<Begin Segment 5>

RP: And you're, you're in a camp with 10,000 Japanese people.

DK: Yeah.

RP: And...

DK: Right, right.

RP: And what a, what was that like? I mean, what a shock that was?

DK: Well, it was, it was a shock, but I mean, just going to the bathroom or something like that and these ladies would start talking to me in Japanese and I couldn't answer them. I didn't know what they were talking about. And, course they thought I was, I guess, being stuck up or, maybe not paying any attention or not wanting to talk to them or something. I don't know, but I felt real bad 'cause every place I went everybody was talking Japanese, I mean, the older people were. Of course, all the young kids were speaking English. But, it was, it was, that part I think was the, one of the hardest parts. Was getting to, and to be able to communicate with my own parents was hard.

RP: Did they speak any English?

DK: My mom used to speak. She would understand quite a bit. And, but not where I could talk to her on a, I don't know what you would say, on a real close relationship. We didn't have that.

Off Camera: I think you learned from each other. I mean, because they, they were alone so much together that they were forced to... Mom was, began to learn more English.

DK: Uh-huh.

Off Camera: Dorothy, although she never spoke it, began to understand Japanese.

DK: Yeah, I could understand a little bit more, yeah. But it was, it was a hard time for me. For everybody.

RP: The transition to a new family...

DK: Uh-huh, right.

RP: Your original family must have taken a little...

DK: Uh-huh, yeah.

RP: Did you ever develop a sense of closeness with your, with your parents?

DK: Uh, yes, oh yes. I think after several years and after we went to New York. We became much closer. And after Sachi came, of course. That helped, too.

RP: Now you, how old were you when you went to Heart Mountain?

DK: About twelve.

RP: Twelve years old?

DK: Uh-huh. Yeah.

RP: So, still, it was sort of junior high school age, getting close to it.

DK: Yeah, right, right. Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. I had just started, I think I just started... oh, I did graduate. Did I graduate Lark Ellen?

Off Camera: No, you went to public school in New York.

DK: No, I went to high school.

Off Camera: Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

DK: Julia Richmond, yeah, yeah. Let's see, did... I graduated grammar school, that was it. 'Cause we went up to the eighth grade and then we started high school. Yeah. So I had graduated from grammar school and started high school in camp. Which was another...

RP: Traumatic?

DK: Yeah.

RP: In what way?

DK: Well, I wasn't a very good student. And, so it, it was hard on me because I couldn't keep up with the, with everybody else, I think. And, it was, it was, again, hard.

RP: Just to back track a little bit, you had a, a surgery in 1941.

DK: Uh-huh.

RP: Was it December did you say, 1941?

DK: Yeah. Right, right. I think it was just, it was before, just before the war started.

RP: And then you rehabbed a little while --

DK: Uh-huh.

RP: -- and then you find yourself at Pomona.

DK: Right, right.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.