<Begin Segment 16>

RM: So I guess I want to ask Whitney and Kristen, other questions that you two might have about George's experiences in Manzanar?

KL: Yeah, I wondered if you recall the formation of the mess hall workers union or any discussions about that?

RM: So Kristen, just to repeat what she asked so the microphone can catch it, do you recall the formation of the mess hall workers union, or sometimes it was called the kitchen workers union in camp?

GO: I don't think they had a union, they had just workers. You tell them to do this and they do it, then if something goes wrong, they just tell the block leader what's going on, and the block leader talks to the kitchen chief and then that's it.

RM: Do you remember who your block leader was?

GO: Oh, I just know by the whiskers. He had long whiskers. [Laughs] That's why we used to call him Whiskers.

RM: Was he Issei or Nisei?

GO: Gee, I think he was Issei. Or he could be a Kibei, you know, Japanese and American.

RM: Do you remember what his office was like? Did you ever go down there?

GO: No, but it's the first barrack, it's the first barrack.

KL: Who else do you remember as leaders in the camps? Those people or that others looked up to, or charismatic people?

GO: No, that's just in a certain block, they got a leader, that's it. People will follow what they're doing, we just do what our block leaders tells us. So there was nothing going on. What the block leader says, we do.

RM: Do you remember any meetings?

GO: Oh, they had meetings, but it's the old people.

RM: Oh, you didn't go them.

GO: [Laughs] No.

RM: It was all the Issei that went to the meetings, I see. Do you remember people that were big personalities in the camp? Like today, we always hear a whole bunch of names of the people that really stood out. But I'm wondering from somebody who was there on the ground, who do you remember whose name you heard a lot?

GO: Big name?

RM: Yeah.

GO: Nope, I don't... I don't know any big names.

KL: There are a couple names that are associated with the Manzanar riot or uprising, that event, like Joseph Kurihara and Harry Ueno, Fred Tayama. I wonder if you ever interacted with any of them or heard them speak or knew anything about them?

GO: No, I don't know nothing about them.

RM: I'm curious about the administration at Manzanar. Did you get to know any of the people that were working there very well?

GO: No, I just knew my boss.

RM: Who was your boss?

GO: Oh, I forgot his name.

RM: Was he the guy...

GO: He's the person that takes care of... like what he has to do in camp.

RM: Was he your boss when you were in the mess hall?

GO: No. Oh, you mean certain jobs got certain boss?

RM: Yeah.

GO: So what they say, they do. And if there's something big going on, from the front office they'll tell each block or something this is going on or what to do. Otherwise, I don't know how they did it.

RM: Okay.

KL: Did you ever go into Lone Pine or Independence? You mentioned taking the bus from Bishop. Or did you ever have people, talk to people from Lone Pine or Independence while you were in Manzanar?

RM: You can't, our camp, nobody can go out. But like they have a football game or something, people from, school from Independence, the teams comes over to Manzanar and play, like, football. Like Heart Mountain, they get a pass to go downtown or whatever, well, Manzanar we couldn't do that.

KL: Did you, do you recall a football game or any time when you saw people from the local towns?

GO: No, because it was during the school, like the football season, that's the only time they come to play football. But otherwise I didn't know that there were other schools coming over to play football. The school's too far away from my...

RM: You were trying to avoid school. [Laughs]

GO: Probably I was working when they were playing football.

KL: What did you think of the Owens Valley and the Sierra and Inyo Mountains?

GO: Oh, it's a pretty place when the snow is out there. But the only thing I hate about that was the wind. The wind was the worst. The cold you could stand. When the wind blew, you got the dust blowing right into you, and it gets into your eyes and you got to rub your eyes. That's the toughest. But otherwise, that's a good place.

KL: You mentioned that Block 16 really emptied out because people went to Tule Lake. Do you remember when it... I guess there are two questions. Were there ever conversations or did people judge each other or interact with each other as they were making those decisions? And then also what was it like to watch people leave?

GO: I think when the people left from 16 to 23, I was probably out in the furlough, because I don't know when they moved. Anyway, I don't remember moving, not furnitures and stuff.

KL: Do you have a sense for why in Block 16 especially and the North Hollywood community so many people answered "no" or went to Tule Lake?

GO: I think most of them did answer "no" from North Hollywood. Because my brother was telling me this. You know, there's about two or three families that's not going to Tule Lake the rest of them all went.

RM: Do you know why? Do you have any guesses?

GO: It's the folks, the parents. The parents.

RM: Families just wanting to stay together with their parents?

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.