<Begin Segment 27>

LP: And then somebody I had interviewed actually lives in Richmond now, but lived in San Mateo as a kid and went by train to Topaz, and has all these kind of distinct memories of that. He mentioned, he remembered, like, the military presence on the train, so I was curious if... because the shades were drawn and all those details came out if you remembered any of the military presence in particular in going to Topaz or at Topaz, if there are any personalities of people that you interacted with that weren't being confined in camp, but were military or anything like that?

MS: The only non-military that I can recall are the teachers. I had a, one of the students in my class also who was the daughter of one of the personnel that worked there. So that's the only one that I remember. She was one of the Bells.

ST: Huh?

MS: She was one of the Bells, the Bell family, they had the two brothers that were in high school that were very well-known. They were really nice kids.

KL: So she made friends and she was just part of the gang?

MS: She was just like part of our class, you know. It must have been strange for her, you know, she was blond and blue-eyed, and here she is with nothing but Japanese. Yeah, she was... I kind of kept up with her also. I heard from her about five years ago, so I know she's living up north.

LP: And then that same person I interviewed that I mentioned, some little random things that he remembers as a kid, he remembers catching seagulls and putting like a little piece of fishing line or something around a leg and watching it fly up and playing with it. And so I'm just curious if you remember any antics or any, just troublemakers or kids that were just, you know, being kids, and just sort of, more the youth environment, and how people were... outside of your family maybe, any good stories.

MS: I heard about an incident of a couple being found in the back of an ambulance. [Laughs]

ST: Yeah?

MS: Uh-huh. I won't mention any names. Does that qualify as an incident?

KL: It was actually a concern that a lot of older people had about, you know, these circumstances where, yeah, where teenagers could kind of, in some ways, be more removed from their parents, yeah. So that definitely, for some people was a concern. Yeah, I guess I asked that specifically about dances and what he did for fun, but I didn't ask you what you and your friends did for fun.

MS: Well, I was too young for any of that stuff, but I did take Japanese dancing classes, and other than that, well, we'd get together and play baseball or whatever. Plus the skating in the winter.

KL: Did you like the dance classes?

MS: Yeah. I got to where I would perform on stage and all this kind of stuff. Did you come and watch me? No. [Laughs]

ST: I don't think so.

MS: He was probably busy at his dances.

LP: Who was your teacher?

MS: I don't remember. And then the tap dancing classes and stuff like that, I don't even remember how I got involved in it. So we found ways to entertain ourselves.

KL: How did school compare for you to school in Half Moon Bay?

MS: I can't remember whether there was much of any transition. In grade school, I don't think you would be noticed too much.

KL: Were there any ghost stories in Topaz?

MS: What?

KL: Were there any ghost stories from Topaz?

MS: I don't recall any in Topaz.

ST: Ghost. [Laughs]

MS: Just the one in Tanforan.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.