<Begin Segment 19>

RP: Do you also, you mentioned that Harry Tashima and (Kow Maruki)...

HN: Yeah, uh-huh, Harry, yeah, Tashima.

RP: They had some, they had some other talents, too, like they were a pretty good baseball players.

HN: Harry Tashima was probably the number one softball pitcher in camp. Yeah. And Cal Maruki was a good baseball player, too.

RP: Did you ever have the unenviable chore of trying to bat against Harry?

HN: I don't remember batting against Harry. But I do remember battin' against the successor to Harry. You know what? I've been trying to remember that guy's name for the last two or three months.

RP: Oh really?

HN: And I... he's a real good friend, too. I know his wife's name. Annie Kim, he married Annie Kim. But I can't remember what his name was. But he became number one pitcher when he came back to L.A. He, he pitched for the Bucks. You heard of the Los Angeles Bucks?

RP: No.

HN: Well they were the premier Nisei League pitcher in Los Angeles after we came back to L.A. They were the number one softball team.

RP: You had a very special relationship with your drama teacher and music teacher, Louie Frizzell?

HN: I did because he's the one that got me into UCLA before the war was over. You know, there's not many kids can say they got out of camp before the war was over to go to school. And so he... my folks were still in camp and Louie, after school was out, he came down to his home in Eagle Rock, and so when I came out of camp he picked me up. I stayed at his house one night, then he took me over to UCLA to register and get settled in my room and board, Robeson Hall there. And that's how I got started in UCLA, all because of his help.

KP: When was that? What month, what year did you...

HN: July, 1945. The war was over in August, 1945. 'Cause I was probably one of the first guys out of camp, besides that one, you know, that relocated back east.

RP: Right. The...

HN: Back to the West Coast, I mean, yeah.

RP: Yeah, the West Coast hadn't been open very long.

HN: No.

RP: Until July.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.