<Begin Segment 14>

RP: Did your father have time for...

LS: He was always sick. My father was always sick. So, yeah, he was not, he was not well, and didn't participate in very many things.

RP: Was he sick to the point of, of being hospitalized in the camp?

LS: Occasionally, occasionally.

RP: And what was, what was his ailments about?

LS: He always had these horrible pains. I think that when he was young he had a terrible case of ulcers and in those days he didn't think he was going to live with the surgery he had. But I don't know what it was but it was just, he was always sick. But he knew how to play Hana.

RP: Laurie, for those who might not know what that game is, can you describe it?

LS: Oh, Hana? Oh my gosh, you've gotta snap it the certain way, right? But it was a gambling game. It was a card game from Japan. And it was, well, I don't know, maybe you would consider it was like Bridge. You had to match up these things. And, but he was very good in Hana. We'd sit there and play as a family and it would just upset me no end because he knew every card I had in my hand. If I played something else he would say, "You should have played that." I said, "How did you know I had that in my hand?" So, yes. So when he died my nephews were so sweet, they put a Hana in his casket so that he would have something to do in his next life.

RP: Was that a popular past time that you could determine at Poston, cards, playing cards, gambling?

LS: You know, I don't think they did in Poston. I know that before the war he used to go into town to play Hana with the men. And we'd have to go to, we'd have to find him. 'Cause he was always, rather than tending the horses and stuff on the farm, he'd just leave them and then run into town to play and so we'd have to go into town, find him. But in camp, no, I don't think anybody played Hana in camp.

RP: How about your other traditional Japanese games that particularly the Isseis liked to play like Go?

LS: Go, yeah they played Go. They played Go in camp a lot I think. Not, I didn't see Hana being played very much.

RP: Do you... we were talking about the heat and trying to cope with the heat in Poston. Was there any type of, of wading pool or a swimming pool in...

LS: You know, we talked about a swimming pool but, as I said to you, I just recollect it being a mud hole. Because I know they came and dug this great big hole in the middle of camp and filled it up with water. But I mean, it wasn't anything like a cement thing, you know, with gradually going down. It was just this big hole in the middle of camp with water in it. That's all I remember.

RP: The Colorado River wasn't too far.

LS: Well, it was a distance and I probably shouldn't say that we used to go there because we probably shouldn't have been going out there. But we did go there. We did have, we did have annual outings there as a block. The men, the cooks used to go out there and set up their cooking things so that we sort of had a barbecue. And, yeah, so we'd kind of swim in the eddies there, and some of the fellows in camp used to have a job somewhere where they had the flatbed trucks. So they'd bring it home and we'd all pile on the trucks. Or, if we were able we would walk. But that's the way we used to get to the Colorado River. So...

RP: And that, that was an annual event?

LS: Yeah, for our block. I don't know if any other blocks did that, but we did that. Should I be saying this at this late date?

RP: The statute of limitations has expired. They can't get you for trespassing. Do you recall or remember anybody who used to go down to the Colorado to fish?

LS: No, I don't recall that at all, no. Oh my god, that current is so strong around there I don't think anything... huh.

RP: It would float right by.

LS: Yeah.

RP: That was the only time that you can recall being out of camp.

LS: Well, we did go one, we did go into town once. I mean, that was quite an outing. Like you tell me about Independence, well, there was this town called Poston, I think. And it was just quite something to think, "Oh my God, we can get out of camp." I do remember going at one time to this town that was right there. And that just seemed to be quite an outing. But, yeah, that was the only time that I left camp.

RP: Do you remember what you did in that town?

LS: No. [Laughs] Probably terrified about what's gonna happen next. Maybe we should get back to camp. Oh, goodness.

RP: Were, there were many camps that had barbed wire fences around them and guard towers. Did you, were you aware of that?

LS: I was not aware of that. Maybe at the very entrance there may have been something like that. But we were pretty far away from the entrance of the camp. So I don't remember seeing guard towers and with guards. Yeah, no, I don't recall that at all.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.