<Begin Segment 21>

KL: Are there other people that stand out as leaders or who, who were important in Poston?

MM: In Poston?

KL: Uh-huh. You mentioned the minister of the Buddhist church and his family, and then --

MM: Well, there was my Girl Scout leader. I was a Girl Scout for a short time. I have a picture of myself as a Girl Scout. [Shows photo to KL] See right here? Girl Scout. And then this is my seventh grade picture, and this is my, I think it's my sixth grade picture.

KL: Who was the Girl Scout leader?

MM: Momoko Iwakiri. That's her right there [holds up photo].

KL: She looks pretty young.

MM: She's still alive.

KL: Was she a teenager?

MM: Maybe, I don't know. She's not a teenager.

KL: What traits do you associate with her, and what makes her memorable?

MM: Well, I think she was fun. She was fun.

KL: Is this --

MM: And she had a, she had an interest in us girls. We had a reunion, you know, these girls. About seven years ago, because I got a call from the Arizona historian for the Girl Scouts, Arizona Girl Scout historian. And she found out that I was a Girl Scout, and I said, "Yeah, I was a Girl Scout in camp. I have a picture of myself." "You do?" And so she started writing to me, and then that got me started on, "Gee, I've got to locate these girls." So I wrote to the Japanese newspapers -- there was one, two, three of 'em -- and I said, "Could you post this picture and ask where are these girls today?" And I got a phone call from a man, said, "My name is Clifford Hayashi and I'm going to find those girls for you. I like to find lost people." I said, "Really? Okay." And so he located one, he located two, and so finally we located three or four of them. Two of 'em died, found out two of 'em died. And so four of us were able to gather in Saratoga, and the Girl Scout historian came from Arizona with her family, to my house here in Fresno, showed me the Girl Scout uniform that was the uniform of the day, and she said, "Your uniform is a little bit different." And I said, "You know, it could be that our mothers made it, got the material and made it," because it's not the same as the one that she brought. So I said, "We're having a reunion, and would you like to come and join us?" "I would." So she brought her husband, her daughter and granddaughter to the reunion, and we shared our... do you know which one I am? [KL is looking at the photo off camera]

KL: I have a guess, but I don't know if it's right. Are you standing next to your leader, like below her?

MM: No.

MH: I think you're the back row, second to the left.

MM: Let me see.

KL: Here, I'll pass it.

MM: Second to the left is right.

KL: [To MH] You're right?

MH: Back row, second to the left.

MM: Yeah, that one there? [Points]

MH: Yep.

MM: That's me. You see my hairdo, Kristen?

KL: Yeah.

MH: I picked it out that quick.

MM: Wow, you're quick.

KL: Is Miyoko in here?

MM: No, she wasn't a Girl Scout. Miyoko's not in there.

KL: You guys look like you're standing next to a fish pond.

MM: Yeah, I don't know where --

KL: Is that in your block?

MM: I don't know where that was.

KL: That's not the one that was...

MM: No, no, that's not the one in front of our house.

KL: Anything that I've left out about Poston?

MM: Poston...

MH: I had a question. Regarding the... was your family, your mother and father, were they Buddhist?

MM: Well...

MH: You earlier spoke about the connection between the Buddhist temple and the Christian church. Did they, were they Buddhist in camp and then converted to Christian later on?

MM: My father never converted.

MH: So he was Buddhist.

MM: Yeah, but my mother had that Christian training at the age of fourteen, and when she married my father, in order not to make waves she just, if he was going to go the Buddhist temple then she went with him. But she, they just quietly kept their own faith, whatever. After all, she was born in America and she had Christian training, so she never had Buddhist training.

KL: Did you guys have an altar, a Buddhist altar in your home?

MM: No, not us.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.