Densho Digital Archive - Gladys Koshio Konishi Interview (denshovh-kgladys-01-0008)

<Begin Segment 8>

RP: Gladys, you mentioned earlier about, that you always had laborers helping on your family farm. Can you tell us who they were? Did they, were they Mexicans, other Japanese?

GK: Well, you know, when, they were mostly Mexicans, yes, they were laborers that came from Mexico, and they did their job, and I think they pretty much went back to Mexico. But then when the evacuees -- I call them evacuees -- when the Japanese were evacuated, I remember that we had a fellow that my brother hired for the summer. But I also remember that we had German prisoners that were incarcerated in Brighton, which was just about nine or ten miles from there. And they were in a brick building with bars, and right across from where they stayed, they had an ice cream store that we always used to stop in whenever we went to Denver. And I always, my sister-in-law would run in to get the ice cream, I would look up at the window and see the prisoners looking out. But I just remember the one time when they did bring some prisoners out to the farm, and they did have guards with guns. I'm not sure, I don't think we fed them, I think they must have brought lunches out for them, but I just remember that one time when a truckload of prisoners came in, they were just, they weren't in buses, they were in the back of trucks, where, with the high sides. But that, I think, I'm not sure, they might have come other times, but I just remember them coming into our yard just that one time.

RP: What was that like, or did you have any feelings about that when you saw them?

GK: Yeah, I just thought that was very strange, that we would have German prisoners working on the farm when the Germans and the Japanese and the Italians were our enemies. That just seemed rather strange. But you look at 'em, and just like anybody else, they look like, just like other people.

RP: Just to follow up on your comment about one of the, quote, "evacuees" working on the farm, did they also live on the farm, too?

GK: No, they had a labor camp, and I think they were mostly for the laborers that came from Mexico, they lived there during the summer. And I imagine some of them stayed the whole year, I'm not sure about that. But I think when the evacuees came out, they were provided with housing there. And so I think that my brother was always hiring people for, on the farm, and he just happened to, I think he lived at the labor camp. And I'm sure there were other Japanese living there, I'm not sure. But he did come from the labor camp, so he was a big help, big help. But he ate with us; he became part of the family, and he ate dinner, lunch and dinner with us.

RP: And he didn't appear to have a family at all?

GK: Oh, he was with his family, he had, yeah, he was... and I don't know that I've ever met their parents, his parents, and I'm not sure he had brothers and sisters, I'm not sure. But I just remember him coming out, and he became part of the family then. But our laborers, most, if they were a small group, my family always gave 'em snacks, you know, gave 'em something to drink, and there was a bakery, and they'd run into town and get baked goods. Or if we didn't, we gave 'em sandwiches for snacks or whatever, so...