<Begin Segment 7>

LP: Do you remember a block manager or anybody like that that was...

RM: Well, eventually, before we left, my father was the block manager.

LP: What was the block manager's responsibilities or job?

RM: Well, it's just like, I guess, to make sure that everything ran smoothly. And it's... well, it became, because in camp, if you live in the block, they kind of self-governed. So that's what... they'll do that. And then the government would have certain regulations, so made sure that was followed. And so my father was a block manager toward the end in Tule Lake, but he also became block manager over to Heart Mountain. And when we went to Heart Mountain, it was our third year, we got there and my father went to the office and he opened it in back of the block manager's office, there was kind of a warehouse, he opened the door and he saw these piles and piles of blankets. And he says, "How come have so many blankets and..." everybody was cold, right? And so he asked how come, he says, "Well, that's because the government says everybody could only have two blankets." My father said, "Too cold." Well, he probably said, "To hell with that." He told everybody, "If you want another blanket, come and get it," so he passed all the blankets out. Before that, the prior block manager didn't care. No matter how cold it got, they only got two blankets, but he passed them all out. But that's what he did.

LP: His initial job at Tule Lake was working with the boiler system?

RM: Boilermakers, yeah, to make sure he had, that's why he had a dump truck, so he was going around, and that's how we were able to get some wood and things like that. That's why we were the only block that had a sled, toboggan, because he went out, he found this quote/unquote scrap roofing.

LP: Did he tell, do you mind telling the story you shared about the sled ride? But also touching on, did he give that to you all as a gift, or did he tell you that he was making this, or how did that even...

RM: Yeah. What happened was, as he was driving around, he found this roofing, you know, the corrugated roofing. So he brought it back and I believe it was somebody in the block built a toboggan. And so then.. and he also built me a sled for Christmas. Anyway, so when it snowed, we'd go up to the Castle Rock, and I would ride the sled and guys would ride the toboggan. So after about the, I don't know whether second or third time, I always tell my dad I want to ride, ride, ride. So he finally said okay, so the time I got to ride, got on, and I was the next to the last person on it, an adult was behind me. So I remember getting on it and we were coming down. And after I got off, my buddies come to me and says, "Oh, you guys were lucky." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You know, we thought you were gonna get killed." I said, "What do you mean?" He says, "When you guys were coming down, first thing you guys were doing was you were heading for this telephone pole. And then, next thing you know, you guys were heading, you guys turned right and you were heading for the cliff. And then you turned left and you went between the cliff and the telephone pole." So we heard that, and see, luckily the guy in front knew exactly what to do, you lean left and lean right. So that was the last toboggan ride they ever took. They said never again, 'cause it was too dangerous. So I thought, that's why I tell people I took the last toboggan ride down Castle Rock. And our block was the only one that had a toboggan, because nobody had that scrap piece of roofing.

LP: Do you know what happened to it?

RM: I have no idea what happened to it afterwards. I don't know whether disassembled it, got rid of it, I have no idea.

LP: And the smaller sled that he made for you, was that the same thing, you just decided to not use that?

RM: The sled? Yeah, it's just, you know, a sled for a kid. And I think I may have been one of only two or three kids in the block that had one.

LP: What was it like to get that as a Christmas gift? Were you totally surprised?

RM: Yeah, I was totally surprised. And my buddies didn't have one, so we'd go up to Castle Rock mountain and I would share.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.