Densho Digital Archive - Henry Nishi Interview II (denshovh-nhenry

<Begin Segment 19>

RP: What did your, what did your sisters do in camp?

HN: They left pretty early. They went, they wanted to go to school.

RP: Mary went to Nebraska.

HN: Mary and Midori, yeah, they went.

RP: Midori, too?

HN: Yeah.

RP: How about Setsuko?

HN: She stayed. 'Cause she, she was working... she had already gone to school.

RP: College?

HN: Business college. But Mary and Midori, they wanted to go to, they wanted to go to... they ended up, well, first they ended up, they went to a... the reason why I went to Omaha, because they, they went to school in, it wasn't in Omaha but it was right near Omaha. Yeah. Then they went, then later they went to the East Coast. Yeah. They went to, they went to a good school in the East Coast, I think, someplace.

RP: So you went out to Omaha because they were there?

HN: Yeah. Both of 'em got... I think Midori got her doctorate over there. I think Mary got a masters over there.

RP: What did you do in Omaha for work?

HN: It was at a dairy.

RP: The dairy.

HN: Yeah. Milk processing.

RP: You ran the machines or...

HN: Pasteurizing.

RP: Oh, you pasteurized.

HN: Mostly running it and then had to clean 'em. They were huge, you know. You had to walk in, go inside and scrub 'em down. I mean, they were huge. They're like as big as this room almost. Not, you know...

RP: Did you go out of camp with anybody else, a friend, or did you just travel alone?

HN: When we went to, when I went to Omaha, well, I went a couple a times after harvesting a crop. Had a little money in our pockets. Instead of coming directly back to camp, we went to Chicago, just to see how, what things would be like as far as job opportunities. And we know there was jobs out there, so we came back. Then we went out to find work. We went to Chicago and I didn't like Chicago. I said, "Nah, I don't want to stay in Chicago. It's too cold." I came back to Omaha. Omaha is a little bit smaller city and a little quieter, so I stayed there. Until I got, I got called for the draft. And when they put me on inactive duty, I didn't want to go back to work, so I said, "Oh, I'll just go back to camp and wait." I didn't stay... I came back but I didn't stay very long.