<Begin Segment 11>

RP: So what did you do to help establish the camp at Poston? What were your early duties?

SK: Oh, okay. All the (administrators) were Caucasians, right? The employment administrator, since I had experience working in the Department of Employment, three or four months, picked me to be her assistant. So we set up the employment office there. That's what I did.

RP: And did you, did you conduct interviews --

SK: Yeah.

RP: -- with people as they got off the bus?

SK: Oh, no.

RP: What was the process?

SK: Well, we, we did the induction also. I mean, this was before we set up the employment office. We did the induction process, checking everybody in and making sure that they had a place to stay according to the number of members in their family and that sort of thing. It took several weeks before everyone was housed. Because then we went to Camp II and Camp III. Because we did...

RP: Same induction.

SK: Same thing, uh-huh, uh-huh.

RP: And this is all happening at Camp I?

SK: Yes, right, uh-huh. And...

RP: Did you have translators, too, available to translate for the Issei and the Kibei?

SK: Oh, yeah. And at that time many of the Niseis spoke Japanese fluently, too.

RP: You might have been recruited for that skill, too.

SK: Yeah.

RP: Uh-huh. And so how, how did the process work in terms of placing people in jobs? Would you get orders from...

SK: Oh, yes, yes, from the block managers because they were like the bosses of each block. So they would submit an order, "We need a person to clean the latrine. We need somebody to work in the mess hall." (...) So we would fill those orders by interviewing. Everybody, eighteen (and) over had to apply for a job. Most of the population in Poston was from farms so (that's all) they knew how to do. So we put them in jobs like in the mess halls and...

[Interruption]

RP: This is tape two of a continuing interview with Sachi Kaneshiro. And, Sachi, we're talking about some of the preliminary steps in setting up the Poston camp, your involvement with the employment office at Poston. The lady that you worked under, do you remember her name?

SK: No, I don't.

RP: She was Caucasian?

SK: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: And how did you get along with her?

SK: Fine, uh-huh. I should have remembered her name but I'm sorry I don't.

RP: That's all right. The camp was, was the, was Camp I still being constructed when you, when you actually came in there?

SK: I believe it was. I was at the other end of camp, so I don't remember the work that was going on there.

RP: You said that you were housed with a number of other girls in, it was with like in a dormitory type, one large long building?

SK: Right.

RP: Uh-huh. Were you assigned to another barrack over time?

SK: Yes. Oh, actually, Maki and (...) another social worker who, who joined us, were given a unit by themselves but (...) it was a four-person unit, real small but had to accommodate four people. So they asked me and (...) another girl from California to live with them. So four of us had an end unit in the barrack.

RP: Do you remember what block you were in?

SK: Six.

RP: Six?

SK: Block 6. That was the first block to be occupied, a volunteer block, uh-huh.

RP: Were there other volunteers besides the busload that included you? Were there other groups that came a little...

SK: Not that I know of, not for Camp I.

RP: Uh-huh. What was the mood of people as you sort of inducted them into the camp?

SK: Oh, very depressed. I just know that they were very unhappy. (...) This is Poston we're talking about. It's like 120 degrees. People from Salinas were sent to Camp I and they were just dropping like flies as they got off the bus. It was very sad. (We had to provide) a makeshift hospital to take these people and have them rest inside. (...) Does that answer your question?

RP: Uh-huh. So when did you get the news that the, that your rest of your family was going to Heart Mountain? Was it...

SK: Well, it took a couple of months before I got a letter from my mother. It was postmarked Wyoming and that's the first time --

RP: Oh, sorry.

SK: You okay?

RP: Yeah.

SK: Yeah. That's the first time I knew that they were not coming to Poston. So, again, I felt very betrayed. But, as always, I went to talk to Maki and she said, "Well, apply for a transfer." So immediately I did. I applied for a transfer but it took another five months before it was approved. That's how quickly the wheels didn't turn.

RP: It's still not turning too quickly.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.