<Begin Segment 14>

RM: So tell me a little bit about, let's say that you're just walking around Block 16. What would that have been like? What would you have seen?

GO: Barracks. [Laughs] That's about it. Well, like 16, I don't think too many people planted things in between.

RM: What about if you walked outside the block? Do you remember the barbed wire?

GO: We went up to the barbed wire.

RM: Did you ever... I've heard stories about guys sneaking out to go fishing. Did you guys ever sneak out?

GO: Let's see. Did we sneak out? I remember we went to... from the small farm, I think a nursery farm, I think they had some watermelons growing there, or had watermelons, anyway. I think we took some watermelon, ate some. You know, when it gets dark we wander around. So I think we spotted watermelon and we ate it. [Laughs]

RM: So did you bring it... so you snuck out of camp to go steal watermelons?

GO: No, no, we didn't sneak out of camp. It's either it was in the camp, or probably just out of the camp or something.

RM: Did you bring the watermelons back?

GO: No. We ate it right there.

RM: And it was nighttime?

GO: Oh, yeah, it's nice.

RM: That reminded me that the very first time I met you, you had a truck driver's license from Manzanar.

GO: Yeah, that was my third job.

RM: So this is after you were a junior cook.

GO: No, that was my fourth job. My junior cook, and I was a fireman, and then I was a truck driver.

RM: So let's actually start with the fireman. I didn't realize you were a fireman at Manzanar. Tell me about that.

GO: Right after I came back from a furlough, I had to get a job. So my friend said, "Come and work in the fire department," so I worked in the fire department for a while, until I went out again.

RM: So where was the fire department?

GO: It was... I don't know what block, but it was towards the end of the block.

RM: So there was one in Block 13 right on the edge of camp next to the highway.

GO: Maybe that's the one.

RM: Do you remember what that building was like when you went inside?

GO: No, I can't picture. Because I know two of the guys that was a firemen, I think one of 'em was a chief and one that was a friend. That's the only reason I went with the firemen.

RM: So a few of your friends. Did you ever get called out on a fire?

GO: No, but you go on a drill and you pull the hose out, and they teach you how to fold it back in the truck. That's about it. I didn't go to a fire.

RM: How long were you on that job for?

GO: Until the next furlough.

RM: So like a few months?

GO: Something like that.

RM: And then you go on the next furlough and you come back and you are...

GO: Driving a truck.

RM: And what were you driving that truck for?

GO: I was hauling sand. They gave me a badge, there's a dump truck. So I went out of camp, and you know how sandy it is out there, so we brought some sand back in camp. I don't know what they did with the sand. They did something with the sand, I did something with the, or my helpers. I just drove the truck, anyway. So that was my last job. And that time, I used to drive out of camp or someplace, we had a pear orchard. While I was in camp, I went to the pear orchard to pick some pears. Boy, I was nice, wasn't I? [Laughs]

RM: Well, if the fruit's there, you might as well eat it. So do you remember, did you go towards the Sierras in order to get sand?

GO: No, it's right out of camp that you can get sand. But we went up a little bit. That's why we had to have a little badge. There was a blue badge and a red badge. I think one of the badges, I can get out the front, go across the street, and one of them was for the back.

RM: I didn't know that. So you had to have a different kind of badge if you were going to cross Highway 395?

GO: Yeah. That's why one of them was red and one was blue.

RM: Right. So what did you do if you went to the east across the highway?

GO: Gee, what did I do? I don't know, I forgot.

RM: How far was the farthest you ever drove in that truck out of camp?

GO: Not too far.

RM: You stayed pretty close. How many guys were on your crew?

GO: I think a couple, laborers, you know, with shovels.

RM: Yeah. So I'm curious if you remember that auditorium, that big old building that we now use as our visitor center at Manzanar. Do you remember them building it?

GO: I think I barely remember. Yeah, they were building it. But I didn't go down that far. I always saw it in the distance.

RM: Did you ever go to any events in the auditorium?

GO: Probably did, I can't remember that either.

RM: So Fujiko was class of 1944, is that right?

GO: Yeah.

RM: So she would have been that first class to graduate from Manzanar High School. Did you guys already know each other?

GO: No.

RM: Or excuse me, the first class to graduate in the auditorium. So when did, what time in camp did you meet her and really get to know her?

GO: Well, I saw her every day, go in the kitchen or whatever. But when she was in 16, I didn't see her that much because she was across the block. But when, in 23, she was right across.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.