Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Isao Kikuchi
Narrator: Isao Kikuchi
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: May 15, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-kisao-01-0023

<Begin Segment 23>

KP: Can we backtrack a little bit, 'cause you talk about coming up to camp very early on to work as a carpenter and help build the camp, and apparently there's just no organization, nobody wanted you working, or people who came up there. How did that evolve into... I mean, who came in to start organizing things? When did you start seeing a change?

IK: That was, you mentioned the name before. A Caucasian. I can't think of his name now. My father knew him well. Anyways, somebody organized the administration and, I guess, took care of Neilson, but I didn't know anything that happened from the administration. And I just knew my mother was, what she was doing.

KP: And your father, when did he come up to camp? And you talked about his first dental practice there. Could you describe that a little bit?

IK: I don't know when he came up to camp, but he, the rest of my family did. My sister came up early also, but then my parents followed, and I don't exactly know how much longer, but not too long because it was, there was no hospital or there was no dental office or anything. My father had a pocket kit of dental tools, and I recall helping him throw a box for the operations, and he had boxes to put his tools on, and it was a bare, bare apartment. No linoleum or anything. It was just the outer tarpaper, and first he started practicing and then another doctor came in and also helped him. I've forgotten his name, but my father had seniority. And they were, all they could do was give out aspirins, 'cause he didn't have any, was not allowed any chemicals or medication, so I was kind of [inaudible] a patient sitting on a packing box, and he's workin' on the patient with no headrest or anything. I thought, holy cow, this is, this is early, early, early times. And it's, it just broke my heart to see him do that, but he was busy.

RP: Later on, when the hospital was built, he moved into...

IK: Oh yes, into the hospital. They had offices. Nobody wanted to work, for my father 'cause he was such a boss. So that like I say, on this thing. But he was a very, very strict... he had strict rules and definite philosophy. In fact, I think my, my wife worked for him for a short time, and... well, everybody that worked for him hated him, I think.

RP: So you lived right across from the hospital.

IK: With them, after they came in.

RP: After they came in. Did you get to know any of the other hospital people, like Dr. James Goto, or...

IK: Yeah, I knew of him from Los Angeles, and he, the only thing I really knew about him is that he cut very small for appendectomies. Smaller than anybody. So that's about all I knew about him. And he had a brother, also. But he was known as a good doctor. And I knew the other Gotos, too, but I can't recall. Everybody who was everybody knew of them. Anybody of prominence, anyway.

RP: There was one other woman that worked in what was later called the Community Welfare section of the camp where your mom worked. Her name was Margaret Delily or something of that effect. She would, she would've been your mom's boss, I think.

IK: Then I wouldn't know her.

RP: You didn't know her, that name? She worked for the YWCA in Japan.

IK: Yes.

RP: And knew, could, was bilingual, knew the customs and the --

IK: Was perfect, both languages. Above and beyond.

RP: I have a feeling that your mother and her were probably very good friends as well as coworkers.

IK: I would guess. I would guess, 'cause she had a very high position in civilian time, so she was well above her class at Manzanar.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.