KP: I don't remember it hardly at all, no. The tower maybe, and the gate. But I don't remember seeing, paying much attention to it. It was just a fact, it was just a fact. And it was sad, and we were sad about it. We understood why, my husband said -- he came from Imperial Valley, and there were a lot of Filipinos down there as well as Japanese working the farms. And he said the Filipinos were actually wanting to kill the Japanese that worked down there. So they had to move them out to save their lives. They had to protect them. So that's part of the reason they put 'em in the camps, because people were actually hating them for what they had done in the Philippines and Hawaii. And so they were actually to the point of killing them. So that was another reason, and he explained to me why they wanted to put them in camps, to save their lives. I knew that was a minor one, but... the safety was a minor issue compared to the fact that they might be sending messages to Japan. [Laughs] Which I understood even at that young age.

KL: What were your thoughts at that age about the camp?

KP: I don't recall really thinking about it very much, other than just the fact that it was there, and that it was happening, and I was glad when it finally shut down and people were able to try to assume their lives again. I thought it was very sad.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.