Densho Digital Archive - Ann Sugimoto Interview (denshovh-sann-01-0029)

<Begin Segment 29>

RP: So Frances and Louie were the next to leave camp?

AS: Yeah.

RP: Where did they go?

AS: They go, went to Idaho because my folks gonna send their equipment there. So I think he drove the truck out there, because I'm sure my folks didn't drive a truck out there. I think they went on, on the train or whatever, bus... I went to see them, and from, from Utah to Blackfoot, ten hours on the Greyhound bus. Dan and I, we were gonna, on the way out we wanted to visit our folks, and so we went up to -- ten hours on the Greyhound bus, boy.

RP: To Manzanar?

AS: From -- no. No, we went on a train to Utah, and from Utah we visited our friend there, and from there we went on a Greyhound bus to Blackfoot, Idaho. Ten hours on a Greyhound bus. Can you imagine? With my little daughter, good thing she was quiet. But she wanted, every time -- every half an hour they stopped -- she wanted to get off and go to the bathroom, just to get off. [Laughs]

RP: Then Dan left to go to Chicago, right?

AS: Yeah, he was gone one year.

RP: One year. And what did he, what did he do in Chicago?

AS: Well, see, they said any young fellows, they... to learn a trade or something. So he wanted to learn tool and dye. He's kind of mechanical, so he said okay, he could go there. So what they did is they just put him on a... what is it? A what-do-you-call-it, not a, they didn't put him there. They were doing... Tommy, what were they doing? Making cans or somethin'. And so he finally told the fellows, "You know, you fellows, you're breaking your neck," because they used to pay them by the amount you produce, and so he told the young fellows -- they were younger than him -- he'd tell 'em, "You're breaking your own neck. Why do you, why do you do that? They're gonna put it, raise it higher and higher." So these young fellows, they kept, they're pretty smart these kids, so they'd do a lot and they hid it, see. And when Saturday comes they'd bring it out and they made, because the boss was putting the limit higher and higher. But Dan wanted to learn the punch press. That's a... so he, he went to, he went to complain to this lady that... Oku Murata, she was the one office gal up there. So he went and told her, he said, "You know, they're not letting me, I'm not learning anything out there," so he told her and so the Continental Can Company, I think that's what they were, big company. So he, they complained and they put him with the tool and dye maker, so he learned quite a bit out there. So you got to complain, even then. So he learned, which was good. He could, he's very handy with his hands, so after we went back East and all, he already knew how to work with plastic, and then so when we came back he went back to Santa Monica Tech and he learned machines. He got to be a machinist and all that, so my brother got him a job at TRW. And he could do, he could work with wood, plastic and the machinery and all, and so they used to laugh. They take... gals, they break their heel, plastic, and they'd say, "Why don't you take it down to Dan? If he can't do it, nobody else could fix it." And he worked during the time of the moon landing, so he put in a lot of overtime. That really helped us, helped us put all four kids through college. [Laughs] Yeah, it really, really did, knowing all that. See, they don't have all that kind of person now that could do machinery and all that, which was happy. Helped us, at least, 'cause I wasn't working at first 'cause I had to take care of the family.