<Begin Segment 14>

RP: Can you, can you describe the mess hall where, where the men ate?

RD: You know...

RP: Do you remember that?

RD: I draw a complete blank there. I remember doing KP duty, it seemed like it was down at... you know, like I was saying, showing how the barracks were all lined up east and west there and clear down to, probably, I think the last building down was probably the mess hall, if I remember right.

RP: Do you remember if it was twice as wide as the barracks that you lived in?

RD: It probably was. I don't remember offhand, but I think it was wider. 'Cause in the back part where all the stations where the cooking and everything went on and then the front part where the tables and stuff were. And I was trying to think of what Captain Nail had 'em put in our coffee, I can't remember what it was, to kind of calm us down. And if I could think of the name of it, you would know what it is.

KP: Saltpeter?

RD: Yeah, saltpeter, that's it. [Laughs] Put it in our coffee or our tea. That didn't seem to work to well, though.

RP: No, it didn't.

RD: But I remember one guy, I remember Corporal Cashroot was the corporal I remember in the kitchen there, and he was one of the cooks, and he's the one that made the Raisinjack.

RP: What was that he made? Raisinjack?

RD: Yeah. He would let it ferment in alcohol and everything else, he'd get some alcohol content out of it.

RP: Oh, so it was little bit of a, like a moonshine type of thing?

RD: Yeah.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.