<Begin Segment 10>

RP: Can you share with us any first impressions you had about seeing Poston, being there?

LS: Well, the first thing I remember is having to fill up these canvas bags with straw so that that was going to be our mattresses. I remember doing that. And you know, in recollection, the plan, I mean, it was just all planned out right. I mean all the barracks, all the blocks. Each family had a room and so it was a planned community, now that I think back about it.

RP: Before you left, or the day that you left, or on the journey over there, did you wonder, "Where are we going, Mom?"

LS: I probably did. But, you know, as long as I was with mother and the sisters, I think that was...

RP: Comforting.

LS: Yes, that was comforting.

RP: And so where were you assigned to in Poston? Do you remember your block and?

LS: Block 67-C. See, I remember those little things. Yes.

RP: And that was in Camp I?

LS: That was in Camp I.

RP: And where was that located in relationship to the camp? Were you in the corner, in the middle?

LS: We were at the very end. Block 60 was at the very end of the camp. And we were in with a group from El Centro so they're all El Centro families in there. And we were probably the only Imperial family there. So... and so there were, there were four blocks together. So the next block there were some, there were Brawley people there. So, yeah, so there were familiar faces, which was good.

RP: Some kids really, it struck them, you know, especially coming from the farm and kind of living sort of isolated out there. And suddenly they find themselves in a camp with all these Japanese faces all around them.

LS: I know. Yes. It was, you know, we were sort of out, isolated on the farms. And just see people on Sundays, you know, at Sunday school. And then all of a sudden now you're just right there with everyone. It was yeah, it was...

[Interruption]

RP: How did you adjust or did you, to sort of the routines of camp life?

LS: I think I was fine with it. I don't think I had very many problems in... I don't remember school at all, that's the terrible thing. I don't remember what we did in school at all.

RP: You would have been, what...

LS: Nine or ten or... eight or nine or ten, something like that.

RP: Entering second or third grade?

LS: No, I think it was older than that. But I just don't remember... I don't remember school at all in camp. That's terrible.

RP: Yeah, that's a statement there. What do you remember about the barracks? Anything in particular that stuck out in your mind?

LS: The barracks?

RP: Uh-huh.

LS: Well, there were knotholes in the wood so we had to cover up the... we used our canvas that we had and we put that up on the side of the wall so that people couldn't look, none of the neighbors could look through the knotholes. We were able to divide the room into like four sections, one for my mother and father and one for the girls, and one for my brother and one for like a living space. So...

RP: And, and who did that?

LS: I think my sisters did. You know, we just had rope and, and bed covers. And so we would just make these makeshift little areas, living areas. So...

RP: And, so let's see, your father was not there. Your older brother wasn't there.

LS: Right.

RP: So there would have been...

LS: There were six of us.

RP: Six of you, six of you? So you were assigned to your own room?

LS: Just one... we all, we were just... I can't remember how many had to be in your family to have two rooms. So we only had one, one room. So each barrack was divided into like maybe four sections. So families were assigned to the different sections there.

RP: One of the, you know, strongest memories that people have about, you know, barrack living was the lack of privacy. And...

LS: Yeah, for me it was okay because I was young. But I'm sure, I mean you're just right there and it was, yeah. And then like the bathrooms, it was just all out in the open and so people had to go in there and put up the barriers for privacy. And the shower stall... showers were all communal. So yeah, so it was, it was quite something to get used to.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.