Densho Digital Archive - Susumu Iwasaki Interview (denshovh-isusumu

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SI: Then after that, soon after the roofing was finished, I was a, I was in the oil tanker group. And there was four of us. Then we used to put oil, the cooking oil, into these tanks for all the camp. Then I graduated from that and I was in the food delivery, which was the best job we ever had.

RP: Why?

SI: Well because we used to have all this free food, just take it home, fruits and milk. In fact, we got caught one time. [Laughs] Well, you know, what. We're in the warehouse and we're loading these stuff like that. Oh, I'll take some home, huh? But they didn't say anything.

RP: Who caught you?

SI: Huh?

RP: Who caught you?

SI: Some white guys over there. [Laughs] But they were, they were the administration people.

RP: So that's where all the sugar was disappearing to, huh? [Laughs]

SI: No. But there was no, not very many people did cooking at home, I mean, in the barrack. Because the only thing they have was a pot-bellied stove. And...

RP: Some people got hotplates, too, though.

SI: That I don't know. We didn't, we didn't.

RP: So you were on a food delivery crew?

SI: Yeah, yeah.

RP: Uh-huh. And, so what did you deliver?

SI: What?

RP: What kind of foods did you deliver?

SI: Oh, anything that was on the list. Like certain block they, they do have a list of all the stuff and then we just stack 'em up in one area and then we used to deliver it to the people in different camp, different barracks. And so it was a good job 'cause the only thing good about it was we used to eat good. Where, like lunchtime we go to certain kitchen, they know they gonna feed us real good, steak and whatever.

KP: So you were delivering to the mess halls?

SI: Yeah.

KP: Okay, and, and how, how many deliveries would you make per day to a mess hall? Just one, or...

SI: No, no. We used to deliver... I guess we did most of it in one day. 'Cause they, you know like... it wasn't, it didn't take too long to... the only time it took us long was to put it on the truck.

KP: So you'd go to every mess hall?

SI: Every mess hall.

RP: In one day?

SI: I think so. I can't really...

KP: Was it one delivery per mess hall per day?

SI: Oh, no, no.

KP: Sometimes two deliveries per day?

SI: Yeah, right. So...

RP: So did you guys have to unload everything or did you...

SI: Oh yeah. We used to unload everything. Yeah.

RP: You didn't have help from any of the people in the mess hall?

SI: No, no. There was about four of us. Well, some of these places was bad because some, some had platform so we just dump it over there. That was a good job. For eight dollars a month, hey, I tell you. I think it's either eight or twelve dollars, I don't know. And that's when I, my mother caught me smoking. [Laughs.]

RP: Oh, okay. What happened?

SI: Nothing, he just told me that, "Hey, you know, Susumu," he says, "You smoke, huh?" And I can't say no because he might have either saw me or somebody told him. And then I found out later that she was in a beauty parlor which was one of these, one of those little buildings in the middle, right? And then the mess hall was over here.

RP: Oh, you were smoking while you were... [laughs].

SI: Well, that was okay.

RP: Was that the first time you smoked was in camp?

SI: Pardon?

RP: Was that the first time you smoked, in camp?

SI: Yeah. Then I smoked part of the time when I was in the army. Then I quit. Well, I didn't quit actually. In fact, I smoked until I came out of the army. Because I had a heart attack.

RP: Another thing that happened a little bit around Manzanar was gambling. Did, did you ever observe people gambling or...

SI: That I don't know. We were too young yet. I was only, what, fourteen, fifteen then.

RP: Did you play any card games at all?

SI: No.

RP: No?

SI: Not in camp.

RP: Uh-huh.

SI: I learned most of my bad habits when I was in the army.