<Begin Segment 10>

RM: And then that third furlough you went on, where was that?

GO: That was... that was thinning, thinning lettuce. And then I'm telling you, that row was so long, that's a backbreaker. You do about half an hour and stand up and look, and you didn't go too far. The end is way at the end other end yet. So that was, I guess we made money on that, too.

RM: Was that in Idaho also?

GO: That was a camp. So both the potato and thinning was a camp.

RM: Oh. Do you know the name of the camp?

GO: The first one I don't know, but the other one was, I think it was named Caldwell camp. Caldwell, Idaho, that was a pretty big camp.

RM: Were most of the workers Japanese Americans?

GO: Yeah, because they got 'em out of camp, from all different camps.

RM: Can you just tell us a little bit about why it was so necessary for the farmers to call out for help to the camps?

GO: Because they didn't have farm help where they were at.

RM: The guys had gone to war?

GO: That's probably it, or either that or they planted more because there was a war going on. But you know, like in Idaho and other places like that, the farmland, they were big. They were real big compared to the valley.

RM: So I'll tell you, that lettuce row looks so long. So then if you made some money on the potato and lettuce and you went back to Manzanar, did you keep saving the money or did you find ways to spend it in camp?

GO: Well, I think we bought most of the stuff, you know, to give to my people in camp, things that they can't have outside of camp, I mean, in camp or whatever.

RM: So let's take a quick break, and then I want to ask you about what kinds of things you brought back, but we're at the end of the tape. Oh, I have time? Okay, so what kinds of things would you buy on the outside to bring back to camp?

GO: Well, something like... something to eat, the things that camp doesn't have, things like that. Or something to wear.

RM: I one time read a Manzanar Free Press article about how all the boys that were out on furlough caused a big problem because they'd come back to the camp and they would sneak in liquor that they bought on the outside. Did any of your friends do that?

GO: No. Like my friends, most of them didn't drink.

RM: So you guys weren't causing...

GO: We were angels. [Laughs]

RM: I see, okay.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.