<Begin Segment 5>

KL: You were part of a Buddhist church, I think, growing up?

GM: Yes.

KL: Would you tell us your memories attached to that church community?

GM: My parents were Buddhists, and I grew up a Buddhist. As a matter of fact, when I went in the service, I had to put my religion down, so I did put Buddhist down, and I asked my cousin if she would send me some books on Buddha, and I read, read, read, and I really didn't understand the meaning of Buddhism. I was married as a, I married as a Methodist, but one of my college courses that I took, World Religion, for my term paper, I wrote a paper on Christianity versus Buddhism, and I still have that paper today. And that's when I discovered more the meaning of Buddhism and Christianity both. And both Jesus and Sacnamura, I think was his name, born in India and one went westward, one went eastward, that's how the Asian countries became primarily Buddhist countries. But it was a very interesting project.

KL: Were you part of a congregation in the San Fernando Valley, or was your religious identity more at home?

GM: I think most of the Japanese people in San Fernando were Buddhist, most. I know there were some that weren't.

KL: Did you guys attend services in a temple?

GM: Not regularly, because the temple was in Los Angeles, but I do remember going to the temple with my parents.

KL: Would you tell us some of your memories of, first of all, which temple did you attend, and if there are special occasions or holidays or particular memories you have of it before going to Manzanar?

GM: The church still stands on First Street a little east of downtown Little Tokyo. I think there are two or three different branches of Buddhism. I knew the name of ours once, but I don't know now.

KL: Are there other things you wanted to mention about your life in the San Fernando Valley before going into Manzanar?

GM: Not really. It was fun, we had a good time.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.