Densho Digital Archive - Margaret Saito Interview (denshovh-smargaret

<Begin Segment 18>

[Looking at photo album]

MS: Does it say what year? 1942. This is the original picture.

RP: Do you want to point yourself out?

MS: Okay... let, see, I think with pigtails.

KP: That you?

MS: Yes.

KP: Who else is in that picture?

MS: My cousin, my cousin Helen is right here above me.

RP: Any other friends that you recall?

MS: No, these are friends but not close friends.

RP: How about the person in charge of the drill team?

MS: Oh, okay, this is Reiko Ohara and she's still living. She hasn't been at the Heart Mountain reunions but she has been at other reunions. And this is Sadako Mitamitsu.

MS: This is Girl Scout Troop Fourteen.

KP: Where are you? Can you point it out?

MS: I think I'm here on the end.

KP: Who else is in there?

MS: Oh, well, the leader is Aya Nishimura. That's her maiden name. And, well, Lillian Hayashi, here. And Ida Hayakawa, she comes to all the reunions.

RP: How many reunions have you attended?

MS: Since, I think from 1990, every one that they've had. That was the first one we really knew about and that was in San Jose. They're about every two years. So we've been going to many now.

RP: I was going to ask you, have you thought about maybe donating or scanning some these pictures for the Heart Mountain Foundation?

MS: Oh, yes, that would be fine. I think so.

RP: Especially your pictures of the drill team.

KP: Can you point out the picture of your bicycle? Or the guard tower?

MS: Oh, yeah, the guard tower.

RP: We didn't talk about the cat.

KP: Here's the picture of the guard -- I'm looking at the bicycle, that's one of the bicycles that your dad brought back?

MS: Yes.

KP: And who's on that bike?

MS: This is Marion Doi. She died some years ago.

KP: And next to it, the picture of --

MS: The guard tower.

KP: Who's in there?

MS: Oh, yeah, I cut myself out, my sister Frances is here and Lillian Hayashi and Peggy Nitahara and I think Kiku Nakagawa.

RP: Why did you cut yourself out?

MS: I don't know... I wish I didn't. Yeah, I was taller than all of 'em, and I don't know. That's stupid.

KP: That's pictures of cats.

MS: I know. To think that... they were strays, I'm sure there were dogs too.

KP: So they were strays that came into the camp?

MS: I think so because we weren't allowed to have things like that. I think they just came from someplace.

RP: Did you name the cat? Did it have name?

MS: No, these were not my cats.

RP: You didn't care for them every day?

MS: No, I don't know. Maybe somebody else did. And maybe the mess hall, they would just hang around, get scraps. I have no idea.

KP: One other question I had for you, I forgot to ask you about this. You said one of the hardest things for you to leave when you had to go to Pomona was a pet?

MS: Oh, dog, we had a dog, Poochie that my aunt Mary gave us. I don't know what happened to Poochie.

KP: Looks like you did have some animals in camp to play with?

MS: Yes, yeah, that's nice. I'm surprised that my friend could even hold a, have a bird on her finger. That's really something.

RP: Like a parakeet?

MS: No, I don't think so.

RP: Wild bird?

MS: Yeah, it wasn't a trained thing.

KP: So you made a lot of pets?

MS: Yeah, I've had them. My children have had lots of pets, so it's been part of my life.

KP: On behalf of myself, and Richard, who's been here working the camera, and Manzanar, thank you very much for sharing your time with us today, Margaret.

MS: Oh, no, thank you for your patience.

KP: Thank you.