<Begin Segment 7>

RP: This is a continuing interview with Dennis Bambauer. This is tape two. And, Dennis, you were, you were at the Children's Village for a little over a year. And then a, a big change in your life came about. You were adopted by a family from Bishop, California. Can you tell me anything about the circumstances surrounding that adoption and did the Bambauers come to Manzanar with the specific intent to adopt a child? Were you, or were you the one that they were looking for? What can you recall about that process?

DB: Well, to try and put it in sequence, I can't do because I don't know what their intent was. I do know that one mealtime, this couple was being shown around the facility. And shortly thereafter they were seen again. And... the kind of a underground telegraph system, it was drawn to the conclusions that, that they were there for something and we didn't know what but we just knew that they were there and, so then we, we heard that they were looking for another child. And, they thought that the combination of Japanese American was more appropriate to their interests than a, a full. So, that was one of their driving forces. We also know after, after the fact, that the Bambauers, two things are driving the Bambauers in this issue. The first issue is that my father was a M.D. My mother was an R.N. And so they felt very, very strong about their ability to deal with medical problems. So they had this issue that they wanted to help a child who had some kind of physical handicap. That was kind of their criteria. They had a second criteria which didn't happen, but their intent was to adopt twelve children. They made it with four. And I was the last child to be adopted and also the oldest. So that's kind of the framework.

My, I have a sister who was adopted because (she is a Paiute). And the story that I have been told was that my father was the Indian Service doctor and when the birth of... it was decided that the birth of twins was going to occur... now I don't know if this is true or not, but in the Paiute culture twins are not desirable. And so what I have been told in my childhood was that she was adopted because if they hadn't adopted her, or taken her in, one or the other of the twins would have been euthanized. Now whether that's true or not, I don't know. But I do know that my sister is full-blooded Paiute. My other sister was adopted because she had some physical and mental problems. And I'm not sure exactly what they were but I do know that throughout her entire life she's been unable to work or to be successful in what all of us would hope would be better than what she had. I have said for years, which she obviously denies, is that her academic level is like maybe the fifth grade. So that, those are the two girls. Then I had a brother who I believe was adopted because he had a cleft palate, which they were able to repair surgically but that was the, the reason he became part of the family. Then finally they wanted a mixture. And that's how I came into the picture. That first of all, you know the country so Manzanar and Bishop is accessible. And so they took me into the family to, or because I was half Japanese and half... so that's how we got our family put together.

RP: Dennis, can you give me the names of, of the, the three children that you just described to me?

DB: Sure.

RP: the Paiute girl?

DB: That's Marguerite, Helen Marguerite.

RP: Helen Marguerite. Okay. And, and then the next daughter, or your, your other sister?

DB: Was Bonnie Susan.

RP: Uh-huh. And the other boy?

DB: Donald Timothy.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.